Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 28, 1993 TAG: 9302280036
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ROCKINGHAM, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
MARTIN GETS THE DAILY DOUBLE WITH GN VICTORY
Mark Martin completed an impressive double Saturday with a runaway victory in the Goodwrench 200 Busch Grand National stock car race.That win came only about two hours after Martin won the pole position for today's Goodwrench 500 NASCAR Winston Cup race on the same 1.017-mile oval at North Carolina Motor Speedway.
Martin, who won the Grand National race on the same track in October, started his Jack Roush-prepared Ford Thunderbird 17th in the 42-car field, but quickly moved up through the pack, taking the lead on lap 54 and holding it the rest of the way in the 197-lap event. He led 144 laps, winning by 6.4 seconds.
"It's the same car as we won with last year, but it's got a new body on it," Martin said. "The setup was identical to what it was last year. It was a little loose last year and it was a little tight today, but I just didn't want to mess with it at all because it was real fast and we could run on those Goodyear tires all day long."
The winner averaged 113.032 mph in the race slowed by five caution flags for a total of 33 laps.
Grand National regular Robert Pressley, who led early in the race, was second, followed by NASCAR star Dale Earnhardt, who won the Grand National opener two weeks ago in Daytona Beach, Fla.
Steve Grissom, David Green and Tom Peck, all series regulars, were the only other drivers on the lead lap at the end.
Qualifying for Saturday's race was wiped out by rain on Friday, and the field was set by a combination of last season's final car-owner points and race entry blanks.
Defending series champion Joe Nemechek started from the pole, but faded quickly, finishing 10th, a lap behind the leaders.
Todd Bodine, who started on the outside of the front row, was running comfortably in fourth place on lap 102 when his car suddenly slipped to the right and scooted up the banking, hitting the wall head-on. Bodine, the 1992 series runner-up, was taken to Moore Regional Hospital in nearby Pinehurst for precautionary X-rays after complaining about pain in his neck and left side.
A crowd estimated at more than 25,000 turned out for the race despite temperatures in the low 40s and a brisk wind that made it feel considerably colder.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING