Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, May 1, 1995 TAG: 9505010078
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: TALLADEGA, ALA. LENGTH: Medium
It would be hard to say who was more surprised with the outcome of Sunday's Winston Select 500: Mark Martin, who won the race, or Dale Earnhardt, who found himself spinning like a drunken sailor on the last lap.
Time and again at Talladega Superspeedway, and Daytona as well, Martin has been snookered, smashed up or simply beaten.
Time and again, Earnhardt has done the snookering, sometimes even skirting late-race mishaps to win, or at worst to post his trademark top-five finish.
But in another wild finish at Talladega, the tables were turned.
Earnhardt entered the last lap battling Martin for the lead. He finished the last lap in 21st place with a wadded-up race car as Martin sailed to his first superspeedway victory, crossing the finish line a couple of car-lengths ahead of Jeff Gordon.
Morgan Shepherd, who took out Earnhardt, finished third, followed by Darrell Waltrip and Bobby Labonte. Bill Elliott finished sixth, followed by Geoff Bodine, Todd Bodine, Jimmy Spencer and Loy Allen. Eleven other cars finished on the lead lap, including Earnhardt, whose crippled car was the last to complete all 188 laps on the 2.66-mile, high-banked track.
``I can't believe it,'' Martin said to his crew on the radio. ``Congratulations, boys. We got that big shove from the [No.]24 car [Gordon].''
It was questionable whether any of the crewmen heard him. Their shouts on the radio were unintelligible as they deliriously jumped and danced on pit road. Finally, Martin had won a superspeedway race. It was the 15th victory of his Winston Cup career overall.
Earnhardt was another story. He hopped out of his battered Monte Carlo and made a beeline to his motor home.
The seven-time Winston Cup champion didn't have much to say about the incident.
``Wrecked,'' Earnhardt said. ``I got loose off of turn 2 over there and wrecked. Watch the replay and see what happened. I don't know if I could have passed Mark or not, but you can't win the race when you're spinning around on the last lap. What can you do?''
Earnhardt's hauler was not a happy place after the race.
``Got those damned lapped cars in there racing,'' said car owner Richard Childress, pausing only briefly to comment. ``It was just one of those deals. Can't worry about history. Got to worry about the future.''
Gordon took advantage of the mishap to tie Earnhardt for the Winston Cup points lead. And after a brilliant start in which he finished no worse than fourth in the first five races of the season, Earnhardt has wrecked in three of the past four events.
The final chapter of this event opened with 19 laps to go, when Gordon abandoned the four-car breakaway he was a part of with Earnhardt, Martin and Shepherd to make a final three-second pit stop for gas.
Four laps later, the other three pitted, with Martin in the lead. But Earnhardt skidded to a stop in his pit, which was just ahead of Martin's, and managed to sneak out ahead of Martin.
The race became a two-car draft at the front, with Earnhardt leading Martin. Behind them were Shepherd and Dick Trickle, who was eight laps down but along for the ride to help his fellow Ford drivers.
Meanwhile, Gordon was seven seconds back. But Sterling Marlin, who had lost 43 laps while his crew fixed an engine problem, was up to full speed once again and pulling Gordon toward the leaders. Shepherd and Trickle soon joined them.
With two laps to go, Martin looked into his mirror and saw he and Earnhardt were being reeled in.
``I was hating it that Morgan and Jeff Gordon were catching us,'' Martin said. ``I was concerned that I wasn't going to be able to beat Dale without help, but I didn't want any help.''
Even before the leaders reached the white flag for the last lap, Martin was making his move. He went low to pass Earnhardt just as Gordon arrived with a head of steam.
``I couldn't believe Mark got by Earnhardt,'' Gordon said. ``He must have had the momentum from me coming up behind him.
Martin then was able to block Gordon's attempts to pass him. And behind them, Shepherd drifted up into Earnhardt in turn 2, spinning the champ.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB