Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, September 5, 1994 TAG: 9409060068
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DARLINGTON, S. C. LENGTH: Medium
But even Martin may be wondering why fate made his overheating engine blow up, while it allowed Bill Elliott's overheating engine to carry him to victory Sunday in the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.
Martin had led 105 of the 367 laps and was in front with 26 laps to go in the NASCAR Winston Cup race when his engine belched smoke and gave up the ghost.
``We were sure looking awful good there, but too much water temperature finally burned it up,'' he said. ``It was overheating. It finally burned up.''
There was a touch of irony to all of this.
During Martin's final yellow-flag pit stop on lap 298, he dropped from second to third, allowing Elliott to move up a spot, while his team took extra seconds to try to cool the engine.
Martin wondered whether that was a good move. But crew chief Steve Hmiel told him not to worry because Elliott's engine was in worse shape. ``He's been hot longer than we have,'' Hmiel said during the stop.
Martin finished 25th and dropped from second to third in Winston Cup points, falling behind Rusty Wallace, who also survived overheating problems to finish one lap down in seventh.
Dale Earnhardt, meanwhile, never had any overheating problems. But while he led 87 laps, his car wasn't handling well at the end of the race.
``Bill was just too strong right there at the end,'' Earnhardt said. ``Our car was just a little bit too loose. It just wasn't what it had been.''
Earnhardt has a 227-point lead over Wallace, with Martin 283 points off the lead.
But the most impressive move in the points was by Ricky Rudd, the master of consistency, who had another strong run to finish fourth. The Chesapeake driver jumped from sixth to fourth in the points, 395 behind Earnhardt.
WALL-BANGERS: Of the six yellow flags, two were for single-car crashes into the outside wall at the finish line.
Brett Bodine went in first, smacking the wall on lap 12.
It started when Bodine ran into the back of Jeff Gordon coming out of turn 4, causing Gordon to brush the wall. On the rebound, Gordon clipped Bodine's right rear, sending Bodine into the cement nose-first.
Gordon regained control and went on to a sixth-place finish, but Bodine's day was ruined. He ran 290 laps, but finished 29th.
``I hate it that I messed up Jeff,'' Bodine said. ``He got a little loose and I got into him. I didn't want to get up into him. I was overanxious, I guess. It was just a bad move on my part.''
On lap 184, Jimmy Spencer went into the wall at about the same spot after being tapped from behind by Steve Grissom.Spencer finished 37th.
TOUGH DAY FOR GEOFF: It wasn't enough that pole-winner Geoff Bodine had to pit every 25 laps or so to get new tires. It wasn't enough that he faded quickly after leading the first six laps. It wasn't enough that his engine blew up after 323 laps, relegating him to a 27th-place finish.
After the race, NASCAR officials fined him $1,000, payable at Richmond before this week's action, for putting right-side tires on the left side of his car.
by CNB