Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 9, 1992 TAG: 9203090051
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Long
Kulwicki was 18 inches short of an upset victory at the checkered flag after dueling side-by-side with Elliott on the last lap.
"I was hoping that was the last lap because I don't think I could have stood another one," Elliott said. "I saw Kulwicki coming, and I knew he was going to be the car to beat."
Harry Gant was third after leading 48 of the 400 laps. At the end, his Oldsmobile was no match for the Fords, which have won seven races in a row.
Davey Allison was fourth, followed by Darrell Waltrip and Ricky Rudd, the only other drivers on the lead lap.
Elliott and his new boss, car owner Junior Johnson, won enough money to keep their bankers busy.
In addition to the first-place prize of $75,100, the team won a Unocal Challenge bonus of $197,600 for winning the race from the pole position. And theFord Motor Company will be paying the team $50,000 for the victory and $5,000 for the pole.
That's $327,700 in all, or $18,205.55 for each inch that Elliott was ahead of Kulwicki.
But racers don't pay much attention to the prize money. It's the win that counts, and that was particularly obvious in the glum expression on Kulwicki's face when he stepped out of the back of his hauler to meet the press after the race.
"I just - damn, we were so close," Kulwicki said. "It worked out good for them, but I'm really disappointed. To not win but by a couple of inches. That would have meant just an awful lot.
"Maybe I should be happy with second, but it's tough to take. It's the win, the points, the money, the pride, the satisfaction - the whole deal."
The race statistics left the impression that Elliott walked away with this 300-mile race. He led 348 of the 400 laps, including the final 131. Kulwicki never led a lap.
But that last lap was breathtakingly close.
Elliott and Kulwicki were door-to-door as they sped around the 3/4-mile oval. Kulwicki even nosed ahead for a moment. The cars were even 200 yards from the finish line - Kulwicki on the inside, Elliott on the outside. The cars were bouncing against each other.
But as starter Doyle Ford began waving the checkered flag, Elliott edged ahead.
Elliott could see he had won.
"His right front tire was about at the back of my left front tire," Elliott said.
Kulwicki didn't know.
"Who won?" he radioed to his crew.
Both drivers agreed that the final lap was good, clean racing.
"I gave him a lot of racing room," said Elliott. "I gave him everything I could give him. But I wasn't going to give him the race. I knew I couldn't make a mistake. That was the only way I was going to win this race."
Said Kulwicki: "The last couple of laps were side-by-side and it was pretty good clean racing. We ran side-by-side and never touched until the last hundred feet."
The final showdown began to develop after the fourth and final caution period in a remarkably trouble-free race.
The caution came on lap 341 after Mark Martin was tapped in the rear by Rick Mast and hit the wall in turn 4. Aside from a spin by Brett Bodine, Martin had the only accident of the day.
When the green flag flew on lap 347, Elliott was leading and Kulwicki was fourth, trailing Waltrip and Gant.
Kulwicki passed Waltrip on lap 358 and edged by Gant eight laps later.
Meanwhile, Sterling Marlin, a lap down, was dicing with Elliott.
Johnson, who also owns Marlin's car, put a stop to that.
"There wasn't any sense in Sterling running side-by-side with Bill trying to get his lap back with so little time remaining," Johnson said. "I told Sterling to fall in behind Bill. If they'd been on the same lap, I'd have let them go at it."
By lap 380, Elliott, Marlin and Kulwicki were running nose to tail.
Marlin was in a position to cause Kulwicki plenty of trouble, but he moved aside in the first turn of lap 388 and let Kulwicki go by.
"Sure, I would have liked for [Marlin] to hold him up," Elliott said. "But I wanted to beat [Kulwicki] fair and square to the finish line."
Marlin "may have held me up a couple of laps, but I guess that was to be expected," said Kulwicki. "He was [Elliott's] teammate, and he really could have tried to screw me around. But he moved over and played fair. He didn't do anything dirty."
When Marlin moved aside, Kulwicki's crew could hardly contain their excitement.
On the radio, they told Kulwicki it was up to him now. They told him to keep digging. They told him to go get Elliott. They told him not to give up.
Kulwicki finally reached his limit with the cheerleading. With two laps to go, as he raced side-by-side with Elliott, he told his crew to shut up.
In the end, it didn't make any difference.
With two victories in a row from his new driver, Johnson is beginning to experience a reprise of the glory days he had in past years with Darrell Waltrip and Cale Yarborough.
And Elliott has a new lease on his racing life.
In the press box after the race, the driver turned to his boss and said, "If I had known it would be like this, Junior, I would have probably been [with you] several years earlier."
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB