Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 21, 1994 TAG: 9402210189
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. LENGTH: Medium
This time, the handwriting was on the wall for Earnhardt by the halfway point, as he rode the high groove through the turns to try to get the most out of a car that was loose in the turns.
Although he led 45 laps - second only to Ernie Irvan's 84 - Earnhardt was never in front during the final 50 laps. At the end, he had lost the lead draft and faded to seventh.
"What can you say?" he said. "I just didn't have the car to win it this year. We'd won three in a row [Twin 125, IROC and Goody's 300], but I didn't think we'd used up all our luck."
Earnhardt's last gasp came on lap 183, when hewas third behind eventual winner Sterling Marlin and Terry Labonte.
But going through turn 2 on the next lap, Earnhardt came up on Dave Marcis and another lapped driver going side by side. He had to go between them. When he did, his Chevy became loose. He nearly tapped the wall, had to get off the gas and fell to seventh place.
"Traffic got us, but we were so loose anyway," he said. "I don't think I could have done anything with 'em. Last year, we should have run our Busch Clash car [his backup car] in the 500, and looking back, maybe this year we should have run the Busch Clash car in the 500.
"This is not the end of the world. We'll come back next year to Daytona and try to win the 500 again. I'll be another year older, but that's the only way I can look at it right now."
\ WALLACE CRASHES: Rusty Wallace's bad luck continued at Daytona International Speedway. Last year he flipped down the backstretch and finished 32nd. With a decent finish in the season-opener, he could have won the Winston Cup championship.
This year, he finished 41st. He wrecked again but at least stayed on his wheels.
The crash occurred on the 63rd lap when Robert Pressley was bumped into the outside wall in turn 4.
"I picked a hole and was going for it, but Hut [Stricklin] couldn't get slowed down and got into the rear of me," Wallace said. "It wasn't his fault. It was just one of those deals.
"Two weeks of all this stuff always ends up for me this way, at least the last four races down here."
The crash also involved Kyle Petty, Bobby Hillin, Harry Gant, Rick Mast, Chuck Bown, Jeff Burton (who spun but didn't hit anything) and John Andretti.
The second accident occurred on lap 80, when Todd Bodine, after leading seven laps, got together with Jeff Gordon on the backstretch and was punted into the outside wall.
More than 10 cars managed to get past Bodine's spinning car before the wreck became worse. Jimmy Spencer was on the apron, trying to avoid trouble, when Bodine's car slid down in front of him.
"He was sitting in the middle of my path," Spencer said. "I had to hit him in the door or turn hard to the right, so I turned back up the track to keep from hitting Todd in the door."
Unfortunately, Spencer turned into Michael Waltrip's path and those two cars collected Brett Bodine and Ted Musgrave.
No one was hurt in either accident.
\ HENSLEY GASSED: After finishing 15th, one lap down, Jimmy Hensley became dizzy after he crawled out of his Ford and was administered oxygen as he lay on the floor of his race car hauler.
"I'm OK," he said later. "I got a little gas. I started smelling fumes with about 60 laps to go. I was just hanging on. But it was good. We finished in the top 15. Even though it wasn't pretty, we hung on."
\ MAST'S LONG DAY: Although Mast only received minor damage when he was involved in the first wreck on lap 63, it was enough to end his chances. He finished 27th, three laps down.
"We were in pretty good shape," he said. "We adjusted the car on that first stop and finally went the right way for once. We run that pack down and as soon as we caught them, somebody spun coming off of turn 4 and we got into the wreck. We rode around after that."
\ BURTON 26TH: Burton had handling problems all afternoon and finished 26th, three laps down. "We didn't run well," he said. "We didn't get through the corners well at all. The motor ran good, but we didn't spend enough time on Goodyears to get the car working well."
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB