THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, September 19, 1994 TAG: 9409190140
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DENISE MICHAUX, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DOVER, DEL. LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines
Mark Martin crouched over the right front tire of his Ford Thuderbird and stared in disbelief.
``There is no way,'' he said. ``This thing never should have blew.''
But it did.
Martin had a five-car-length lead on Rusty Wallace and seemed well on his way to victory in Sunday's SplitFire 500 at Dover Downs International Speedway when he slammed into the wall coming out of turn 4 on lap 494. That brought out the 13th caution flag of the race and gave Wallace the victory as the event finished under yellow with Wallace's car running out of gas.
The win was Wallace's seventh of the season and third in a row at Dover, a feat that hadn't been accomplished since David Pearson won the fall race in 1972 and both races in '73.
Dale Earnhardt finished second. Darrell Waltrip, Ken Schrader and pole-sitter Geoff Bodine rounded out the top five.
Martin had gained nearly a 6 1/2-second lead on Wallace and was preparing to put a lap on Chesapeake native Ricky Rudd when Rudd's right front Goodyear tire went down on lap 479.
``It just popped,'' Rudd said. ``We didn't have any warning.''
Martin clipped the rear of Rudd's car and suffered some sheet-metal damage to the left front of his car, but there wasn't any metal rubbing the tire. The accident did affect the handling on his car, however, and Wallace took notice.
``I was driving as hard as I could to catch him,'' Wallace said. ``He was losing speed and we got close to him and I figured I had eight laps to pass him.''
He didn't need them, but when the caution came out, Wallace developed some new problems.
Wallace's Ford ran out of gas, and he was forced to drive on the apron of the track to keep it running. That is where he ran over the brake rotor from Martin's car and cut his left rear tire.
``I was coming down on the apron to get the white flag, and that's when the tire popped,'' Wallace said.
In the continuing battle with Hoosier, Goodyear produced a tire with narrower tread for this race and, for the most part, everyone was pleased.
Martin was completely baffled by his blown tire. ``They were great all day,'' he said.
``These tires were narrower and we lowered the air pressure a little bit,'' said Wallace, who also uses Goodyear tires. ``Goodyear brought the best tire it ever has. So I was really confused when I saw a couple of guys hit the wall.''
Bodine, who finished fifth on Hoosiers and did have a flat late in the race, said the tires were fine and may have held up better than he did.
``This is a tough race,'' Bodine said. ``We just need to shorten this race up.''
Jeff Burton, one of the six drivers who started on Hoosiers, blew the right front tire on lap 189. Burton hit the outside wall coming out of turn 4 nearly head on and then shot back across to the inside retaining wall right in front of Jeff Gordon's pit. Flames erupted from Burton's Ford, and Gordon's team pulled him from the car.
The wreck ended a very impressive run for Burton, who was coming off the disqualification at Richmond because holes had been drilled into the roll bar of his car. Burton started the race sixth and battled with the leaders all day.
``The car had been a little bit tight,'' Burton said. ``But it wasn't that bad. But when it blew, there was just nothing that you could do.
``My knee hurts and my head hurts, but I'm fine.''
Wallace trails Earnhardt by 227 points in the Winston Cup championship scramble with six races remaining, and for the second year in a row, Wallace is faced with prospect of winning more races than Earnhardt but still coming up short.
If he finishes the runner-up, Wallace knows exactly where the title was lost.
Wallace finished 41st in the Daytona 500 and 33rd in the Winston Select at Talledega. Earnhardt was seventh at Daytona and won the Winston Select.
Translation: 335 points lost in two races.
``We've been able to outrun him at most of the other tracks,'' Wallace said. ``Such a major loss at those two tracks has been real detrimental. That's killed us in the points.
``The main thing is to have a killer car and stay up front, and we've been doing that.'' ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rusty Wallace, his left rear tire going flat, crossed the finish
line under caution at Dover Downs International Speedway.
by CNB