ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, September 2, 1996 TAG: 9609030164
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: DARLINGTON, S. C.
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
The story of the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway on Sunday was not really a story about Jeff Gordon, who won the race.
Nor was it a story about Dale Jarrett, who had ambient oil get between him and the $1 million Winston Million bonus.
It was the story of a non-winning driver, Hut Stricklin, who valiantly kept his fading Ford Thunderbird ahead of Gordon's Chevy until just 16 laps were left in the 367-lap affair.
Stricklin's motor was overheating and about to blow. He was having fuel pickup problems. The chassis was too tight.
But he hung on, lap after lap, until Gordon put a move on him coming out of turn 2 on lap 352 and made it stick going into turn 3.
A few minutes later, when the checkered flag fell, Gordon had put 5.23 seconds between his car and Stricklin's for his seventh victory of 1996.
``I only ruled 16 laps today, but they were the most crucial 16 of the day,'' Gordon said afterward in the press box. ``Hut drove a great race. I finally just kind of got a run off turn 2. I knew that was my only chance.''
Stricklin finished second in his Stavola Brothers T-Bird, and found it more sweet than bitter, considering that this was only the second time he had finished that high in 217 Winston Cup races stretching back to 1987.
``It is disappointing, but myself and the team, we've got to realize that this is really our first exceptionally good finish of the year,'' Stricklin said. ``I think 11th [at Bristol in April] was our best finish this year up until today. So we can't be greedy just yet.''
Mark Martin was third, the only other driver on the lead lap. Ken Schrader finished fourth, followed by John Andretti, who had his best finish of the year.
Jarrett finished 14th after his run for the Winston Million ended against the turn 3 wall only 46 laps into the race. He was leading when his Ford slipped in oil, along with several other cars, and slid up into the concrete retainer.
Gordon was struggling at that moment and that's probably why he was in a position to win the race three hours later.
``It's funny how things work,'' Gordon said. ``At that point, we were running sixth or seventh and if there's ever a time to be running about sixth or seventh, that was the time. Because the leaders hit the wall. I came down in there and everyone was slipping and sliding. And I thought to myself that if that's a sign of anything, it could be our day.''
Stricklin led the most laps (143) and had the best car during the second half of the race. But his problems began to multiply, and finally they became too severe to allow him to hold off Gordon.
``We were having fuel pickup problems,'' he said. ``And the water temp was pegged about all day. I never would tell them that. The overheating hurt me some, but the biggest thing was the thing got tight a good bit off the corners and I couldn't really get into the corners like I needed to.
``Once Jeff got to me, I knew I couldn't hold him off. We just came up short. That's all I can say.''
Yes, Hut, but where did this sudden performance come from?
``We spent three days testing at Richmond last week,'' he said. ``We just went up there with open minds and found a lot of things we were doing wrong. We applied those things here, and it fell right into my lap.''
This was Gordon's 16th career victory in only four years of Winston Cup racing and 117 starts. He's only one career victory behind Winston Cup points leader Terry Labonte, who was cruising along toward another strong finish until his engine developed an oil leak late in the race.
Labonte kept going and finished 26th, but saw his points lead shrink to 24 over Gordon. Jarrett is 91 points behind and Dale Earnhardt, who wrecked once but still finished 12th, actually gained points and is 161 back.
LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP Jeff Gordon is the toast of Darlington after winningby CNBthe Southern 500 on Sunday. color KEYWORDS: AUTO RACING