ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, September 23, 1996 TAG: 9609230158
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: MARTINSVILLE NOTES
DATELINE: MARTINSVILLE
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
TERRY LABONTE lost just five Winston Cup points to his teammate, Jeff Gordon, to fall 81 points out of first place and stay in the hunt for the title.
Terry Labonte lost only five points to teammate Jeff Gordon in the battle for the Winston Cup championship Sunday at Martinsville Speedway, and it was remarkable the loss was that slight.
While Gordon was on his way to his ninth victory of the season, Labonte was struggling with a bad clutch.
He lost a lap getting it fixed, then regained the lap and battled his way back through the field to finish second. Labonte also led a lap, which meant that Gordon only gained the difference between first and second - five points.
Labonte is now 81 points behind.
``The clutch rod fell off of it there and we didn't have a clutch,'' Labonte said. ``We had a decent run going, but on that last restart, the clutch rod fell off again.''
Dale Jarrett, who was third in points before Sunday's race, trailing Gordon by 97 points, fell even further back after struggling to a 16th place finish. Jarrett said he never found the right setup for Sunday's race, which was the same problem Dale Earnhardt had. Earnhardt finished 15th.
Jarrett is now 162 points behind Gordon, while Earnhardt fell a distant 341 points back.
``We've got five races to go and you can lose a lot of points fast,'' Labonte said. ``I've been there before. It's easy to lose 80 or 100 points in a race if something bad goes wrong.''
But if Gordon holds true to form, he's going to be impossible to beat. He's won three of the last five races and finished second in the other two. The last time he stumbled was at Indy seven races ago, when he crashed and finished 37th.
``I don't know what the last five races will be like,'' Gordon said.
``But I think there's a little less pressure this year. We're calm, we're really focused and things are gelling.''
RARE GOOD DAYS: One of the most interesting things about Sunday's race was how many middle-of-the-pack drivers ran up front and managed to stay there for the entire race.
Bobby Hamilton's third place finish was not only his best of the year, but the best for any Pontiac team.
Rick Mast, who drove his Pontiac to fourth place, had his best finish of the year as well.
``We started 30th and came up through there and caught a couple of lucky breaks on cautions,'' Mast said. ``The biggest thing wrong was that the car was just a little bit too tight all day long. But I'll tell you, the way this season has gone, I'll take anything right now.''
Kyle Petty, also driving a Pontiac, finished eighth, matching his previous best of the year, which came just last week at Dover.
``We're getting used to this,'' Petty said. ``Everybody had good runs.''
John Andretti's fifth place tied his best of the year, and Morgan Shepherd had one of his best finishes, coming home in sixth.
HE FELT GREAT: Andretti was understandably upset after losing two positions on the final lap, but until then, he was having as much fun as he's had in a long time.
Andretti was having an awful year until September, but he's got a new lease on his racing life in the No.98 Ford Thunderbird owned by Cale Yarborough. This is his third race with the team.
With about 40 laps to go, a crewman called Andretti on the radio and asked, ``How are you feeling?''
``I feel great,'' Andretti said. ``I've got a headache. I'm getting a lot of fumes. But I feel great.''
``Can you stick your hand out?'' the crewman asked, hoping Andretti might be able to direct fresh air into the car.
``Nah,'' Andretti replied. ``My hand is too small.''
ANOTHER SHOT: Sterling Marlin, after spinning in turn four on lap 454 following a bump from behind by Ernie Irvan, took another shot regarding Irvan's eyesight.
``I don't know what happened,'' Marlin said. ``You'll have to ask that blind man driving the 28 car, I guess. It's a give and take deal, and he just ran dead in my back bumper.''
OUT EARLY: Rusty Wallace, the pre-race favorite, was the first out when his water pump failed and his engine burned up.
Wallace was running in fifth on lap 147 when trouble struck.
``Water temp and oil temp are pegged,'' he told his crew. ``Smells pretty bad. It's starting to seize up. It's probably blown.''
Crew chief Robin Pemberton took a look on pit road and said simply, ``Blown up. Motor probably just cooked, man. Let's load this stuff.''
Wallace finished 36th, in last place.
LENGTH: Medium: 98 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: DON PETERSEN/Staff. 1. Jeff Gordon acknowledges theby CNBcrowd after emerging from his car in Victory Lane at the Hanes 500
in Martinsville on Sunday. color. 2. Quick work by his pit crew
helped Jeff Gordon (24) take the lead from Bobby Hamilton and win
the Hanes 500 at Martinsville Speedway. The victory was Gordon's
ninth of the season. KEYWORDS: AUTO RACING