DATE: Saturday, April 19, 1997              TAG: 9704190879

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE:    BOB ZELLER

                                            LENGTH:   59 lines

NASCAR REPORT

Driver swap with

Gordon, Nemechek

working out well

MARTINSVILLE, Va. - Less than one week after a contentious, trouble-filled race at Bristol Motor Speedway, car owner Felix Sabates executed a driver swap within his own team, moving Robby Gordon to Joe Nemechek's team and vice versa.

All parties involved put the best face on it, but it was evident from the private conversations of team members that serious turmoil on Gordon's team prompted the switch.

When Gordon parked his Chevrolet Monte Carlo after 91 laps following his second incident of the Food City 500, some members of the team were upset that he wouldn't get back in even if they fixed the damage. In turn, Gordon was aggravated with his crew's pit mistakes in the race.

``On Monday morning, Robby Gordon will take the Coors Light number and colors and go next door and Joe Nemechek will bring the 42 car and colors to our shop,'' said crew chief Tony Glover.

Glover said last Sunday's controversy ``had nothing to do with this. Felix decided he wanted to do something that would make it better for everyone involved. I'm fine with it. I'm happy with it.''

Said Nemechek: ``We're making a driver swap. This should help both teams and I'm looking forward to working with Tony.''

Gordon was 39th fastest in pole qualifications Friday. Nemechek won the outside pole.

Grissom's bad break

The only driver who is still feeling pain from the Geoff Bodine/Jimmy Spencer feud at Bristol last weekend is Steve Grissom, who discovered on Monday that the severe pain in his banged-up right foot was caused by a fractured bone.

Grissom's car was tagged by Bodine's after Bodine and Spencer got together on the front stretch in an incident that prompted NASCAR to park Bodine. The driver's side of Grissom's car slammed flush against the outside wall in the first turn.

Grissom limped to the infield care center after the crash and an MRI examination Monday afternoon revealed what is being termed a stress fracture.

Sacks injured

On the same day Grissom's broken foot was diagnosed, another Winston Cup driver, Greg Sacks, broke his foot in a practice crash.

Sacks was testing the No. 20 Ranier/Walsh Chevrolet Monte Carlo at Greenville/Pickens Speedway in South Carolina Monday when he crashed and broke some bones in his left foot.

Sacks underwent surgery at Carolinas Medical Center Tuesday and hopes to return to action at Talladega next week. Lance Hooper, the 1996 Winston West champion, is filling in at Martinsville and was 43rd fastest in qualifying Friday in a field of 47 cars.

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