ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, March 24, 1996 TAG: 9603250066
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: DARLINGTON, S.C.
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
MARK MARTIN WINS again in a Grand National race at the South Carolina track, holding off Michael Waltrip.
Mark Martin drove to his fifth Grand National victory at Darlington Raceway in the Dura-Lube 200 on Saturday, but not before a close call in the final 500 yards.
Martin led the final 38 laps of the 147-lap race, and crossed the start-finish line a car-length ahead of Michael Waltrip. Terry Labonte was third, followed by Ricky Craven and Bobby Labonte.
Martin had a lead of several car-lengths as the last lap started. But as Martin headed down the backstretch and approached a cluster of lapped cars, Doug Heveron slammed into the fourth-turn wall.
The result was near-mayhem. Martin slowed considerably, which allowed Waltrip to make a run at him. But as they picked their way through the slower cars, Martin managed to block Waltrip's bid to pass. And there wasn't enough room for Waltrip to maneuver anywhere else.
``It was awfully close there with all those cars,'' Martin said. ``Michael could have gotten us pretty easy there. We were lucky to cross that line in first place.
``But we had to race through all the mess. It was going to be interesting, whether there was a crash or not. We were catching some lapped cars, and they weren't being very courteous today.''
Said Waltrip, ``I thought I had a run on him. But he did what I'd have done. He blocked me out.''
Mike McLaughlin led the most laps (64), but he was knocked out on lap 76 when he came together with Dick Trickle, who bumped him and sent him spinning into the second-turn wall. Pole-sitter Jeff Green led the first two laps and finished 11th, but his bid for victory was thwarted by an early encounter with the wall. And Dale Jarrett spun on lap 69, but came back 10 laps later to lead the race for 31 circuits. Jarrett finished sixth.
There also was a seven-car crash coming out of turn 4 that destroyed Chad Little's car, but no one was hurt.
Martin's performance Saturday added to his already spectacular record in Grand National competition at Darlington. He has raced in 17 GN races here - and finished in the top 10 every time. He's finished in the top five 11 of 17 times.
The Winston Cup drivers completely overshadowed the Busch regulars Saturday, stealing the top seven finishing positions and nine of the top 10.
LENGTH: Medium: 53 lines KEYWORDS: AUTO RACINGby CNB