THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 7, 1995 TAG: 9509070574
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C9 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines
Now that the Winston Cup season is into its long autumn stretch run, all eyes are on Jeff Gordon.
No longer does it matter what the others do. Dale Earnhardt or Sterling Marlin could win all nine remaining races and the title chase still would hinge on Gordon's performance.
Gordon's sixth victory of the year last Sunday gained him 41 more points over second-place Sterling Marlin, who is now 217 points back.
Gordon still isn't making any predictions. ``There's just way too many races left,'' he said. ``You can gain or lose a lot of points in that period of time.''
Crew chief Ray Evernham, however, is thinking about it.
``When you're learning, you go through a period where you're so carefree that you're beating people because you're doing a lot of stuff nobody has ever done,'' he told Chevy's Ray Cooper. ``Everybody starts doing the stuff you're doing and they catch up. . . . You've got some new stuff you want to try, but you can't try it because whether you want to be or not, you're in a battle for the championship.
``We didn't want to be in that frame of mind, but if we weren't in that frame of mind right now, we'd be stupid. Right now, we're playing to win. We're being a little bit more conservative.''
SORTING ITSELF OUT: If the rumor mill is correct, the ``silly season'' sorted itself out in large measure this week.
Dale Jarrett reportedly has resolved his situation by deciding to remain where he is - with Robert Yates.
Busch Grand National points leader Johnny Benson Jr. is said to be going to the No. 30 Pontiac Grand Prix, currently driven by Michael Waltrip. Waltrip, upon hearing the news, scrambled to line up the ride in Bud Moore's No. 15 Ford Thunderbird. No word yet on the fate of current driver Dick Trickle in this process.
And Jack Roush is expected to announce Saturday in Richmond his plans for a third team. Roush already has signed Jeff Burton as driver and reportedly plans to announce Buddy Parrott as crew chief and Geoff Bodine's current sponsor, Exide Batteries, as its 1996 sponsor.
APT ANALOGY: If Jarrett is indeed set for 1996, it shows the team genuinely wants him back. Jarrett persevered through what amounted to a no-win situation, trying to fill in for the injured Ernie Irvan, whose all-consuming goal has been to return to the driver's seat.
Another driver recently summed up the situation with a succinct analogy: Imagine divorcing someone and marrying someone else, and then inviting your ex-spouse to move in with you and point out all the faults of your new spouse.
But Jarrett took the high road through it all and finally was rewarded with a victory at Pocono, a number of high finishes, and apparently a contract to drive the vaunted Yates car again in 1996.
Irvan, meanwhile, is working diligently behind the scenes to get the go-ahead from NASCAR to race again. He wants to return this year in a truck race. by CNB