Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 20, 1995 TAG: 9502210055
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DENISE MICHAUX LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. LENGTH: Long
But they didn't and it wasn't.
Despite the fact that he is 0-for-17 in this race and used a powerful 11-lap dash to end the race but came up short again, Dale Earnhardt climbed out of his black Chevrolet Monte Carlo wearing a big smile.
``I'm not supposed to win the damn thing I don't reckon,'' Earnhardt said.
One wonders.
He is the winningest driver on this track with 26 first-place finishes. He won his sixth Busch Clash on Feb.12, his eighth Twin 125 on Thursday and his third IROC race here Friday. He isn't running the Grand National series this season, but he has seven Goody's 300 victories to his credit. Add to that a pair of Pepsi 400s and it would seem Earnhardt has the whole thing figured out.
``We gave it our all,'' said Richard Childress, Earnhardt's car owner. ``I'll take odds that Dale Earnhardt will win the Daytona 500 before his career is over.''
Given the recent history, those still might be pretty long odds.
Earnhardt has finished out of the top five only twice in the past five seasons. He has finished second twice, including Sunday.
He dominated the race in 1990 and '93, but a flat tire in turn 3 on the final lap gave Derrike Cope his first victory in '90 and Dale Jarrett passed him on the final lap to take the checkered flag in '93.
On Sunday, Earnhardt took the lead on lap 163 and stayed there until lap 180, when Sterling Marlin got back around him. The car had developed a bad push and was losing ground when the caution flew on lap 187 of the 200-lap race. The Goodwrench crew had a decision to make. Earnhardt radioed and asked crew chief Andy Petree and Childress what they should do.
Childress and Petree opted for the gamble.
They brought in Earnhardt for a four-tire change, while Marlin and Mark Martin and the rest of the leaders remained on the track. That put Earnhardt 13th for the restart with 11 laps to go.
``It's one of those deals where if you don't gamble, you don't win,'' Childress said. ``Where we were running, we knew we didn't have chance to win, so we decided we go for tires and if we get hung and run 10th that wouldn't be anything to regret because we knew if you didn't gamble you weren't going to win.''
It almost paid off.
Earnhardt weaved his way through the pack with a little bit of drafting help from Terry Labonte and Jeff Gordon and blew past Martin into second place. Had Martin been able to keep up, Earnhardt's chances of challenging Marlin would have increased.
``We were no match for those new tires Dale had,'' Martin said. ``The only thing that held him back was he didn't have anybody to help him when he got by me.''
MORE HEARTBREAK: Earnhardt always comes close to winning here, but doesn't.
At this point Rusty Wallace would be happy with a top-20 finish.
Wallace has not finished better than 27th in this race since 1990, when he was seventh, which tied his previous best finish.
Sunday was no different.
On Lap 159 the caution flag was coming for a spin on the backstretch, but when Wallace, who was running in the top 15, tried to get in line coming through turns 3 and 4, he got moved up into Bobby Hamilton and spun into the wall.
``I went to the bottom of the race track and started to slow down,'' Wallace said. ``And the [No.]43 never lifted [off the gas pedal].
``I just can't get away from rookies that get to crashing out there. It is so aggravating. I had a good car out there today, again, like I have here for five years in a row and this happens.''
Hamilton said: ``I was up on the outside, I think his spotter must have said clear, but I was plum up to his door and I locked on the brakes to keep from getting into him and just clipped him and turned him.''
PROUD FAMILY: Ted Musgrave pleased the staff of The Family Channel blimp, which circled the speedway all afternoon, by driving The Family Channel Ford to a fourth-place finish, the best of his career.
``I finished eighth here one year [1992] and thought that was going to be the highlight of my career,'' Musgrave said. ``Getting in the top five and just being competitive all day long is really it. You might have a statistic that says I finished in the top 10, but it could be due to wrecks. This wasn't. This was no fluke. We ran strong all day.''
BEST BROTHER: Michael Waltrip, who was among the five sets of brothers to start Sunday's race, had his best career finish in the 500, at sixth, and was the only Pontiac driver to lead any laps - two.
``We were fortunate to lead and I wanted to jump on that opportunity and get those five bonus points,'' Waltrip said. ``But we knew when we went in the front that we were probably going to go for a ride toward the back before it was over.''
He did, quickly. The train behind him dived low into turn 1, and when Waltrip tried to go into the turn, his car got loose and never recovered.
The other brothers were the Bodines, Labontes, Wallaces and Burtons.
MUCH IMPROVED: Ward Burton had some anxious moments trying to avoid accidents and he said he didn't need the caution that came out on lap 187, but his 15th-place finish was a big leap over last season, when he failed to make the field.
``If you could have given me 15th this morning, I'd have taken it,'' Burton said. ``But then once I was running in the top 10 I wanted that.''
Burton was trailing Ricky Rudd with no one behind him when the caution came out and his ``biggest problem was the other cars really upset the handling on my car. It just made me push like a freight train going off the corner. I was better when I didn't have anybody behind me, like when Ricky and I were running.''
MAST WINS: Just finishing Sunday's race was a major victory for Rick Mast, who went through seven motors during the 10 days here.
``I feel like I won this sucker,'' Mast said. ``We made it all day, no wrecks, no nothing. We lost oil pressure the last restart and I had to baby it. ... we'll take a 21st and go on to Rockingham.''
Mast had borrowed an engine from Ernie Elliott after blowing up his motor in Thursday's Twin 125 qualifying race.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB