Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 28, 1994 TAG: 9402280078
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCKINGHAM, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
Wallace led 346 of 492 laps Sunday in his new Ford Thunderbird and was pulling away from Sterling Marlin at the end to win the Goodwrench 500 by 5.15 seconds. Rick Mast of Rockbridge Baths was third - his best finish ever in the NASCAR Winston Cup series.
Behind Mast, the last driver on the lead lap, were Mark Martin, Ernie Irvan, Brett Bodine and Dale Earnhardt, all a lap down.
Wallace's victory, worth $50,385, was his third in a row at the track known as "The Rock." Now that he has won in a Pontiac and in a Ford, what else will he take to victory lane here?
"I told everybody, `Man, we could probably win in a Jaguar out here,' " Wallace said.
Said Robbie Loomis, Wally Dallenbach's crew chief, "I believe Rusty would be tough here in a Volkswagen."
It was Wallace's first victory in a Ford. And the way he dominated, with a car that outhandled the rest of the field, was a strong sign that his off-season switch from Pontiac to Ford will not set him back.
Wallace said he believes the Ford is faster than the Pontiac, but the reason for his victory Sunday was "not the car."
"I think it's the shocks, the springs, our engines, our gearing and, hey, flat good pit stops," he said.
Earnhardt, meanwhile, was a solid second with 14 laps to go when he was foiled by a rare pit mistake.
On lap 478, he radioed to his pit crew and told them he thought his right front tire was going flat.
"It's vibrating like crazy. I've got a tire vibration bad," he said.
Car owner Richard Childress knew what the problem was. Gary DeHart Jr., the team's left-side tire changer, had been unable to fully tighten the lug nuts on the left-rear tire - not the right front - during a yellow-flag stop eight laps earlier.
"David [Smith, the jackman] just couldn't see the left rear, and he thought the guy was finished when he let the car down," Childress said.
Earnhardt had to make an unscheduled pit stop with 10 laps to go and fell a lap behind.
"Well, you can't win a race if you don't tighten your lugnuts," Earnhardt said. "Things happen and it's unfortunate, but it's just one of them deals."
For Mast, this was a rare Sunday when nothing broke. Mast never led a lap and was no match for Wallace, but he was in the top five all afternoon. His best previous career-best finish was a fourth in the 1991 Daytona 500.
"This race is not a bit different than about 20 races last year, but we didn't finish those races," Mast said. "That's the biggest thing for us. We've got to be there at the end."
In the final laps, Mast was hugging Marlin's bumper, but he could not get past.
"I got underneath Sterling there coming off turn 2 [with about three laps to go]," he said. "I had him, but we ran up on a lapped car. It shut me off. That was the shot."
Wallace started 15th, but it didn't take him long to slice through the field. On lap 52, he steered past Martin to take the lead for the first time.
Six laps later, when Richie Bickle spun in turn three, collecting Bill Elliott and Billy Standridge, Wallace had one of his few scares of the afternoon.
"I barely missed [that] one myself . . . " he said. "It was another one of those `Days of Thunder' deals, where the whole corner was full of smoke and you can't see nothing. I went down low, and he stayed up there and I missed him."
Wallace also had a small problem after a restart on lap 417, falling from first to fourth in a matter of seconds.
"I had real low air pressure in the tires and the car pushed out" of the groove in turns 1 and 2, he said. "The pressure wasn't enough and I got outrun on the restart. But I just let the air pressure build back up and I chased 'em down 20 or 30 laps later."
Actually, he retook the lead 17 laps later.
"I was really concerned about Sterling Marlin," Wallace said. "He was really strong. And after winning the Daytona 500 and being on a roll like that, you go into your second race with momentum on your side."
"We were good early, but Rusty just had too much for us," Marlin said. "I don't know what Rusty does here. You can beat him early, but he keeps getting stronger and stronger."
"Our car was just dynamite," Wallace said. "It was loose early in the race, but we did some chassis work and it hooked right back up strong and we were able to get away."
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB