THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, October 3, 1994 TAG: 9410030163
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines
Week after week, Dale Earnhardt dodges racing bullets that kill other drivers.
Last weekend at Martinsville, he spun twice, never lost a lap and finished second.
Sunday in the Holly Farms 400 at North Wilkesboro Speedway, he fishtailed down the frontstretch on a restart on lap 350, hit the wall, bounced off Bobby Hamilton's car, never completely lost control, recovered and finished seventh.
It was his sixth top-10 finish in a row and his 13th in the last 15 races. And even though he hasn't won since May, Earnhardt has a 208-point lead in the Winston Cup championship with only four races left. He gave up nine points to Rusty Wallace on Sunday.
``We've got a decent lead for these last four races,'' he said. ``I wish we had a bigger lead, but that's what we've got to work with, so we'll have to make it work.''
As for the restart incident, ``I broke it loose and got into the wall and the 40 car. That didn't work. Heck of a mess. I was locked up trying to stop it. Bobby was a little upset, and he had a right to be, I guess, if somebody runs into the side of your car.
``But I just kept firing back.''
WALLACE'S STUCK THROTTLE: There was more action on the track than the fans actually saw, and Rusty Wallace's experience was a testament to that.
Although he finished third, Wallace said it was a crazy day.
``it was a wild race, no doubt about it,'' he said. ``My throttle kept hanging wide open. . . . I'd run down into the corner and get out of the throtle and just fly on in and have to turn off the car with the key. It killed my rhythm and I couldn't get it all day.
Regarding the points chase, he said, ``We made up some, but we're just nipping away.''
WALTRIP-ANDRETTI TIFF: Another late-race incident involved Michael Waltrip and John Andretti. It led to the final caution on lap 391, when Waltrip hit the fourth-turn wall.
Andretti said Waltrip came down on him in the turn and he couldn't avoid the collision. Waltrip said he was going for a hole and Andretti wouldn't give him a break.
``He hit me (at the start/finish line) after the race was over,'' Andretti told Pontiac's Brian Hoagland. ``I don't think it's my fault, but I feel awful bad for Michael.''
Waltrip said Andretti's car owner, Richard Petty ``was upset because I ran into his car, and I was upset too, and I told him I was sorry I did that. I shouldn't have run into his car. But I tore mine up a couple of laps before that, so I thought I would spread the good cheer.''
LABONTE OUTRUN: Terry Labonte, who won the spring race here, had no excuses for not winning Sunday.
``They beat us - outran us,'' said the second-place finisher. ``Geoff ran a great race. It was all we could do to stay on the lead lap with him. Then it was a battle for second.''
SUBPAR GOODYEARS: A number of mechanics and crewmen on pit road said the Goodyear tires just didn't have it Sunday.
``They just gave up,'' Pete Wright, a mechanic for Darrell Waltrip, told a track reporter.
``You got to a point where they would just wear out,'' said Wallace crewman Todd Parrott. ``They were just as bad here in April as they were today.''
MAST'S RUN: For the third time this year, Rick Mast finished third.
``The problem was that the car was just too tight all day,'' he said. ``Terry (Labonte) would get away from me and then it would take me about halfway through a run to run him back down. But this is good. It's where I should have finished a bunch of times this year.''
HENSLEY IN FOR KYLE: Kyle Petty ran 100 laps of Sunday's race, then let Jimmy Hensley take over for the rest of the way. They finished 26th, 12 laps down, after Hensley was caught in a wreck involving Sterling Marlin and several other cars on lap 342.
``Sterling blew up underneath me and got up into me and stuck me in the wall,'' Hensley told Hoagland. ``That took a decent finish.''
Said Petty, who is still suffering from a severe case of bronchitis: ``I was good for about 60 laps, and I ran 100. I was just trying to hang on.''
RAIN ON GANT'S DAY? Harry Gant Day in Taylorsville, N.C. is still on today, but two of the main events have been postponed because of the threat of rain.
The community appreciation luncheon at noon will be held as scheduled, but a parade at 4:30 p.m. and a 6 p.m. ``family celebration'' event have been scrubbed. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS
From left, the cars of Jimmy Hensley, Sterling Marlin and Morgan
Shepherd get together late in the Holly Farms 400.
by CNB