Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 7, 1993 TAG: 9303070067
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
MARK MARTIN DOMINATES GN RACE
For Mark Martin, the hardest thing about winning the Hardee's 200 at Richmond International Raceway was getting to Victory Lane.Martin led 172 of 200 laps for an easy win Saturday - his second Grand National victory in a row. But it took him three tries to get to Victory Lane, which is in the frontstretch infield next to the outside wall on pit road.
First, Martin drove directly into the muddy frontstretch infield but was waved off. Next, he tried pit road, but there was no access. Finally, he discovered the new paved path along the outside pit wall and finally made his way to a driver's favorite spot at a race track.
"I've won a race here, but it's been a long time ago, so I didn't know about the access road," Martin said. "Now I know where to go tomorrow."
If Martin can summon the same kind of performance from his Winston Cup Ford Thunderbird in today's Pontiac 400 that he had in his Grand National Ford on Saturday, he will be tough to beat.
However, Martin said he didn't have a dominant car even though he led most of the 300-mile race.
"It was really just one of those things where people who had a shot to beat us just didn't have any racing luck," he said. "Really, our main competition was from Robert Pressley, but they had a little trouble. Otherwise, they probably could have beat us today."
Grand National champion Joe Nemechek was second, .53 seconds behind Martin. Jeff Burton was third, followed by David Green and Pressley. Pole-sitter Rick Mast of Rockbridge Baths finished eighth after leading the first eight laps.
Burton charged past Martin on lap 95 and led for 20 laps, but lost the lead on lap 114 after the first caution period because of Roy Payne's minor crash. Burton said he needed long stretches of racing before his car performed at its best.
"It would take us a good 20 laps to get going like we needed to," he said. "If this thing had gone green about the last 25 laps, instead of all those cautions, I think [Martin] would have had to deal with us more than anybody else at the end of this thing."
There were three caution periods in the final 50 laps because of minor crashes.
Pressley was stymied when he tried to make a pit stop on lap 113 as the yellow flag flew for Payne's crash. Pressley lost a lap but later made it up. "I think we had enough for them if things had been different," he said.
Green's fourth-place finish put him atop the Grand National points standings with 457.
The state of Virginia's first venture into stock car racing ended with an 11th-place finish. Hermie Sadler, 23, of Emporia, was one lap down in the "Virginia Is For Lovers" Oldsmobile owned by Don Beverly.
This is a good way for the state to spend its tourism money, said Dr. April Young, director of the Virginia Department of Economic Development.
"Somebody asked me how much it would cost us to buy this [exposure] in the media, and there isn't enough money in Virginia to buy this kind of exposure," he said.
\ STATE RECORD: Today's Winston Cup Pontiac 400 was a sellout around noon Saturday, so the crowd of more than 70,000 expected today will be a record for the track as well as a record for any sporting event in the state, track officials said.
\ QUALIFYING UPDATE: Geoff Bodine, who crashed while warming up for qualifying Friday, led the second round of Pontiac 400 time trials Saturday with a lap of 121.709 mph and secured the 21st starting spot. Bodine would have started 18th with that lap Friday. Only four other drivers participated in the session.
Bobby Hamilton, Rick Carelli, Jimmy Horton and Jimmy Hensley failed to qualify, but Hamilton and Hensley will make the 36-car field using provisional starting spots.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING