DATE: Sunday, November 2, 1997              TAG: 9711020301

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C2   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BOB ZELLER

                                            LENGTH:   84 lines

NASCAR REPORT

PHOENIX - Jack Sprague all but clinched his first NASCAR truck series championship and Joe Ruttman won his fourth race of the year Saturday in the GM 300 at Phoenix International Raceway.

Ruttman took the lead from Sprague during a caution period on lap 131 of the 186-lap race when Sprague pitted for gas. He was unsure whether he could complete the race without running out of gas.

Ruttman had no such concerns, did not pit and made it all the way. He won by 0.419 of a second over teammate Chuck Bown. Sprague was third, followed by Kenny Irwin Jr. and Rick Carelli.

``Our team makes a great motor,'' Ruttman said. ``It just sips gas. Jack's truck gulps gas the entire race.''

Sprague, however, was more concerned about a solid finish than a victory. He now has a 177-point lead over Rich Bickle for the title, which means all he has to do to clinch the championship is start the final race, at Las Vegas on Nov. 9.

``I can sleep now,'' Sprague said. ``The first half of the season wasn't very good, but the second half has been very good to us.''

Of the race, Sprague said, ``I'm not sure how Joe Ruttman made it without a fuel problem. We might have made it, but it wasn't worth the chance.''

Carelli led 13 laps and pole-sitter Mike Bliss led the first 48 laps. Bliss spun in turn 4 late in the race but recovered to finish 10th.

Round 2

Aside from the controversial awarding of a fifth provisional starting spot to Ricky Craven (see separate story), the second round of time trials produced very little change in the starting lineup.

Mike Skinner was the only one driver outside of the top 38 after Friday's first round to make it on speed Saturday. He moved from 43rd to 32nd.

Skinner bumped David Green, who had stood on his Friday speed, from 38th to 39th. But Green made it into the 43-car field with a provisional, as did brother Jeff Green, Ricky Rudd and Chad Little, as well as Craven.

``The track in general is a lot slower today,'' Rudd said. ``There's a lot less grip. Skinner put a good lap up. If he'd done it yesterday, he may have been on the pole.''

Drivers who did not make the race were Wally Dallenbach, Jack Sprague, Morgan Shepherd and Gary Bradberry.

New truck team

Former Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Rahal and veteran sports-car driver Tom Gloy have formed a new NASCAR truck team to field a Ford F-150 for driver Dave Rezendes in 1998.

Sponsorship will come from Icehouse beer, which made its motorsports debut in Saturday's truck race, in which Rezendes finished 15th.

For Rahal and Gloy, this will be the first venture into NASCAR racing as owners, although Rahal drove in a Winston Cup race in 1984 at Riverside.

Kyle Petty's 500th

Today's race marks Kyle Petty's 500th Winston Cup start. Petty ran his first race in 1979.

``I'll say this straight up,'' Petty said. ``It seems like I've been around for a long time, but it doesn't seem like I've been driving that long. It just seems like I've been around this sport forever, which I have.''

Petty starts 34th in today's race.

Hamilton's sweep

Pole winner Bobby Hamilton, who has been quickest in practice here this weekend, continued that streak in the final session of Winston Cup practice Saturday afternoon. Ken Schrader was second-fastest in the so-called ``happy hour'' practice, followed by Ted Musgrave, Johnny Benson and Darrell Waltrip.

Two-wheeling

Waddell Wilson, the 60-year-old general manager of Darrell Waltrip's Winston Cup team, doesn't like flying cross-country in cramped airplane seats. So instead he traveled from his Statesville, N.C., home to Phoenix for this weekend's race on his motorcycle. That's a 2,000-mile trek.

``It's a challenge and we enjoy doing it,'' Wilson said. He made the trip with Robin Pemberton, crew chief for Rusty Wallace, and a friend of Pemberton's.

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu