ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, May 27, 1996 TAG: 9605280141
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: HOLIDAY
DATELINE: CONCORD, N. C.
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
MEMO: ***CORRECTION***
Published correction ran on May 28 on B3.
CORRECTION: It was team owner Felix Sabates' language that prompted
an additional two-lap penalty after driver Kyle Petty had been penalized
five laps for triggering a 13-car crash in Sunday's Coca-Cola 600. It
was erroneously reported Monday that Petty's language had led to the
extra penalty.
DALE JARRETT DRIVES his Ford Thunderbird one win closer to the Winston Million prize.
Dale Jarrett was brutally efficient in his Ford Thunderbird under a Sunday night sky at Charlotte Motor Speedway, winning the Coca-Cola 600 by 11.98 seconds over Dale Earnhardt after thoroughly dominating the race.
``That's the best car I've ever had anywhere, anytime,'' Jarrett said. ``We didn't have to do a whole lot, but [crew chief Todd Parrott] made some slight adjustments and each one made the car a little better.''
Terry Labonte was third in a Chevy, followed by teammate Jeff Gordon, the only other driver on the lead lap. Ken Schrader finished fifth in his Chevy, one lap down, trailed by Sterling Marlin in a Chevy and Mark Martin in a Ford, also a lap down.
Michael Waltrip was eighth, followed by Ernie Irvan and Geoff Bodine, all in Fords that were two laps behind.
The Chevys obviously were no match for Jarrett's Ford, but neither were the other Fords. With his father, Ned, spotting for him, Jarrett led 199 of the 400 laps, including the final 61 circuits around the 1.5-mile speedway.
As he cruised through turn 4 on the last lap, Jarrett keyed the microphone on his radio and told his crew: ``That was a great job, fantastic job. Maybe we're going to win us a million come September. Great job, baby.''
Jarrett now has two of the three major victories he needs to win the Winston Million. He must win the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway in September to capture the $1 million bonus.
``I'd like to take credit, but a lot of people could have done this well with this car,'' Jarrett said in Victory Lane. ``The crew just kind of let me cruise around with this car.''
This was Ford's fourth victory in 11 races this year. But the race wasn't even over before some of the Chevy teams began griping about how fast Jarrett's Ford was.
``That 88 is in another time zone,'' one of Ken Schrader's crewmen told him during the race.
``That's because of the new air dam and the spoiler and the roof height they got,'' Schrader said, referring to NASCAR-mandated changes to help the Fords.
``Obviously, it did help,'' Jarrett said. ``But sometime or another somebody is going to hit it really, really good and that car is going to be hard to beat regardless of where the roof is at.
``The rule changes helped a little bit,'' said Parrott. ``But you look at the finishing order. There's five Chevrolets behind that one Ford.''
Most of the race was run without trouble. The first 140 laps were run under the green flag. But in the 16 laps between lap 141 and lap 156, there were four wrecks, including a tangle on a restart that involved 13 cars.
It happened going into turn 1 when Kyle Petty got into Ted Musgrave, who was first in line among the lapped cars on the inside.
Musgrave spun in front of the pack and other cars quickly became involved. Rusty Wallace had the roughest ride, bouncing into the air as he hit another car and the outside wall at the same time.
Others involved were Lake Speed, Greg Sacks (in Robert Pressley's car), Dick Trickle, Michael Waltrip, Hut Stricklin, Johnny Benson, Bobby Labonte, John Andretti, Jimmy Spencer and Joe Nemechek.
``I don't know what Kyle's problem was, but it was a dumb move,'' said Musgrave. ``It took a lot of good cars out of the race.''
Wallace was so furious, he retreated to his motor home and did not reappear until his patched-up car was ready to go.
And NASCAR penalized Petty five laps, which prompted him to unleash a verbal barrage. His language earned him another two-lap penalty.
One of the crash victims, Benson, returned to the track with an ill-handling car and lost control in turn 2 on lap 194. His yellow Pontiac slid off the banking and onto the apron, where Ricky Craven blasted the rear end off Benson's car in a vicious collision.
``I'm just sore,'' Benson said afterward. But Craven, who still is recovering from his Talladega injuries, was released from Cabarrus Memorial Hospital after X-rays on his neck were negative.
Several hours before the race, NASCAR announced fines for the 16 Winston Cup teams whose cars had vertical door roll bars that were made with too-thin tubing.
The crew chiefs of the cars of Jeff Gordon, Robert Pressley and Steve Grissom were fined $5,000 each for having the wrong tubing on both sides, while crew chiefs of 13 other cars were each fined $2,500 for having the wrong tubing on the right side.
Those cars are driven by Dale Earnhardt, Sterling Marlin, Lake Speed, Wally Dallenbach, Ward Burton, Jimmy Spencer, Johnny Benson, Bobby Hamilton, Bobby Hillin, Randy MacDonald, Kenny Wallace, Jeff Burton and Todd Bodine in relief of Bill Elliott.
The roll bar violations were found Thursday.
LENGTH: Medium: 99 lines KEYWORDS: AUTO RACINGby CNB