Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, August 16, 1993 TAG: 9308160068
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BROOKLYN, MICH. LENGTH: Medium
For the first 18 NASCAR Winston Cup races this season, Martin was the hard-luck guy, running at or near the front only to see something go wrong - something like a blown engine or an empty gas tank.
Martin's fortunes improved Aug. 8 - he won on the road course at Watkins Glen, N.Y., when leaders Kyle Petty and Dale Earnhardt crashed late in the race - and they kept getting better Sunday.
Martin won the Champion Spark Plug 400 in convincing fashion, racing away from the pack in the second half to stretch his winning streak to two races.
"We're on the fortunate side of luck right now," Martin said. "Things are kind of going our way.
"Before we won at Watkins Glen last week, I would have given anything to just win one. But as crazy hard as I was running out there today, I guess you just get greedy for more."
Ricky Rudd was the class of the field in the first half of the 200-lap race on Michigan International Speedway's two-mile, high-banked oval, leading 86 of 104 laps before a cracked engine block ended his day.
"You can't start feeling sorry for yourself," said the Chesapeake driver. "Every time I do, I just look at what's been happening to Mark, and then it doesn't seem so bad."
Martin took over then in his Ford Thunderbird, leading 81 of the last 96 laps, including the final 34. His strength was reminiscent of the June race at Michigan, when he led five times for 141 laps but ran out of gas on lap 192.
He wound up sixth that day.
Martin ran out of gas again Sunday, but this time it came during an early round of green-flag pit stops and barely slowed his charge to the front.
Knowing he wasn't getting the kind of mileage that some of his competitors were, Martin knew his Roush Racing team needed a late caution flag to be certain of reaching the finish. Crew chief Steve Hmiel kept Martin on top of the situation, and in a good frame of mind, and luck stayed on their side.
"Steve kept telling me it couldn't happen again and there would be more cautions. But I was sure it could," Martin said.
Hmiel was right. There were three more cautions, Martin was able to pit under the yellow flag and he made it to the end with no problem, completing his ninth victory.
Morgan Shepherd passed precocious 22-year-old rookie Jeff Gordon on lap 196 to finish second, with Dale Jarrett finishing fourth and Ted Musgrave winning a three-wide battle at the line for fifth.
Rusty Wallace was sixth and Lake Speed, in his second race as the replacement for the late Davey Allison, finished seventh.
Five-time Winston Cup champion and current series leader Dale Earnhardt had a flat tire while running second on lap 140 and lost a lap in the pits. He finished ninth.
"Cutting that tire was unlucky, but then we got lucky and finished ninth," he said. "We had better than a ninth-place car, but you can't complain too much with a top 10 finish after being a lap down."
Earnhardt went into Sunday's race with a lead of 281 points over Jarrett and came away with a 259-point margin. Martin is fourth, 342 points behind Earnhardt with 10 races remaining.
"Well, you know Dale Earnhardt and that team will have to spend a lot of time on Sundays in the garage area for us to catch him," Martin said.
"I've been saying all along this points race isn't over," Earnhardt said. "Today was proof that anything can happen."
Martin, who averaged 144.564 mph, earned $76,645 after beating Shepherd to the finish by 1.69 seconds.
There were a series of single-car crashes in the race, including one that took out record-setting pole-winner Ken Schrader, but no injuries were reported.
The crowd, estimated at 105,000, was a record for the Michigan track.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB