Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 3, 1995 TAG: 9504040056
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BRISTOL, TENN. LENGTH: Medium
Hamilton fell a lap down after being involved in a four-car crash on lap 134. And his car was struck on another occasion. But he blew past Rusty Wallace shortly before lap 300 to unlap himself.
It was a particularly satisfying pass for Hamilton in light of Wallace's put-downs after the two tangled at Daytona.
``I had a little incentive,'' Hamilton said. ``We had an accident at Daytona and Rusty said we were an also-ran. So that made me run with about 50 more horsepower.''
Hamilton's fourth-place finish was the best for Petty's Pontiac since Wally Dallenbach finished fourth in May 1994 at Sears Point.
``They've worked hard for this,'' Petty said of Hamilton and the team. ``But the big deal is he drives hard.''
EARNHARDT HITS THE WALL: It doesn't happen very often, but the first driver to crash Sunday was Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt. He hit the fourth-turn wall after pinching Jeff Burton in turn 3 and colliding with him.
``These [expletive] slow cars!'' Earnhardt shouted into his radio.
Earnhardt's team spent 20 laps fixing his car, and he actually made up one lap before finishing 25th, 21 laps down.
GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS: Kyle Petty finished 35th in the 36-car field, but his finish was worse than his run.
Petty, who started third, took the lead from Mark Martin on the fourth lap and led for 37 circuits.
The crash that took out Petty occurred on the 277th lap, when he hit the fourth-turn wall when he was hit from behind after slowing to avoid trouble in front of him.
``That was nobody's fault,'' Petty said. ``It was just one of those things that happens here.''
NO DARLINGTON REPEAT: More often than not, a race at Bristol is a wreckfest. But there were only seven yellow flags Sunday - fewer than half the number that flew at Darlington on March 26.
``I think it took Darlington to wake everybody up for this place,'' said Ricky Rudd, who finished fifth.
The last, biggest and most spectacular crash of the day occurred on lap 347, when Ted Musgrave turned John Andretti coming out of turn 2. The cars behind them slowed, and Ken Schrader knocked Robert Pressley into the wall.
Ricky Craven hurtled over the top of Morgan Shepherd, tearing a huge chunk of sheet metal out of the left side of Shepherd's Ford, and came down on the rear deck of Schrader's Chevy.
For Andretti, who finished 19th, it was a tough finish after running in the top five for more than 300 laps.
``I'm disappointed, but at least we showed we can run with them,'' he said. ``Now we have to do it with more consistency.''
BAD TIRE DAY FOR MAST: Rick Mast was running well in the final stages of Sunday's race until he fell victim to tire problems.
``We had 10th place sewed up at the end, but the darn right-rear tire went flat,'' said the driver from Rockbridge Baths, Va. ``I guess it blew out.''
Mast had to pit to replace the tire and finished 15th, four laps down.
TOUGHING IT OUT: After breaking his left shoulder in a crash at Darlington, Bobby Labonte planned to run only until the first caution period at Bristol.
Unfortunately for Labonte, the first yellow flag didn't fly for 117 laps. He promptly got out and let David Green take over.
``I feel a little whupped,'' Labonte said. ``But who would have thought we'd go 120 laps under green?''
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB