Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 23, 1994 TAG: 9410250029
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: E-11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ED HARDIN LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: ROCKINGHAM, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
Green avoided 11 crashes, one that happened inches from his Chevrolet, and fought off a brake problem that threatened to end his title run. He finished 12th in the race to win the championship in only his second year on the V-6 tour.
Jamestown's Mark Martin won the race, holding off Michael Waltrip and Ricky Craven.
Green just missed a wreck on the 105th lap, sneaking through an opening that closed behind him.
``I would have liked to have finished eighth or 10th,'' said Green, who needed only a 22nd-place finish or better to clinch the title. ``The car was good enough, but with the problems we had we did fine.''
Green battled brake problems all week - ``they were too good,'' he said - and felt the problem five laps into the 200-lap event.
``I was sick to my stomach,'' he said. ``The brakes drug on the car all day long.''
Green, the pole-sitter, didn't lead a lap. Martin took the lead before the halfway mark and outbattled Dale Earnhardt and Craven, finally passing Craven for good less than 20 laps from the finish.
``That was a close race, really,'' Martin said. ``We out-handled 'em in the long run, but for awhile they could really ride me. I wasn't comfortable with 30 (laps) to go that it was going to be an easy win.''
Martin outran several teams - including Craven's - that took only two tires on the final stop.
THE PITS: The first time Andy Papathanassiou walked into a race track, he had to sneak in. Three days later he was a crew member.
Only in Winston Cup.
On Saturday, Papathanassiou, now a pit crew coach with the DuPont/Jeff Gordon team, watched as his own crew won the UNOCAL Pit Crew Competition at North Carolina Motor Speedway.
The Gordon crew changed four tires and added 14 gallons of gas in a record time of 19.363 seconds to end the two-year reign of Buddy Parrott's Miller/Rusty Wallace team.
Ironically, it was Parrott who hired Papathanassiou in 1991 after the 6-5, 270-pound Stanford football player snuck into Sears Point with no ticket, credentials or garage pass.
There were 29 teams in the annual competition. The Quaker State team and crew chief Donnie Richeson finished second in 20.791 seconds. Parrott's team finished 28th after being assessed 30 seconds in penalties for leaving 10 lug nuts loose.
by CNB