ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, October 9, 1996 TAG: 9610090027
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: AUTO RACING NOTES
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
Never has a Winston Cup championship battle been so close with three points races remaining as it is between defending champion Jeff Gordon and former champion Terry Labonte.
Gordon leads by a single point. The only other points race remotely similar was in 1979, when Darrell Waltrip led Richard Petty by 17 points with three races to go, only to lose the title in the finale.
Rick Hendrick, who owns both cars, concedes this year's contest is ``bittersweet,'' because at least one of his drivers must lose. (Dale Jarrett, 92 points behind, is by no means out of contention.)
``It's hard on you, standing there and watching it, knowing so much is at stake,'' Hendrick said Tuesday during the weekly Winston Cup teleconference. ``I'm very fortunate that neither one of the drivers leans on any other drivers, let alone a teammate.''
Hendrick said he's more worried about Jarrett than anything else. And as the teams prepare for the next race Oct. 20 at North Carolina Motor Speedway, Hendrick also will concern himself with reliability.
On the last visit to Rockingham, Gordon and Labonte were knocked out by engine failure.
``In the first race, those two cars dominated the race, but we had [the] same problem with both cars,'' he said. ``We took some measures to prevent that from happening the rest of the year and we got away with it until we had that problem develop again at Charlotte [in Gordon's car].
``So we're going back and checking those pieces again, trying to get the best pieces we've got.''
Meanwhile, Rockingham is a busy track today, with open testing for the AC-Delco 400.
Ernie Irvan, who suffered a mild concussion Sunday in the UAW-GM 500 at Charlotte, has confirmed his participation in today's session, as has Ward Burton, Bobby Hamilton, Jeremy Mayfield, Lake Speed, Robby Gordon, Geoff Bodine and a number of Grand National drivers.
David Green, who suffered a concussion and bruises in a Saturday crash at Charlotte, canceled his testing appointment today.
DRIVER SWITCH: Robert Pressley is out and Todd Bodine is in the driver's seat of the No. 33 Chevrolet Monte Carlo for the rest of the year.
Pressley decided he needed to move on to his new team now, and he will be behind the wheel of his 1997 ride, the No. 29 Diamond Ridge Chevrolet, at Rockingham.
``The Diamond Ridge team can get started on their 1997 program with Robert, and we needed to try something new so we could finish the season with some momentum,'' said Andy Petree, crew chief and soon-to-be owner of the No.33 team.
``I think a change will do all of us some good. I enjoyed working with Robert this year, but the chemistry was not producing the results everyone expected.''
Ken Schrader will move to Petree's team for the 1997 season. Bodine is looking for a full-time ride.
CRAVEN BACKS OFF: Ricky Craven, who will replace Schrader in the Hendrick Motorsports No. 25 Chevy, said his decision this year to consider buying into his present team was wrong.
Craven said he never signed the contract to buy part of Larry Hedrick's No. 41 team and he's glad he didn't.
``I'm not going to entertain thoughts of anything like that,'' he said. ``It became apparent that was going to affect a lot of things. It affected some personal things, and I think it affected my driving. The negative effects it was going to have well outweighed the positive, mostly because ownership required meetings and going through budgets and the administrative aspect of it.
``I enjoy being an owner in Busch Grand National North and Busch Grand National, but when you get to Winston Cup, you truly need to be one-dimensional. And that's the form I've gotten back into the last couple of weeks since Larry and I settled I've released myself from any responsibility except driving the car.''
As for his move to Hendrick Motorsports, Craven said, ``I'm as committed to this as anything I've ever been committed to.''
LENGTH: Medium: 78 linesby CNB