ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, February 19, 1997 TAG: 9702190089
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: AUTO RACING NOTES
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
All of the NASCAR Winston Cup drivers involved in crashes during the Daytona 500 walked away from the incidents, but one driver did suffer a broken bone.
Johnny Benson broke the big toe on his left foot when he pounded the turn 4 wall head-on in the crash that ended the race Sunday at Daytona International Speedway.
``It's just the toe on my brake foot,'' Benson said. ``So anyone out there probably shouldn't get in front of the Pennzoil Pontiac on Sunday.''
Benson also experienced pain in his stomach and pelvic area after the crash because of seat-belt strain, but a CAT scan at Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach, Fla., revealed no internal injuries.
Benson is not planning to solicit relief help this weekend during the Goodwrench 400 at North Carolina Motor Speedway in Rockingham, N.C. ``He's all right,'' Brown said. ``The injury is not debilitating, but it's not comfortable.''
Robert Pressley, the other driver taken to Halifax during Sunday's race, was sore but otherwise all right Tuesday.
Pressley had no broken bones, but was bruised and sore, particularly around his hips and buttocks, after his car did a pirouette flip and came down hard on its rear wheels in an accident on the backstretch.
NO FIRINGS: The hot rumor in the wake of Sunday's big race seems to be that Dale Earnhardt's bad pit stops were the result of several crew members being fired for staying out too late the night before the 500.
Not true, team spokesman John ``J.R.'' Rhodes said Tuesday.
``A couple of crew members were reprimanded,'' Rhodes said. ``They haven't given me any details. But as of right now, nobody has been released.''
Rhodes said Earnhardt's pit problems ``had nothing to do with that. We had our regular guys doing them. The reason we had trouble is the lug nuts were falling off. The lug nuts were falling off the right rear tire and they would not stick.''
Rhodes said the lug-nut problem occurred on two stops.
GORDON'S TRIP: As a former Winston Cup champion, Daytona 500 winner Jeff Gordon is experienced at the public relations game, so he had no trouble sailing through a day full of media activities in New York.
``I feel like I've won a championship as big as this room is,'' he said from his suite at the Waldorf-Astoria during a teleconference Tuesday.
Gordon did radio interviews, television feeds and made an appearance on ``The Late Show with David Letterman.''
UNSUNG PERFORMANCE: Overshadowed by the other more dramatic events of Sunday's race was the fact that Mark Martin led the most laps.
Martin led 52 laps, all in one hunk. He took the lead on lap 94 after a fast pit stop during a caution period and held it until Ernie Irvan passed him on lap 146.
Martin fell to 29th place after a crewman failed to tighten the left rear lug nuts before the jack was dropped and Martin took off.
He had to return to the pits on the next lap to get them tightened, thus relegating him to the rear of the field.
From there, he and Ricky Rudd, who had stalled his car on pit road, climbed back to the front. Martin made it from 17th to ninth racing back to the yellow flag after the Earnhardt crash. He finished seventh.
``I saw a lot of potential in our team today,'' Martin said after the race. ``I'm encouraged by what I saw today, not discouraged with seventh place.''
LENGTH: Medium: 66 linesby CNB