
DATE: Monday, November 17, 1997             TAG: 9711170064

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: Bob Zeller, staff writer 

                                            LENGTH:  109 lines

GORDON WINS TITLE, HEAVING SIGH OF RELIEF HIS 17TH-PLACE FINISH IS JUST GOOD ENOUGH; BOBBY LABONTE TAKES THE RACE.

HAMPTON, Ga. - One minute before the green flag fell to start the final race of the 1997 NASCAR Winston Cup season, car owner Rick Hendrick came on the radio from his home outside Charlotte.

``You guys will get it done. You're the champs,'' he told driver Jeff Gordon and crew chief Ray Evernham.

For three hours, they struggled. But Gordon, after being on the edge the entire afternoon, finally came home in 17th place, three laps down, in the NAPA 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. But that was good enough to capture his second Winston Cup championship by a slim 14 points over Dale Jarrett and by 29 points over Mark Martin.

Jarrett finished second to race winner Bobby Labonte, while Martin was third.

The first words out of Gordon's mouth as a two-time champ carried no excitement whatsoever.

``Way to go, guys,'' he said matter-of-factly.

Hendrick, fighting leukemia at home, came back on the radio and said, ``Good job, boys. You're about to kill me here.''

``You and me both,'' said Gordon.

In the pits, as Gordon crossed the finish line, Evernham let out a huge sigh of relief.

``It's been a long day,'' he said. ``It's been a long season. It's a lot of pressure. I can't stand winning a championship like this. It's not a lot of fun riding around there in the back.

``Our chance to win this race went away (Saturday) morning. What we had to do was win this championship. That's what we did.''

On Saturday, Gordon wrecked his primary car on pit road while scrubbing his tires at 40 mph. He had trouble qualifying his backup car when excess oil spilled during the run and ended up 37th on the grid. And he only had 15 minutes in Saturday's final practice to set up his car before the session was ended by rain.

The result on Sunday was that Gordon was never in the top 10.

``I can't stand getting beat,'' Evernham said. ``There was a lot of doubt today.''

But once the race was over, it took Gordon only a few minutes to stop feeling the stress and start feeling the elation. And after a slow victory lap around the track, he stopped at the finish line, hopped on the roof of his car and raised his fists in the air as most of the estimated 152,000 fans cheered.

Finally, Gordon jumped to the ground and into Evernham's arms before being mobbed by the rest of the ``Rainbow Warriors'' crew, who had sprinted from pit road, where Gordon was supposed to wind up.

``It's the biggest sigh of relief ever,'' Gordon said when things calmed down a bit. ``This was a trying weekend, cutting it as close as we did. It was not exactly what we wanted to do. I was worried all day long.''

Later, he said, ``Boy, what an interesting weekend. We had a press conference the other day and I kinda fibbed a little bit. I said I was sleeping good. I haven't slept in two weeks.''

Gordon's 14-point edge over Jarrett was the fourth-closest finish in modern Winston Cup history.

While everyone was watching Gordon, there was a race going on Sunday.

The NAPA 500 wasn't the best race of the year, as Labonte dominated the last 200 laps, took the lead from a fading Martin with 11 laps to go and won by 3.801 seconds over Jarrett.

But it had its moments. And for the second year in a row, Labonte staved off a winless season with a victory in the final race.

Martin finished third, followed by Jeff Green and Derrike Cope, the only other drivers on the lead lap. Kyle Petty was sixth, followed by Bobby Hamilton and Joe Nemechek, a lap down.

Pontiac drivers Ward Burton and Johnny Benson were ninth and 10th, two laps down, as Pontiac had its best outing of the year, winning its second race and placing six drivers in the top 10.

``It was just an awesome day for us,'' said Labonte, who had started 21st. ``In the first 25 laps, I knew the car was going to be fast.''

It was really a bit too fast for Labonte's taste. When asked what he thought of the reconfigured speedway now that he is its first winner, he said, ``My mama always told me if I couldn't say anything good about something, just not say anything.

``It's fast. I had a really, really comfortable race car today and that's the only reason why it went fast. There were times when I just went `whew' and really had to breathe because it was so fast. All those `what-ifs' are in your mind. That's what I was thinking about.''

But despite the quick speeds, which have worried the drivers since they first started testing the new speedway weeks ago, there were only four yellow flags. No one was hurt.

Although he dominated the race, Labonte found himself one second behind Martin with 20 laps to go. Martin had that advantage because he took two tires to Labonte's four on the final pit stops.

With 15 laps to go, Martin and Labonte were working their way through lapped traffic, with Labonte threatening to pass.

Suddenly, Martin announced on his radio, ``Motor blew up.'' And at that moment, Labonte went under him on the frontstretch.

``We were sitting there leading the race and looking good and we lost a cylinder,'' Martin said. ``Bobby had the best car, but we had him where we wanted him with 20 laps to go. We gave it our best shot, but we broke something in the engine.''

Tire wear was a problem for a number of teams, especially those with ill-handling cars.

``We anticipate that we will see lower speeds and less tire wear next spring,'' said Goodyear's Tony Freund. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Jeff Gordon jumps for joy after claiming his second NASCAR Winston

Cup title on Sunday.

Graphic

Results

Rudd Report

For complete copy, see microfilm