Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 18, 1994 TAG: 9402180240
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. LENGTH: Medium
There were two incidents in each race, including a five-car crash at the start of the second race, but no one was hurt.
In the wake of Neil Bonnett's death here Feb. 11 and Rodney Orr's death Monday, perhaps Rusty Wallace's strong words of caution in the drivers' meeting before the races had an effect.
"These cars don't just flip by themselves or spin out by themselves," Wallace said. "I've been upside down at Daytona and I've been upside down at Talladega, and I'm telling you it hurts.
"If [car owner] Richard Childress loses Dale Earnhardt, he's out of business. If [car owner] Felix Sabates loses Kyle Petty, he's out of business. I think everybody in this room is running scared. I'll tell you, my wife is damn scared. So use your heads, please."
Added Ken Schrader: "We had a reality check this week."
And Winston Cup director Gary Nelson said: "Think about what you're risking vs. the overall big picture in your life. Know the limits of your car. Know your own personal limits. Don't exceed those limits."
Since Thursday's races set the bulk of the field for Sunday's Daytona 500, drivers usually are cautious anyway. And under those conditions, the top Winston Cup drivers thrived.
Earnhardt's victory in the second 50-lap race was his fifth in a row. Sterling Marlin was on his bumper at the end, a tenth of a second behind. With no drafting help behind him, Marlin was unable to mount a serious challenge.
Jeff Gordon was third, followed by Bill Elliott, Brett Bodine, Morgan Shepherd, Michael Waltrip, Derrike Cope, Wally Dallenbach and Ricky Rudd.
Earnhardt led 34 of the 50 laps. And Marlin and Shepherd each led several laps.
"Our car got a little loose in the first part, and then as we went it got looser," Earnhardt said. "We adjusted . . . and got tires, and the adjustments on the car were good.
"Sterling just didn't have any help to draft on me and draft around me. If he'd been in front, I think he would have won. We were pretty equal."
As for the prerace lecture, "it needed to be said," Earnhardt said.
The crash at the start was triggered when Dale Jarrett's Chevrolet did not come up to speed.
As the cars behind Jarrett slowed and steered around him, aging Buddy Baker, who has backed out of two retirements, smacked Jeremy Mayfield's rear bumper. That triggered the mayhem that took out both of them, as well as Ward Burton and Bobby Hillin. Rich Bickle and Steve Grissom also were involved.
In the first race, Irvan beat Wallace to the line by forty-two-hundredths of a second. They were followed by Mark Martin, Terry Labonte, Todd Bodine, Ken Schrader, John Andretti, Chad Little, Robert Pressley and Jimmy Spencer. Besides Irvan, Martin and Wallace also led the race.
"This definitely gives us momentum," Irvan said. "When you win a race here, it gets everybody pumped up. What we learned is we've got to make the car handle a little bit better. [My car] liked to stay to the bottom [of the track], but it was a little loose down there.
"We make the statement every year: It's not the fastest car [that wins], it's the car that can hold it open all day. That's going to be the thing [in the 500], to hold it open, wide-open all day."
The Twin 125s are the final cut for the 500, and a handful of drivers found themselves with nothing on their schedule Sunday. Among those who failed to make the 42-car field for the 500 were Baker and Phil Barkdoll and rookies Joe Nemechek, T.W. Taylor, Steve Grissom, Burton, Rick Carelli and Ritchie Petty.
Jarrett and Bobby Labonte made the field but will start 41st and 42nd in provisional spots.
Petty spun in the tri-oval on lap 13 of the first race, giving NASCAR officials an early glimpse of the performance of their new roof flaps. The flaps, designed to make the cars safer by keeping them on the ground during a spin, appeared to work well. They popped out of the roof and acted as air brakes as Petty spun toward the pits.
Petty's car stayed on the ground, as did Chuck Bown's car in a similar spin during the second race.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB