THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Sunday, July 24, 1994                  TAG: 9407240221
SECTION: SPORTS                   PAGE: C7   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE:    WITH WINSTON CUP TEAMMATE TERRY LABONTE DRAFTING BEHIND HIM, KEN LE

                     TEAMWORK: SCHRADER, LABONTE GO 1-2 
          THE PAIR HOLDS OFF EARNHARDT IN GRAND NATIONAL THRILLER.

   Labonte was second, followed by Dale Earnhardt, Marlin and Jeff Purvis. 
Fourteen cars finished on the lead lap.
   ``I had Terry behind me and I owe a lot to Terry because he hung with me,''
Schrader said. ``He got me up there and didn't leave me hanging, but he is my 
teammate.'' Both drive for Hendrick Motorsports in the Winston Cup series.
   The race-winning pass came as the pack barreled out of turn two and headed 
down the backstretch. The rest of the pack didn't catch up to Schrader and 
Labonte until the final turn of the last lap. And that effort, led by 
Earnhardt, failed because Labonte didn't try to pass Schrader at the end, 
which would have slowed both of them.
   ``I saw the black car (Earnhardt) coming on the last lap, but I knew that 
Terry wanted second just as bad as I wanted  first, so I knew he was going to 
do everything to hold him off,'' Schrader said.
   And what of Earnhardt? Talladega's toughest competitor came up short, 
although he led 11 laps.
   With surprise in his voice, Earnhardt came up to Labonte at the gas pumps 
after the race and said: ``Hell, Terry, I didn't  win!''
   ``I thought you were going to,'' Labonte said.
   Had he gone for the win, he would have lost second place, Labonte said:  
``I was going to try and make a run at (Schrader), but when I looked in my 
mirror, it was filled with everybody behind. If I had tried to pass, we both 
might have gotten beaten.''
   It was an excellent, highly competitive, crash-free race, with 30 lead 
changes among 14 drivers. The most anyone led at any one time in the 117-lap 
race was 13 laps by Marlin just before Schrader passed him for the victory.  
Marlin also led the most laps - 58.
   The only problem was a rash of engine failures. Mark Martin started the 
blow-up parade to the garage on lap six. He was followed by Michael Waltrip, 
Bobby Labonte, Jason Keller,  Dennis Setzer, Ricky Craven, Harry Gant, Ernie 
Irvan and Robert  Pressley, among others.
   SAWYER TICKETED: Chesapeake's Elton Sawyer finished 21st, two laps down, 
after getting two stop-and-go penalties for speeding on pit road.
   ``We had a really good car, but we got two speeding tickets,'' Sawyer 
said.
   He questioned the second one because it came right after the first.
   ``I wasn't going to make the same mistake twice,'' he said.
   ROUND 2: Six days after his gritty second-place finish in the Miller 500 at
Pocono, Ward Burton found himself back at the bottom of the barrel in the 
Winston Cup series, heading home to South Boston, Va., after failing to 
qualify for his fifth race this season.
   Burton, who was 47th-fastest, couldn't be blamed for the slow run because 
the car is everything  at Talladega. The driver just mashes the pedal to the 
floor and holds on. Still, he was so upset he declined to talk to a track 
reporter as he left the speedway.
   Earlier this month, after barely making the field at Daytona, he 
sympathized with those who didn't make the cut, saying, ``There's  not a worse
feeling in the world. It's so degrading and demoralizing to go home from a 
race when you've run up front before.''
   Other drivers who didn't make today's field were Rich Bickle, Dick Trickle,
Ritchie Petty, Derrike Cope, Ben Hess, Billy  Standridge, Joe Ruttman and 
Delma Cowart.
   Jimmy Hensley and John Andretti were among drivers who made it into the 
field Saturday after failing to crack the top 40 on Friday. Hensley's team 
switched engines Saturday morning  and ``it was quicker than the other motor 
right off,'' he said.  And Andretti got into the field after car owner Richard
Childress lent him an engine.
   KYLE'S PENALTY: Kyle Petty was philosophical about the $2,000 penalty his 
team received Friday for using tape on his car's air filter to try to get more
air to the engine.
   ``I'll tell you this, (the tape) helps,'' he said. ``And  it's, like, maybe
two-tenths (of a second per lap). It's just like anything else. You fudge as 
much as you can and sometimes you get caught.''