THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, July 18, 1994 TAG: 9407180151
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: NASCAR NOTES
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LONG POND, PA. LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
After finishing fourth in the Miller 500 at Pocono International Raceway on Sunday, tying his best finish of the year, Jeff Burton found it hard to believe that he was only the third-best rookie in the race.
``It's a shame to run as good as we did, finish fourth in the race and not win the rookie of the race - to finish third in the rookie race,'' said Burton. ``That's pretty strange.''
But the fourth-place finish was a result of trying to win.
Instead of having a gas-only stop during his final visit to the pits, Burton also took on right-side tires. The extra time in the pits meant he came back out in about eighth place. The new tires, however, allowed him to regain lost ground, but not enough to win.
Burton's engine broke on the last lap, but it didn't cost him track position as he limped to the finish line. Earlier, he had led 16 laps.
As for his brother Ward's second-place finish, Jeff said, ``That's pretty neat, having him finish second and us fourth. But I'd rather us finish second and him fourth.''
For Ward, meanwhile, the second-place finish was his first top-10 of the year. He also led six laps. His previous best was 16th, at Martinsville.
``After all we've been through this year, we needed something like that,'' he said.
Rookie Joe Nemechek, who finished third, said, ``We ran out of gas when we crossed the finish line, but it was just a great day. It feels good up here.''
IRVAN IN REVERSE: Ernie Irvan failed to finish a race for the second week in a row and fell even farther behind Dale Earnhardt in the Winston Cup championship points race.
``Evidently we broke a timing chain or camshaft or something,'' Irvan said.
His 37th-place finish left him 93 points behind Earnhardt, who finished seventh. Irvan entered the race four points back.
Rusty Wallace, meanwhile, limped to a ninth-place finish on seven cylinders.
Wallace, who led 12 laps, remained third in the points race, 244 back.
GANT'S STRONG RUN: In the midst of a miserable final year in the Winston Cup series, Harry Gant found some of his old magic Sunday.
For most of the first half of the race, he was Geoff Bodine's only challenger. His Chevy was smoking almost the entire time, but he stayed on Bodine's tail as the two drove away from the field.
And he passed Bodine twice, leading a total of five laps.
But disaster struck on lap 111. A broken oil fitting knocked him out of the race and left him in 38th place.
``I really think I could have beat Geoff today,'' Gant said. ``Those Hoosiers were great all day long. We were running a lot faster than anybody else and didn't blister any, and we could have run a whole lot faster.
``There at the last the oil cooler broke off. A piece of metal came up off the track and knocked out the grille.''
A WAR OF WORDS: Standing next to his heavily damaged car in the garage with only 20 laps in the books, Ted Musgrave minced no words toward the object of his anger - Derrike Cope.
``I can see why Cale Yarborough got rid of his driver,'' Musgrave said after Cope hit him in the rear end and sent his Ford into the wall in turn three.
``I don't know what's wrong with him. He just keeps running into people and putting them out. He flat ran into the back of us and turned us around and put us out for the day.''
Cope was in no mood to be insulted.
``First of all, Ted Musgrave is an idiot,'' he told Ford's Wayne Estes. ``I made a mistake, possibly, and I took him out. But for the comment he made, he can kiss my butt.
``Hey, I'm tired of all this whining. Let these guys win a race before they whine so much.'' ILLUSTRATION: THE RICKY RUDD REPORT
[For the complete report, see microfilm for this date.]
by CNB