Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, June 11, 1990 TAG: 9006110089
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SONOMA, CALIF. LENGTH: Medium
The defending Winston Cup champion, finally making a charge toward the top of the points standings, beat Mark Martin and Ricky Rudd in Sunday's Banquet Frozen Foods 300-kilometer race, earning his fifth victory in the last seven NASCAR Winston Cup stock car road races.
"I don't personally think much of me as a road racer," Wallace said with a bemused smile. "There's nothing smooth about me on a road course.
"Most people say you have to be smooth to do well on a road course, but if I run smooth, I'm just slow."
Wallace, who moved past Dale Earnhardt into third place in the Winston Cup standings with his second victory of the season - both coming in the past three starts - gained a measure of revenge when he passed Rudd to take the lead with 15 laps remaining.
A year ago, in the inaugural Winston Cup event on the 2.52-mile, 12-turn Sears Point International Raceway course, Rudd bumped Wallace aside in the final turn on the way to a 0.05-second victory.
This time, Wallace gave Rudd just a little nudge in the rear bumper before slipping underneath and driving his Pontiac Grand Prix into the lead.
That pass came on lap 60 of the 74-lap, 187-mile event.
A caution flag on lap 62 - the eighth of nine in a race in which the winner averaged only 69.245 mph - kept Rudd's Chevrolet Lumina right on Wallace's rear bumper. Wallace pulled away after the green flag waved, and Mark Martin slipped past Rudd on lap 72 to finish second.
"We won at Charlotte [on May 28], led the most laps at Dover [on June 3] and led the most laps and won here. I think we're on a roll," said Wallace, who struggled through the first eight races of the season.
The race finished under the ninth caution flag, brought out after Terry Labonte and Davey Allison bumped in the hairpin turn and Labonte stalled with one lap left.
Wallace collected $69,100 for the 18th victory of his career.
Geoff Bodine was fourth, followed by Bobby Hillin Jr., Sterling Marlin and Ernie Irvan.
Martin, who trailed Morgan Shepherd by 32 points in the Winston Cup standings coming into the race, moved into the season lead by 62 points over Shepherd.
Shepherd, who had finished in the top 10 in each of the 11 previous races this season, was running fifth when his engine broke with just four laps remaining. That dropped him to an eventual 29th-place finish.
Rudd started from the pole and led the first 11 laps, with Irvan and Earnhardt close behind.
There was plenty of bumping and banging on the tight circuit and Rudd's bodywork was pushed in enough to cut down a tire on the 12th lap, forcing him to slow, then pit, giving the lead to Irvan.
Earnhardt, also with body damage and a tire problem, pitted at the same time.
Earnhardt fell to 31st and Rudd to 40th by the time they emerged from pit road.
With the help of several caution periods, those two sliced through the field, with Earnhardt getting to sixth before making a long stop on lap 37 to repair a broken transmission. Rudd moved up to sixth at that point.
Another tire problem on lap 45 dropped Rudd back from second - behind Wallace - to 20th, but another caution period allowed him to move back into contention, and he charged into the lead on lap 58.
Wallace was third, just behind Hillin, at that point. He moved to second on lap 59 and immediately challenged Rudd.
There were several crashes and off-course excursions, but none of the incidents was serious and no injuries were reported.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB