Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, July 10, 1995 TAG: 9507100130
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LOUDON, N.H. LENGTH: Medium
It was the same car that Allison nearly won with here in 1993 on the day before his fatal helicopter crash in Alabama in 1993. It was the same car that Ernie Irvan ran so well with here last year.
But for Jarrett on Sunday, it was just another Yates car that ended up in the wall in the opening laps of a race through no fault of his own.
He crashed at Dover in early June. At Pocono, Sterling Marlin got him. This time, Geoff Bodine was responsible, bumping Jarrett and sending him into the wall on only the second lap.
``Dale, for what it's worth, he said he was sorry, he just messed up,'' Jarrett's spotter told him, relaying the message from Bodine.
``That does a lot of good,'' a disgusted Jarrett replied.
The memorable Yates car, No.12 in the car owner's stable, suffered front-end damage and Jarrett was crippled from then on, eventually finishing 30th, four laps down.
EARNHARDT STUMBLES: Dale Earnhardt led the race three different times, running in first as late as lap 170 after a dandy duel with Rusty Wallace.
But he wasn't around at the front when it counted. He finished the race, but pit problems relegated him to a 22nd-place finish, two laps down.
``We didn't get the lugnuts tight and had to come back into the pits'' after a green-flag pit stop on lap 230, Earnhardt said. ``Then we got a vibration in the car and had to come back in again. That's the way it goes sometimes.''
Earnhardt now trails points leader Jeff Gordon by 87 points.
A FEISTY PETTY: You could tell Kyle Petty was back in a fully competitive mode by his angry reaction when he fell out of the race with engine troubles after 94 laps.
When he reached the garage and got out of his Pontiac, Petty told a Motor Racing Network reporter: ``I ain't going to talk, man, so you might as well get out of here.''
Later, after he cooled down, Petty said: ``We were looking at two top-10s in a row. The motor just broke.''
BODINE'S TROUBLES: Geoff Bodine was behind the 8-ball all day. He was penalized one lap by NASCAR for causing Dale Jarrett's crash on the second lap. But he battled back and passed leader Mark Martin to get back on the lead lap just as the yellow flag flew on lap 144 for Jeremy Mayfield's crash.
But when the green flag came back out on lap 149, Bodine was nudged into a spin by Bobby Labonte, causing a four-car crash that also involved John Andretti and Todd Bodine, who got the worst of it.
Then, on lap 269, Bodine spun in turn 4 and smacked the wall again. He rolled into the pits and out of the race.
``In the beginning, I bumped into Dale Jarrett,'' Bodine said. ``I apologized over the radio. The brakes weren't seated in. I didn't feel like it was worthy of a penalty, but that's NASCAR's decision. Then later, I got bumped by Bobby Labonte. After the last one, I parked it. No sense getting in anybody's way.''
Bodine finished 35th after completing 265 laps, while Labonte was 15th, one lap down.
BURTON ON SPENCER: After crashing in the first and second turns on lap 162, Ward Burton blamed it on Jimmy Spencer.
``We were just out there taking our time and we came up on a guy named Jimmy Spencer,'' he said. ``You just can't race with that fellow. He gets brain fade when he sits in an automobile.''
HENSLEY CRASHES: Jimmy Hensley's day ended early against the second-turn wall after a tire blew as he entered the first turn on lap 34.
``I'm OK, it just knocked the wind out of me,'' he said. ``A right-front tire blew right at the end of the front stretch and I hit the wall pretty hard. I got a few bruises, but I'm OK. It just winded me a little bit.''
Hensley finished last in the 41-car field.
A DECENT RESULT: After hanging around on the lead lap all afternoon, Rick Mast lost a few positions at the end, but still recorded a credible 11th-place finish.
``On that last restart, we messed up and didn't get our tires pumped back up after they went down some on that long run,'' Mast said.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB