Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 5, 1994 TAG: 9406050052
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DOVER, DEL. LENGTH: Medium
Jimmy Spencer finished fourth, followed by pole-winner Ricky Craven.
The race was marred by metal-crunching tire failures that ended the day for Bobby Dotter and Harry Gant and injured Dotter and a crewman.
Wallace took the lead on the 135th of 200 laps during the sixth of eight yellow-flag caution periods. Labonte was right on his rear bumper during the final laps. But Wallace's car was strong, and Labonte was unable to make a pass.
"I don't know how to express it," Wallace said. "It's so great, it's so wonderful. I hope it's the start of many. We've struggled and struggled and we're just thrilled to death.
"The car was good all day," he said. "I had a problem getting into fourth gear on the restart before [the last one], so I pumped the clutch up real good before the last restart and I got a little run on Terry."
Said Labonte: "I just couldn't get a run at him."
There were six accidents, but the most serious were the two involving Dotter and Gant.
Dotter blew a tire in turn 4 on lap 96. His car slammed hard into the outside wall, lost a tire, then hit the inside wall.
The tire jumped the inside wall and hurtled down pit road at a speed that must have exceeded 100 mph. Only one crewman, Robert Owen of Johnny Benson's crew, was over the wall at the time. Owen must have had thoughts about trying to stop the tire, because he stood in its path and did not try to jump out of the way.
The tire mowed him down, knocking his left leg out from under him and slamming him to the pavement.
Owen was reported in fair condition Saturday afternoon at Kent General Hospital with a broken left leg.
Dotter, complaining of shoulder pains, also went to the hospital seeking X-rays. He was supposed to fly to an American Speed Association (ASA) event at I-70 Speedway in Missouri on Saturday night, but those plans appeared to be in jeopardy.
Gant's right-front tire blew with a loud bang in front of the press box above the entrance of the first turn on lap 133. His car slammed hard into the wall, but he was unhurt.
"Well, I hit it a ton. It was hard," Gant said.
Craven, with his fifth-place finish, took the lead in the Grand National championship race and has a 48-point edge over David Green, who finished 15th. Kenny Wallace, who was the leader coming into the race, finished 38th after his engine failed. He dropped to fourth in points.
\ LUCKY 13: Chesapeake's Elton Sawyer finished 13th and on the lead lap, despite an unscheduled pit stop that dropped him to the rear of the field.
"We had a problem with the overflow fuel vent that forced us to make two stops under caution," he said. "That put us way behind. We had an awfully good car, but it was just tough to pass anybody today."
\ SECOND-DAY QUALIFYING: The second round of time trials for today's Budweiser 500 was the least eventful of the 1994 season, even though 11 drivers participated.
Brett Bodine, who messed up his qualifying lap Friday, was the fastest Saturday at 149.944 mph, which would have put him in the fifth starting spot had he done it Friday. He'll start 21st.
Terry Labonte was second fastest at 149.732 mph, followed by Jeff Gordon (149.007 mph). Michael Waltrip, who crashed in practice Friday, was 34th fastest.
The only drivers who failed to make the race were Norm Benning, who was too slow, and Andy Belmont, who blew two Robert Yates motors in practice and was unable to attempt a qualifying lap.
The provisional starting spots went to Mike Wallace and Brad Teague.
\ HOT STREAKS: You want to know how good Ernie Irvan and Dale Earnhardt are right now?
They are tied with an average finish of 5.54 for the first 11 races of the Winston Cup season. By comparison, Earnhardt won last year's points championship with an average finish for the season of 8.20.
And when the late Alan Kulwicki won the 1992 championship, he had an average finish for the 29 races of 10.58.
by CNB