Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 30, 1990 TAG: 9004300152
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY KING SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: MARTINSVILLE LENGTH: Medium
Waltrip, who came into Sunday's Hanes 500 looking for a fourth consecutive Martinsville victory, led only six laps and struggled to a fourth-place finish.
"We had a lot of problems today," said Waltrip, an 11-time career winner on the .526-mile oval.
"We didn't have good brakes from the get-go, and we didn't have any at the end. We had a fuel-pressure problem, and I don't know what that was.
"We worked on this car for three days and haven't been able to fix everything that was ailing it. We could never find what was wrong with the brakes.
"Sometimes, I thought we had a shot at it, and other times, I knew we were in trouble. I couldn't charge like I wanted to because of the brake problems.
"I thought at one time we were really going down the tubes. We're really tickled to finish fourth. We didn't have the best of days, but we hung in there and finished."
Another perennial Martinsville threat, Dale Earnhardt, also had car problems. Earnhardt said his fifth-place Chevrolet never handled correctly.
"We couldn't fix it all day," he said. "After we stayed out on the last caution to get back in the lead lap, we might have been all right if we could have gotten another yellow, but we couldn't buy one when we needed it."
Earnhardt had hoped to celebrate his 38th birthday with a win.
"This may not have been the best birthday I've ever had, but it wasn't that bad, either," he said. "We didn't lose too many points."
Morgan Shepherd, who finished third, picked up only five points on Earnhardt and still trails the points leader by 52.
Shepherd continues to ring up consistent runs. He is the only driver to have finished in the top 10 in all eight races.
"We've tried not to take any unnecessary chances," Shepherd said. "We felt like if we spent all our time rebuilding cars this year, we'd never have the chance to improve.
"We were off just a little bit today. But if we keep knocking on the door, we'll win one soon."
Winner Geoff Bodine and car owner Junior Johnson were both upset at runner-up Rusty Wallace's crew after the race.
Both said Wallace's tire changers were intentionally leaving tires on pit road after pit stops to try and slow Bodine's pit exit. Bodine pitted in the stall adjacent to Wallace.
"I picked up on it last week at North Wilkesboro," Johnson said. "Geoff hit one of their tires there and it hurt our car. Today, they kept leaving them out there. It's a shame they kept doing that.
"NASCAR should do something about it. In the meeting before the race, they said they would give us an extra man over the wall to pick up those tires, and they didn't do it."
Dale Jarrett, who had high hopes after a strong qualifying run in the Wood Brothers Ford, said he never had a chance after Waltrip punted him into a spin only 25 laps into the race.
"The clutch went out of the car. And I believe the spin did it," Jarrett said. "Darrell just spun me out for no reason at all. I don't know where he was going."
Jarrett parked the car after 171 laps and finished 30th.
by CNB