Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, September 11, 1993 TAG: 9309110214
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
It was Martin's seventh victory in the past nine NASCAR Grand National and Winston Cup races. And he didn't enter the two he didn't win - the New Hampshire and Bristol Grand National races.
Martin was as laconic as he's ever been on the radio after he took the checkered flag.
"All right, guys, you did good tonight," he told his crew. "We hung in there."
Hung in there?
That's like saying Joe Montana hung in there during his Super Bowl victories.
Tracy Leslie was second, after starting the race from the rear of the field.
"We had to go to the rear because we missed the driver's meeting," Leslie said. "My fault. Nobody else's. I thought we had something for Mark, but he was just too tough today."
Hermie Sadler finished third, followed - in order - by Rick Mast, Bill Elliott, Bobby Dotter and David Green. They were the only cars on the lead lap.
Martin's victory sets the stage for a potential fifth consecutive Winston Cup victory tonight in the Miller Genuine Draft 400. That feat is unprecedented in the 21 years of the modern era in NASCAR's top series.
"I don't know, it's hard to believe," said Martin, who has had so many winner's interviews lately that he's running out of things to say. "Things are just going well for us. There were a lot of cars running good that could have had a shot to beat us. But we just kept getting better the longer we would run on a set of tires.
"We're just on a roll. It's like we can't do anything wrong."
Given Martin's dominating performance, the battle to qualify for the race was far more intense than the race itself.
Fifty-two cars were entered in a race that offered 34 starting positions, ensuring that a lot of good drivers would go home early.
Chuck Bown won the pole Friday afternoon with a speed of 120.903, but he never led a lap. Joe Nemechek, who was second fastest in qualifying, took the lead on the first lap and led for 23 trips around the track before Martin got by him. Bown eventually finished 14th, while Nemechek was 11th.
Among those who made the field were North Carolina newcomers Michael Ritch of High Point and Nathan Buttke of Randleman, as well as former series regular Elton Sawyer, a native of Chesapeake. In the race, Ritch was 30th, Buttke finished 27th and Sawyer was 25th - after a strong early run.
Jeff Burton and Tom Peck were the luckiest non-qualifiers. They received provisional starts to fill the field to 36 cars. Mike Wallace also had good fortune, starting the race in Jimmy Spencer's car.
The hardest hard-luck story belonged to Tommy Houston. The veteran driver was too slow on his first qualifying lap and crashed on his second. Houston had been in every race - 350 of them - since the GN division was formed in 1982. But Mast came to the rescue, letting Houston start the race in his car. Mast took over during the second caution period and had a strong run to finish fourth.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB