Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 12, 1995 TAG: 9503130079
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: E-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HAMPTON, GA. LENGTH: Medium
Benson only led 13 of the 197 laps, but he was at his best when it counted, beating Schrader by about seven car-lengths (forty-seven-hundredths of a second) to win the Grand National race. Jim Bown finished third, followed by Tim Fedewa. Hermie Sadler was fifth, one lap down.
``I just hate trying to catch somebody with 15 laps to go,'' said Benson, who is the NASCAR clone of Indy-car racing's Paul Tracy. ``It was just tough at the end. I think [Schrader] was trying to stay up front and was hurting his car a little bit. I think that showed up right at the end.''
Said Schrader: ``We were just a little too tight at the end. We were hoping we could hold him off, but we knew Johnny was coming. He was just faster and there was nothing I could do about it.''
Benson, 31, a native of Grand Rapids, Mich., has the same baby face, wire-rim glasses and soft-spoken nature as Tracy. And like the Indy-car driver, Benson knows how to win. This was the second victory of his GN career. Benson also won at Dover in September on his way to becoming rookie of the year in the series.
Benson's victory gave him the lead in the GN championship race by 24 points over Terry Labonte, who finished 16th. Chad Little, who won the first two races of the season, dominated Saturday's event, leading 110 laps.
But Schrader passed Little on lap 152 after Little's engine lost a cylinder, only to succumb to Benson's charge. Little's engine failed after 166 laps and left him with a 29th-place finish. Little remained third in the championship hunt, 136 points behind Benson.
The race was slowed by four yellow flags. All were for single-car, non-injury spins or crashes.
TOP SPEED: Lake Speed led the second round of time trials for today's Purolator 500 Winston Cup race with a lap of 182.197 mph in his Ford Thunderbird. He'll start 21st today.
Had Speed driven that lap Friday, he would have started 17th.
But the big second-round story - as it is just about every race - was who failed to make the race.
This weekend it was Ward Burton, who literally was the only driver of a Chevrolet Monte Carlo who failed to qualify. Burton was 10th in Winston Cup points coming into the weekend, but he undoubtedly will tumble in the standings.
Other non-qualifiers included Ford drivers Kenny Wallace and Ben Hess.
Provisional starting spots went to Ford driver Jimmy Spencer (39th fastest) and Pontiac drivers Randy LaJoie (40th), Michael Waltrip (43rd) and Kyle Petty (46th).
FASTEST IN FINAL PRACTICE: Here are the fastest five drivers and their speeds during Saturday's final Winston Cup practice: Terry Labonte (181.31 mph), Mark Martin (181.13), Bobby Labonte (180.59), Dick Trickle (180.53) and pole-winner Dale Earnhardt (180.47).
THE PITS: Chesapeake's Elton Sawyer, who finished 10th in Saturday's race, was the victim of bad timing on his final pit stop.
Sawyer went a lap down when he pitted seven laps before the final caution period, which allowed the other leaders to pit under the yellow and maintain their track position.
``We had a strong engine, a good car, some fine pit stops and excellent race strategy,'' Sawyer told team publicist Randy Laney. ``We just got a bad break when that caution waved at the wrong time for us.''
NEW SPONSOR: At a news conference here Saturday, Coca-Cola announced it has become an associate sponsor for Jeff Gordon's Chevrolet Monte Carlo team.
by CNB