ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, April 20, 1997 TAG: 9704220011
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-6 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: MARTINSVILLE
SOURCE: CHAD WILLIS THE ROANOKE TIMES
An early gamble pays off, and Mike Ewanitsko records his second Modified victory at Martinsville Speedway.
Peter Jasper, crew chief for NASCAR Featherlite Modified series driver Mike Ewanitsko, is a guy who probably never handed in homework late as a child, hasn't ever been tardy to dinner and refuses to utter the phrase ``better late than never.''
In other words, Jasper insists on doing things early. That trait paid big dividends Saturday in the Goody's Headache Powder 200 Modified race at Martinsville Speedway, when a seemingly premature pit stop resulted in Ewanitsko's first series victory in more than a year.
Mike Stefanik finished second, series points leader Rick Fuller placed third, Jan Leaty was fourth and Reggie Ruggiero completed the top five in the second Modified race of the season.
Ewanitsko, who qualified in the 19th position, had worked his way to fourth when a spin involving Sam Russo and Charlie Pasteryak brought out the yellow flag on lap 64. Satisfied with his position, Ewanitsko was willing to remain on the track, but Jasper had other plans.
``Peter came on the radio and told me to come in,'' Ewanitsko said. ``I didn't see any of the other leaders coming in, so I told him I thought we should stay out. He said no ... and it turned out to be the call of the day."
The pit stop caused Ewanitsko to fall out of the top 20, but another spin on lap 93 resulted in the sixth caution period of the afternoon and brought the remainder of the field in for pit stops during the next four laps. Ewanitsko inherited a lead he would not relinquish in the final 104 circuits.
``I've got to tell you that for a while there I was worried,'' Ewanitsko said. ``I thought that we had come in too early. Then we got a break and got the lead.''
The victory was the New York-based driver's second at Martinsville and his 15th in the series, tying him for No.6 on the all-time win list with former Modified champion and current Winston Cup driver Jimmy Spencer. Ewanitsko's only other Martinsville Speedway triumph came in 1989 in the Miller 200.
Despite running on tires that had an extra 30 laps of wear on them, Ewanitsko was able to build a 10-car-length advantage over Stefanik, the winningest driver in the history of the Featherlite tour, with 10 laps remaining.
Stefanik managed to mount a small charge, halving the margin by the time the white flag was shown to the field.
``I drove the car a little harder down the stretch, but not enough that you would notice any big difference on a stopwatch,'' Stefanik said. ``I think Mike was just taking it easy so he wouldn't run up on the lapped traffic that was ahead of us. I was hoping his tires would start to go on him, but it didn't happen. There was no way I was going to get around him.''
LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS. Mike Ewanitsko celebrates his victoryby CNBin the Goody's Headache Powder 200 on Saturday at Martinsville.
color. KEYWORDS: AUTO RACING