Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 14, 1993 TAG: 9302140124
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. LENGTH: Medium
THAT'S 4 IN A ROW FOR DALE EARNHARDT
Dale Earnhardt won his fourth consecutive Goody's 300 in a typical, dominating fashion Saturday at Daytona International Speedway, leading 87 of 120 laps and cruising unchallenged under the checkered flag.Earnhardt beat pole winner Ken Schrader by a car length, but it wasn't close. Schrader was unable to mount any charge in the final laps.
Harry Gant was third and Terry Labonte finished fourth as the Winston Cup drivers again gave the Grand National regulars a driving lesson. Tracy Leslie's fifth-place finish was the best for a GN driver.
"Schrader and those guys were shooting at us back there and trying to do something, but we had just enough to hold them off," Earnhardt said. "Schrader couldn't get at me that good because I used up the race track.
"They [Gant and Labonte] were trying to draft by him, too, so he had his hands full with Harry and Terry."
Schrader had a great reply after the race when he was asked if he has learned anything about passing strategy at Daytona.
"You're asking the wrong person, obviously," he said. "I was second with 18 laps left and I'm still second.
"I probably messed up when we took the white flag because Gant had a run [at Earnhardt] and I probably should have gone with him."
Crashes, not racing, provided the most action. No one was hurt.
The 44-car field drove 100 miles without incident, then Todd Bodine brought out the first yellow flag on lap 40 when he crashed in turn 2 and took three other cars with him.
Twenty-five laps later, there was a six-car crash in turn 2 that took out Davey Allison, Bill Elliott, Jimmy Spencer and Robert Pressley, among others.
And on lap 71, a three-car crash knocked out Michael Waltrip, who had been running in the top five since the start of the race.
Waltrip said: "The car in front of me slid up the race track and there was a big, wide streak of oil. I got in the fluid and spun out. I was having fun. That's the way it goes."
Finally, on lap 108, five middle-of-the-pack cars tangled on the backstretch.
Earnhardt gave former Winston Cup star Neil Bonnett much credit for helping him win his sixth Goody's 300.
"Neil Bonnett tested it for us at Talladega when we were here testing the Winston Cup car, so he helped us out with it," Earnhardt said. "We found out a few little things from last year. The car really drove super and worked great.
"We didn't really learn anything we can use [today in the Daytona 500]. This car is so much lighter than the other one, but it drove about the same as a Winston Cup car. I was real comfortable. I could run high or low. It didn't matter. I could go anywhere I had to go."
Earnhardt won $39,375. The average speed was 146.441 mph, with five yellow flags for 23 laps.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING