Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, February 21, 1995                   TAG: 9502210079
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DAYTONA BEACH, FLA.                                LENGTH: Medium

AT THE END, THE STRONGEST CAR WAS IN FRONT AT DAYTONA

When Sterling Marlin lost the lead with 38 laps to go in Sunday's Daytona 500, his crew chief, Tony Glover, did not panic.

Marlin found himself trailing Dale Earnhardt, who hungered to break his 17-year jinx in NASCAR's biggest race. Glover told his driver to be patient about trying to pass the formidable No. 3 Chevrolet.

``If you can wait until five laps to go, you'll win this race,'' Glover said.

Marlin's No. 4 Chevrolet Monte Carlo clearly had been the best car at Daytona International Speedway during NASCAR Speedweeks, even though Dale Jarrett had won the pole in his Ford Thunderbird.

And Glover knew that if Marlin could just wait awhile, his superior engine would allow him to prevail as the laps wound down to the final sprint.

And that's just what happened. Marlin's win Sunday, by about three car-lengths over Earnhardt, gave him back-to-back victories in the only race Earnhardt seems unable to win.

Only two other drivers have consecutive victories in the Daytona 500: Richard Petty in 1973-74 and Cale Yarborough in 1983-84.

Actually, Marlin didn't have to wait until five laps to go to dust off Earnhardt. He let Earnhardt keep the lead until lap 180 of the 200-lap event, when he blew past the black Chevy on the backstretch to take the lead for good.

``I can never remember a car being that strong all day long,'' Glover said after the race. ``I think we really had an unfair advantage on the field. The engine ran so great it was hard for another car to pass us.''

A final yellow flag on lap 187 set the stage for the only real dramatics of the race.

Earnhardt dove into the pits for fresh tires. And when the race resumed on lap 190, he was in 14th position.

An almost-apologetic Richard Childress, the owner of Earnhardt's car, told his driver: ``That was about the only chance we had to win this thing.''

Racing fans will long remember Earnhardt's classic charge through the field. He passed cars in clusters, moving from 14th to eighth on lap 190 alone.

By lap 194, he was fifth. And on lap 196, he sliced past Mark Martin on the backstretch to take second.

Earnhardt had four laps to create what would have been one of the greatest victories in Daytona 500 history, but it wasn't to be.

``It really came back to the front, but I needed a little [drafting] help to get by Sterling,'' Earnhardt said. ``He had a strong race car today and he deserved to win.''

Keywords:
AUTO RACING