Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 6, 1995 TAG: 9503070039
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DENISE MICHAUX LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
And for one afternoon in February it looked as if they might live up to those expectations, as Jarrett drove his Ford to the pole position for the Daytona 500.
Later that day, however, Jarrett was having problems drafting and running in traffic during practice sessions. On race day, he lost the lead on the first lap.
Jarrett has yet to lead a lap this season, but during Sunday's Pontiac Excitement 400 at Richmond International Raceway, he thought his team had put together a Ford that might be able to run with the Chevrolets, which have won all three races this year.
Jarrett spun out on lap 85 of the 400-lap event, but a good pit stop improved the car and he found himself in fifth position by lap 271 and moving up quickly.
That all changed on lap 272, when Jarrett ran over an exhaust pipe that had fallen off Joe Nemechek's car.
Jarrett saw Ward Burton swerve in turn 3, but Jarrett was running next to Robert Pressley and had nowhere to go but over the pipe. The right-front tire blew out, sending Jarrett and Pressley into the wall.
The frustration and disappointment were apparent in Jarrett's voice as he told his crew over the radio that ``we're pretty tore up.'' He got back onto the track and cruised around to a 25th-place finish.
``We had a capable car,'' Jarrett said. ``If people would learn how to weld their stuff on [so] it wouldn't fall off, we would be OK.''
Jarrett believes some teams are using lighter bolts on their cars due to 100-pound weight reductions.
"You give up something," Jarrett said. "When you put something lighter on the body, you give up something and things are going to fall off.''
Now, it's off to Atlanta, where "we'll be chasing the Chevys again, I guess," Jarrett said. "It's the same old story."
NO BONUS BUCKS: Pole-sitter Jeff Gordon started going backwards in a hurry on lap 107, and the team still doesn't know why.
``I don't know what happened,'' Gordon said. ``She just died. I've got oil pressure, I've got battery, but it's like when I stood on the gas, the thing just died like it ran out of fuel or something.''
Gordon was running a competitive third when his Chevrolet died heading down the frontstretch. By the time he was able to limp around the track and reach his pit stall, he was six laps down.
The crew got the car in working condition and put Gordon back on the track 116 laps in back of the leaders on lap 224. Gordon finally called it a day on lap 302 and settled for a 36th-place finish.
``We just parked it. We didn't have another position to gain," crew chief Ray Evernham said. "We're not sure what the problem was yet. We believe it was the fuel pump.''
UP IN SMOKE: It is becoming an all-too familiar sight - smoke billowing out of Rick Mast's Ford.
On lap 306, it happened again.
Mast, who lives in Rockbridge Baths, had had a top 10 car for the first 100 laps but spent the rest of the race hovering around the 15th position until the motor finally ``blowed up,'' as Mast put it, with less than 100 laps to go.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB