Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 28, 1993 TAG: 9303280148
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DARLINGTON, S.C. LENGTH: Long
Pressley replied, "You ought to be in it."
Gant then offered Pressley some chassis advice. And Pressley used that information to hold off Gant and win his second Mark III Vans 200 in a row.
"We tried to get the other two legs working with it," Pressley said. "And it worked good."
Terry Labonte finished third, followed by Ward Burton and Todd Bodine.
It was not as exciting as last year's event, when Pressley passed Gant on the last lap to win. But for Pressley, it came close.
"I was a wavin' and a swervin' and doing everything I could to prevent Harry from getting underneath me on the backstretch," Pressley said. "The only thing you can do is run the same groove he does and try to get his momentum turned around."
Gant said: "I'd catch him and I'd be out of tires. And then he'd be out of tires. But he could keep the groove."
Pressley did not say exactly what advice Gant gave him, but he huddled with crew chief Ricky Pearson and said: "Let's try it. Man, he knows what he's talking about" at Darlington.
Before the delay of an hour and five minutes, which came at lap 45, Pressley was in fifth place. After the race resumed, he was in second. He took the lead from Joe Nemechek on lap 75 when Nemechek scraped the wall in turn 3.
Then, for much of the rest of the race, Gant was on or near Pressley's rear bumper. Gant fell back for a time after cutting a tire, but he closed relentlessly for the final challenge.
Mark Martin led 36 of the first 45 laps, but his car began overheating and he eventually dropped out.
The start of the race also was delayed by rain, and the race began under caution. When green-flag action began on lap 5, there was a six-car crash in turns 3 and 4 triggered when Bobby Dotter's car was hit by another and spun in front of the pack. No one was hurt.
David Green finished sixth to retain his lead in the Grand National points standings. With his eighth career victory, Pressley moved into second, 32 points behind Green.
\ NO QUALIFYING: Winston Cup qualifying was canceled Saturday, and the 39-car field will start today's TranSouth 500 at 1 p.m. in order of the Winston Cup points standings.
Dale Earnhardt is on the pole in his Chevrolet Lumina, with Geoff Bodine starting second in his Ford Thunderbird. Rusty Wallace and Dale Jarrett start in the second row, followed by rookie Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin.
Although Earnhardt does not get credit for winning the pole, it's a good bet he would have won it had qualifying been held. Earnhardt unofficially broke the track record during practice Friday with the first-ever lap under 30 seconds at Darlington.
Rain, however, washed out Friday's qualifying session. Qualifying was rescheduled for 8:30 a.m. Saturday, but the track remained wet until mid-morning.
Then, during the first Winston Cup practice of the day, Jimmy Spencer slammed the turn 1 wall in his Ford Thunderbird. He was not hurt, but the car was. Spencer said something broke going into the turn. Spencer will have to drive a backup car in today's race, which means he starts from the back of the field.
The biggest losers after the qualifying rainout were those who are 24th or lower in points, including Darrell Waltrip, Bill Elliott, Rick Wilson, Rick Mast and rookies Bobby Labonte and Kenny Wallace.
Those drivers will have to pit on Darlington's backstretch, which is a distinct disadvantage during yellow-flag pit stops because the drivers lose track position.
\ BORING: The first International Race of Champions at Darlington Raceway was one of the dullest IROC races ever.
An understatement would be to say the 60-lap event, won by Davey Allison, failed to live up to its hype.
Two of the 12 drivers in the series - Al Unser Jr. and Arie Luyendyk - did not participate, reportedly because of injuries from Indy car test crashes. And the fellow who finished second, Earnhardt, isn't even in the IROC series this year.
Allison led the final 49 laps to beat Earnhardt by .63 seconds, about seven car lengths. Harry Gant was third.
Pole sitter Al Unser Sr. led the first two laps. He was passed by Alan Kulwicki, who led nine laps until the engine on his Dodge Daytona failed, giving Allison the lead for good.
"Once I got to Kulwicki, it felt like I was going to be able to run with him," Allison said. "I don't know if I'd been able to pass him or not, but it would have been fun to try. As far as Earnhardt was concerned, I was hoping these old Goodyears would hold him off, and they did."
As expected, the NASCAR stars overwhelmed the road racers and Indy car drivers. Except for those who dropped out, every NASCAR driver beat all the road racers and Indy car drivers. Juan Fangio's sixth-place finish was the highest for a non-NASCAR driver.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB