Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 27, 1990 TAG: 9005270232
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY KING SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: CONCORD, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
Jarrett slipped under Dick Trickle in the fourth turn of the final lap and beat him to the finish line by 3 feet to win the Champion 300 NASCAR Busch Grand National race.
The tight finish marked the third time in less than a week that a race at the speedway has been decided by less than a car length.
Trickle, who beat Rob Moroso by 6 inches in Sunday's Winston Open, found himself on the wrong end this time.
After leading 114 of the first 199 laps, Trickle's Pontiac pushed high in turn four, allowing Jarrett room to move underneath and score his fourth career Grand National victory.
"At the end, I just kept working and working on Dick hoping to find somewhere to beat him," Jarrett said. "I noticed he was washing up the track a little in [turns] three and four.
"Finally, on the last lap he got a little loose and left me a slight opening. I took my car down low and luckily it stuck."
Trickle said his Pontiac had handling problems in the final 15 miles of the 300-mile run.
"I was just trying to keep on the bottom," Trickle said. "I got in the last corner over there and the car was way loose. It bobbled up the track. Something just took the car up.
"I had to lift on the gas to keep it from getting away from me. Jarrett got an opening and took advantage. Maybe with one more lap I could have beaten him [Jarrett].
"I could tell he had me at the finish, just like I had Moroso last Sunday. Man, I do so good for 199 laps to do so bad on the last lap."
Harry Gant finished third after his Ed Whitaker team, based in Abingdon, Va., worked all night to fix his Oldsmobile after a crash in practice Friday. Sterling Marlin and Virginian Tommy Ellis completed the top five.
Jimmy Hensley, of Horsepasture, Va., finished behind Davey Allison in seventh.
It was a bad day for Chuck Bown and his Hensley Racing team from Ridgeway, Va. Bown's Pontiac cut a tire 15 laps into the race, lost a lap in the pits and finished 17th.
Hensley, who entered the day 54 points behind first-place Bown in the GN title race, cut his deficit to 20.
Jarrett earned $25,475 for his second GN victory at Charlotte. The 32-year-old driver from Conover, N.C., also won the race in 1988.
Dale Earnhardt, the odds-on favorite in today's Coca-Cola 600 Winston Cup event, finished eighth. On lap 31, Earnhardt tapped Darrell Waltrip sideways, forcing Waltrip to spin. Waltrip's Chevrolet later blew an engine and finished 29th.
Rick Mast, of Rockbridge Baths, Va., also lost an engine and finished 32nd.
Jarrett averaged 132.337 mph. Eight cautions slowed the pace for 29 laps.
\ LUGNUTS: GN director Robert Black announced Saturday that drivers Tommy Ellis and L.D. Ottinger have been fined $500 and placed on probation of the remainder of the season for their parts in an incident last week at Hickory (N.C.) Speedway. Ellis and Ottinger wrecked each other on the race's "cool-down" lap, then exchanged heated words on pit road. . . . Mike Beam said he will resign as crew chief for Bill Elliott's Ford team at the end of the season, perhaps earlier. Beam will join forces with a new Winston Cup team being formed by Charlotte businessman Sam McMahon. Barry Dodson, current crew chief for Rusty Wallace, figures to head the new operation, with Jarrett expected to be the driver.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB