Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 4, 1991 TAG: 9103040082
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: ROCKINGHAM, N.C. LENGTH: Long
Petty, the defending champion of this event, drove by Ken Schrader after the last caution period ended with 11 laps to go in the 492-lap race and moved out to a 1.09-second victory as the checkered flag flew.
Petty and Schrader were the only two cars on the lead lap at the finish. In third, one lap down, was Harry Gant, who spun twice during the race. Ricky Rudd was fourth and Bill Elliott was fifth. Both were a lap down.
"We were lucky today, even as good as we ran," Petty said. "It was just one of those deals where we were lucky at the end of the race."
Petty won $131,450, including - for the second year in a row - the Unocal 76 challenge bonus for winning the race from the pole. This year, the rollover bonus brought $68,400. (Last year's bonus was $228,000).
Although Petty led most of the race - 380 laps - and his Mello Yello Pontiac was the strongest car nearly all afternoon, his victory was nothing like the dominating triumph he registered here last year. This year, he needed a stroke of good fortune.
The good fortune came in the form of that final yellow flag. It counterbalanced two other yellow flags that put Schrader in a position to steal the victory.
"If that last yellow hadn't come out, we had Kyle," Schrader said. "But running as fast as he was running, he deserved to win the damn race. We're not too disappointed in bringing it home second."
The ending was set up by the new pit rules, which have forced nearly all the Winston Cup drivers to make their key pit stops while the green flag is flying.
In normal circumstances, the green-flag pit stops equal out. But when yellow flags start flying during these stops, as they did Sunday, things get turned upside down. And, in this race, they were turned right side up again.
"It pretty much evened out," said Gary Nelson, Petty's crew chief. "Sometimes those breaks go for you and sometimes they go against you. And this time, one went against us and one went for us. We broke even."
It was Rusty Wallace, not Schrader, who provided Petty with his strongest competition most of the day. Wallace even passed Petty on lap 218 and led the next 46 laps while Petty struggled a bit with an ineffective set of tires.
But Wallace's race ended on lap 467 when his engine dropped a valve. He finished 28th. "This is really disappointing because it's the same thing that happened to us a lot last year," Wallace said. "Monday morning I'm going to get right after it and fix it. I'm no motor man, but I'll fix something."
The final drama began with about 65 laps to go. On lap 427, Petty held a 3.5-second lead over Wallace. Schrader was on the lead lap, but well behind in third. All three were due for their final pit stops.
On lap 430, Schrader headed for the pits, the first of the three leaders to make his stop. As Schrader pitted, Rick Mast of Rockbridge Baths, Va., blew his engine going and the caution flag flew.
Although Schrader lost a lap during his stop, he now had fresh tires. And Petty still had to pit. Moreover, the caution had bunched the field, allowing Schrader to make up some ground.
"Damn, he got a good deal," Nelson said on his two-way radio while directing his team's effort from the roof of the infield media center, more than 100 yards from Petty's pit.
"We tried to steal one, but we didn't quite pull it off," Richard Broome, Schrader's team manager, said after the race. "They said that was a freebie. Heck, I took it. That's just the way the cards fell, and you're going to see more of this with the new pit rule."
Petty, meanwhile, had more to worry about. During that same caution period, Petty began to run out of gas. He took his car to the apron to keep the little remaining fuel he had flowing to his engine.
Without losing much ground, Petty managed to make a quick pit stop for a splash of fuel while the yellow was still out.
On lap 436 - two laps after the green flag came back out - Petty dove to the pits for his regular stop for four new tires and more fuel, allowing Schrader to make up the lap he lost to Petty while pitting and take the lead.
While Petty was in the pits, the yellow flag flew again for Joe Ruttman's spin in turn two.
And after the field took the green on lap 441, Petty found himself on the tail end of the lead lap, nearly a full lap behind Schrader.
Petty battled valiantly to make up the lost ground, gaining about a half-second with each lap. But with 15 laps to go, he was still about 15 seconds behind Schrader.
With 14 laps to go, Petty got what he needed when Gant spun and the yellow flag flew again. As the cars bunched up, Petty got right on Schrader's bumper.
There seemed to be only one hope for Schrader: rain. Storm clouds, which had stayed away during race time, were gathering again.
Schrader, on the two-way radio radio to his crew, asked: "Anybody know a rain dance?"
If they did, it didn't work fast enough. The green flag flew again on lap 482 and Petty made his race-winning pass in the third turn.
Ninety minutes later, long after Petty had been doused with Mello Yello soda in Victory Lane by his jubilant crew, the rain began to fall.
Winston Cup/ Points standings/ Through Gpoodwrench 500
1. Dale Earnhardt - 482/ 2. Ricky Rudd - 478/ 3. Harry Gant - 423/ 4. Alan Kulwicki - 414/ 5. Ernie Irvan - 412/ 6. Kyle Petty - 398/ 7. Darrell Waltrip - 385/ 8. Dale Jarrett - 380/ 9. Ken schrader - 379/ 10. Sterling Martin - 377
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB