Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 16, 1994 TAG: 9404160025
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
"We just worked on the car real hard to take care of the right-front tire," said Richard Childress, the team's owner. "Actually, we had a couple of tires that chunked a little bit at Darlington, but it was nothing serious.
"We really worked on getting the car where it was real easy on that right-front tire. And it worked. It worked good."
\ JUNIOR JUNIOR: Robert Glen Johnson III, the 8-month-old son of NASCAR legend Junior Johnson, made his track debut here Friday with his mother, Lisa.
"Yeah, this is the first time he's been to a race track, and I think he enjoyed the heck out of it," Junior Johnson said at his home track. "The last two things he had in his hands were these," he said, showing a pair of earplugs.
Is Robert III going to be a stock car driver?
"I hope not," his father said.
\ SPENCER HEALING: Jimmy Spencer said the shoulder he fractured in a crash during testing here in March will be healed in another week.
"It feels pretty good," he said. "It wasn't too bad at all at Bristol. Even though I didn't finish the race, I don't think it would have been a problem."
\ ALL-NIGHT DRIVE: With his North Wilkesboro car in the race hauler, Greg Sacks did a Hoosier tire test Thursday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. After the test was completed in mid-afternoon, truck driver Ben Holm hopped in the cab and did an all-night, 12-hour drive to arrive here at 6 a.m. Friday, when the track opened. The car Sacks used to test at Indy is his backup car for the race here.
\ MODIFIED RACE: Today's schedule includes the Lowe's 150 modified race at 1 p.m. Pole-winner Gary Myers will lead a field of 25 cars, mostly from North Carolina, to the green flag.
Myers' pole-winning lap of 119.962 mph was faster than the qualifying lap of First Union 400 pole-winner Ernie Irvan (119.016 mph).
\ EARLY-SEASON STATS: Six races into the 1994 season, Dale Earnhardt is atop the two most important statistical categories in Winston Cup racing - championship points and miles finished.
Earnhardt has the most championship points (964) and the fewest unfinished miles (5.58).
Ken Schrader is the only driver who is close to Earnhardt in unfinished miles. Schrader has run all but 8.37 of the 2,466.3 miles raced this year.
Since the championship points system rewards consistency above all else, the driver with the most miles finished is bound to be near the top in points.
Ernie Irvan, who has two victories, has led the most miles (699.5). Rusty Wallace is second in that category (544.57), followed by Earnhardt (460.5) - the only other two-time winner in 1994. Wallace is first in laps led (580), followed by Irvan (504), Earnhardt (420) and Geoff Bodine (173).
No one has led in all six races this year, but Earnhardt and Mark Martin each have led five of them. Twenty-four drivers have led at least one lap.
In the points race, Lake Speed has made the most impressive early-season move, jumping from 17th to fifth in the past five races on the strength of top 10 finishes in the past three races. Terry Labonte has been going the other way, falling from third after the Daytona 500 to 12th.
\ SPEED'S FAME: Lake Speed, who raced Go Karts for 19 years, has been inducted into the World Karting Pro Kart Challenge Association Hall of Fame. In 1978, the Mississippi native, who now lives in Kannapolis, N.C., became the only American to win the FIA World Karting Championship. He left karting in 1980 to form his own Winston Cup team and now drives the Ford Thunderbird owned by Bud Moore.
by CNB