Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, September 13, 1993 TAG: 9309130016
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
"I love Saturday night racing," Rudd said after the race at Richmond International Raceway. "I'm ready to go again. This is what racing is all about."
Rusty Wallace stayed in front of the explosion of late-race fireworks to win by three car lengths over Bill Elliott. Wallace had vented his anger long before the end, vociferously protesting a stop-and-go penalty NASCAR officials ordered on lap 92 after accusing him of brake-checking the field on a restart and then jumping the green flag.
The 400-lap race was relatively clean most of the way, but at the end, the record Virginia sports crowd estimated at 74,500 got what it came for: a wild and wooly fender fest in the final 50 laps with a bracer of close racing.
There were four yellow flags in the first 352 laps - and four in the final 48.
Rudd got the wild stuff started.
Racing near the front on lap 352, he tapped the lapped car of Derrike Cope on the backstretch and Cope spun into the inside wall.
"I owe that boy one," Cope said angrily. "I guess he needed a caution."
Cope's wrecked car still was on the track when fate extracted its own revenge.
Two laps later, after a round of pit stops, Rudd rocketed out of the pits at the same time as Dale Earnhardt, and Earnhardt's left rear hit Rudd's right front, sending Rudd into a spin and dropping him to the back of the line of cars on the lead lap.
"I've got one for that boy," Rudd said of Earnhardt. "I'll get him if I can get up there."
Then, on lap 360, Jeff Gordon suddenly went high and slowed in turns three and four while battling for a top-five position and watched everybody pass him while he tried to get back up to speed.
"What happened? What happened?" asked crew chief Ray Evernham.
"Mark [Martin] pushed me up into the crap!" Gordon said, adding some expletives.
On lap 382, Dick Trickle spun down the frontstretch. With the field bunched again, the next yellow was just around the corner.
Harry Gant spun in turn 2 on lap 387, apparently after Earnhardt tapped him. The pack slowed, and Bobby Hillin hit Phil Parsons, spinning him. Hillin forged ahead, ran into a cloud of smoke and slammed into Gant.
"Boy, I about broke my neck," Gant said. "Bobby Hillin hit me full bore."
With four laps left, Trickle spun again, this time in the first turn.
That led to a two-lap sprint to the finish, and this time Earnhardt was punished by the lapped car driven by Ken Schrader, who wouldn't let Earnhardt by to battle for second with Elliott.
Pole-winner Bobby Labonte, who finished 13th, summed it up: "Those last few laps were typical Saturday night short-track racing, with a lot of slamming going on."
by CNB