ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, March 24, 1997 TAG: 9703250033
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: DARLINGTON, S.C.
TYPE: TRANSOUTH 400 NOTES
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER THE ROANOKE TIMES
Although his cars didn't win, and he was angry at Ernie Irvan after the TranSouth 400 Sunday at Darlington Raceway, car owner Jack Roush had one of his best days of late in Winston Cup racing.
With less than 30 laps to go, Roush's Ford Thunderbirds were sitting second, third and fourth.
In the end, Ted Musgrave was second and Jeff Burton was fourth. Mark Martin, who had been third, fell to 24th after his left rear wheel came loose with only a few laps to go.
``I'm not pleased,'' Roush said. But that was strictly because he thought Irvan hindered Musgrave's chances of winning by dogging his rear bumper in the final laps.
As for the team's performance, Roush said, ``We're getting better all the time. I think if we came back and raced tomorrow, we would have better cars than we had today. Mark is working with a different chassis than he's been working with. Ted had one of his all-time best races and Jeff had a really good race.''
Musgrave matched his career-best finish. He also finished second twice in 1995, most recently at Pocono in June 1995.
NOTHING BROKEN: Robert Pressley, banged up in an accident that led to one of the 10 yellow flags of the day, was released from McLeod Regional Medical Center in nearby Florence, S.C., after X-rays showed no broken bones.
Pressley hurt a leg and was concerned he might have reinjured his lower back, which he hurt in a crash at Daytona.
``My leg feels a little funny,'' Pressley said before leaving for the hospital after the crash on lap 163, which also involved Ricky Craven. ``Just coming off [turn] 2, I got loose. There was nowhere for Ricky to go. He hit me in the door. I hit pretty hard after that.''
Craven finished 40th and plummeted from seventh to 18th in Winston Cup points.
EARNHARDT'S RACE: Sunday was another long day for Dale Earnhardt, crew chief Larry McReynolds and their team.
``The guys have been working their guts out and I guess that's the most disheartening thing,'' McReynolds said. ``As hard as they've worked, so far the results haven't been there.''
And he said this before Sunday's race.
Starting 43rd, Earnhardt was in a hole because his team had to pit on the backstretch. Less than 25 laps into the race, he bashed into the rear of teammate Mike Skinner, damaging the front of his car.
On lap 39, he was slightly involved in a crash that included Kyle Petty and David Green. Shortly after lap 100, he missed his pit and had to go around again before stopping.
But his car was stronger at the end, and that allowed Earnhardt to finish 15th, only one lap down.
``We had some trouble at the beginning of the race, and that hurt us,'' Earnhardt said. ``We were trying to scramble and catch back up after that. These guys have been working their guts out the last three or four weeks, and nothing has gone our way. We need to turn this thing around, and hopefully we'll be able to do it in Texas.''
MAST 19TH: After starting 42nd, Rick Mast hung on for a 19th-place finish in his Remington Ford. He was one lap down.
``We basically missed the setup today,'' said Mast, from Rockbridge Baths, Va. ``Our car pushed bad all day. We started Saturday morning too tight and we haven't fixed it yet.''
LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS. Chad Little takes the high road asby CNBKyle Petty (44) loses control of his car coming out of turn 3 on
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