Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 7, 1994 TAG: 9403070071
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
Irvan proved her wrong Sunday and proved something to himself, crossing the finish line 1.7 seconds ahead of Rusty Wallace and shouting into his radio: "Who said Ican't drive Richmond?"
He led 189 of the 400 laps for his first win of the season, worth $66,175. Afterward, he recalled the parting conversation he had with his wife before heading for Richmond.
"When I got ready to leave the house Thursday, I told her: `Man, you're going to miss victory lane,' " Irvan said. "And she said, `Nah, you won't win there. You don't run good at Richmond.' "
Well, he did finish fourth in the 1991 Miller 400. Aside from that, he usually has fared poorly.
This was his first race at Richmond driving the late Davey Allison's car - the No. 28 Texaco Havoline Ford Thunderbird owned by Robert Yates.
Irvan did exactly what Allison did here last March: He won, beating Wallace.
Jeff Gordon finished third. Dale Earnhardt was fourth and Kyle Petty finished fifth. Behind them were Mark Martin, Rick Mast, Brett Bodine and Terry Labonte, all on the lead lap. Dale Jarrett finished 10th, one lap down.
Irvan took the lead for the first time on lap 106 and dominated the second 100 laps as more than 74,000 spectators looked on.
Just after the halfway point, Wallace showed up to play. His pit crew gave him the lead with a fast yellow-flag pit stop on lap 210, and he dominated the third 100 laps.
In the final quarter, it was Irvan's show. His crew countered Wallace's quick stops with two of their own in the last 50 laps. Irvan took over from there, slowly pulling away from Wallace during the final sprints.
"I kept wondering where Rusty was all day," Irvan said. "I kept looking in my mirror and he was always fifth or sixth. But all of a sudden that one time he beats me out of the pits. And it was like, `Where did he come from.' "
Wallace, meanwhile, continues to duplicate the start of his 1993 season. This year and last, he has crashed at Daytona, won Rockingham and finished second here.
Wallace said his Ford was "just too tight."
"I never could get the car to turn good enough." he said. "We had a good car today. We just missed the spring set-up a tiny bit, and right there at the very end, we aired the tires up for a short run and it got my car pushing real bad. I couldn't run Ernie down. He had a better car."
Gordon's third-place finish came despite a pit mistake that resulted in his left rear wheel falling off on the backstretch on lap 276.
"We were a third-place car most of the day," Gordon said after his best short-track finish. "We were chasing the second-place car down there at the end and just ran out of laps."
Earnhardt's fourth-place finish was the stuff championships are made of. He led 10 laps. He was never a threat to win, but he was never far off the pace.
"We were a little off all day," he said. "We never could get it exactly right, but we hung in there tough all day."
by CNB