Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 25, 1993 TAG: 9307250103
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: E9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: TALLADEGA, ALA. LENGTH: Medium
It also reconfirmed that Dale Earnhardt is the best at superspeedway racing.
While Richard Lasater's Chevy tumbled, Ernie Irvan's Chevy sailed and Joe Nemechek's Chevy thought about getting up in the air, Dale Earnhardt kept his Chevy's tires firmly on the hard asphalt of the 2.66-mile speedway to win by three car lengths over Randy LaJoie.
In a wild final lap, Irvan challenged for second, only to be tapped by Tracy Leslie coming off turn two and went spinning into the grass along the backstretch. The backend of Irvan's car took off, reaching a 45-degree angle to the ground before slamming back down on all four wheels and hitting the inner wall.
Leslie then tried to charge below Earnhardt through turn 4.
"That 72 car [Leslie] was pretty wild all day," Earnhardt said. "He flat just turned Ernie around coming off [turn] 2. I thought he was going to get me coming off 4, but that 20 [LaJoie] got to racing him and took his mind off me. We were just sort of hanging on there and trying to outduel 'em."
Irvan added: "I just closed my eyes and the car came down on all four wheels. It felt like it went kind of high . . . "
Earnhardt led 60 of the 117 laps, but a late-race caution bunched the field and set up a another wild Talladega finish. Earnhardt stayed in front to win his fifth of the past six Grand National superspeedway races.
After the day's five accidents, only Lasater had to be taken to an area hospital, where an X-ray of his sore left shoulder showed no break.
Lasater was banged up in a four-car accident entering turn 1 on lap 70 that also involved Jim Bown, Dale Jarrett and Mark Martin. Lasater's car flipped onto its roof, slid up the banking into the outside wall, slid back down the banking and tumbled three times when it hit the flat.
Nemechek almost went airborne when he spun down the backstretch on lap 37.
There were 24 lead changes among eight drivers.
\ MARLIN LEADS QUALIFIERS: Sterling Marlin led second day qualifying for today's DieHard 500, improving on his Friday speed by more than a mile per hour to jump from 33rd to 22nd on the starting grid.
Marlin went from 188.189 mph Thursday to 189.451 mph Saturday as 13 others drivers battled to make a 40-car field.
Among those who failed: Bobby Labonte, Dave Marcis, Buddy Baker and Bobby Hamilton. But as regular competitors, Marcis and Labonte earned provisional starting spots at the back of the pack to swell the field to 42 cars.
It was quite a fight to make the race, and one driver breathing a sigh of relief afterwards was Ritchie Petty, son of Maurice Petty, Richard's brother.
The young Petty was 37th fastest Friday, with a speed of 187.280. But with so many others trying again Saturday, he decided he couldn't afford to sit on his Friday time. He went again, ran 187.269, and squeaked into the field at 39th.
Afterwards, standing in the heat of the open-air garage, Petty said, "All of this sweat ain't just from the heat.
"It's getting tougher and tougher to make these races. If we'd run what we did qualifying here in May, we wouldn't have made the field."
\ NEW TESTING RULES: NASCAR has introduced new testing rules designed to force a more normal lifestyle on the workaholic Winston Cup teams. It has banned all testing from the end of the season on Nov. 14 through the end of the year, eliminating the traditional December tests at Daytona.
It also has limited private testing in 1994 to seven sessions, with open practices, such as the ones at Daytona in January, counting as one session. Multi-day tests, up to four days, will be counted as one session. Rookies can have 10 tests.
Teams that violate the rule will be fined, forced to miss the first day of practice and qualifying at the next race, and forced to start at the rear of the field.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB