ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, September 9, 1996 TAG: 9609090165
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From Associated Press reports
Kenny Wallace ran away from the field all day, then ran down David Green after a bad break on pit road late in the race, winning the Autolite Platinum 250 Busch Grand National event Sunday in Richmond.
Wallace passed Green, the series points leader, on the 248th of 250 laps to earn his eighth career Busch series victory and first this season.
The late drama came about because of a caution with 23 laps remaining. Wallace was ahead when the leaders went for the pits, but he came back onto the track in fourth place after an air gun jammed on his left front tire.
The race went back to green with 19 laps to go, and Wallace immediately began making up for the problem. He passed Winston Cup regular Mark Martin for third place on the first green lap, then got by Chad Little to move into second place with 11 laps remaining in the $295,938 race.
After stalking Green for the next eight laps, he passed him on the inside entering the first turn on the 248th lap and went on to the victory.
It was Wallace's third victory in the past five Busch races at Richmond. He won this race two years ago, then won here again the following spring. He has now finished in the top five eight times in 13 starts at Richmond.
The race, originally scheduled to be run Friday night, was postponed until Sunday when Hurricane Fran ravaged Virginia, leaving more than 400,000 homes and businesses without power throughout the state.
In other NASCAR action:
HORNADAY WINS TRUCK RACE: Ron Hornaday Jr. won the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series' Pennzoil 200 after leaders Jack Sprague and Joe Ruttman crashed on the final turn in the 206-lap event in Loudon, N.H.
Driving side-by-side over the final circuit on the 1.058-mile New Hampshire International Speedway, Sprague and Ruttman touched in the fourth turn, with Ruttman's Ford spinning around. Hornaday drove his Chevrolet through the smoke for his fourth victory of the season.
``It's just unbelievable. What a finish,'' Hornaday said. ``I thought I'd just stick it in there and let the other guys do what they wanted.
``That's what racing is all about. You come down to the last couple of laps and you don't know who's going to win it. We took a 10th- or 11th-place truck and won the race with it.''
Hornaday won $34,925 and extended his championship lead to 152 points over Mike Skinner, who started from the pole, but finished 27th after his Chevrolet's engine failed after just 32 laps.
LENGTH: Medium: 51 linesby CNB