THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Sunday, February 26, 1995              TAG: 9502260166
SECTION: SPORTS                   PAGE: C2   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: ROCKINGHAM, N.C.                   LENGTH: Medium:   53 lines

LITTLE MAKES IT 2 IN A ROW THIS WEEK, HIS GRAND NATIONAL WIN WAS A RUNAWAY.

Chad Little may have inherited his Grand National victory last weekend at Daytona after an end-of-the-race crash eliminated his competition, but his victory Saturday in the Goodwrench 200 was anything but a matter of circumstance.

Little led 177 of the 197 laps around North Carolina Motor Speedway and won by a whopping 9.39 seconds over fellow Ford driver Mark Martin. Terry Labonte finished third in a Chevy, followed by Johnny Benson in another Chevy and Morgan Shepherd in a Ford.

``I really wasn't driving that hard,'' Little said after his second consecutive Grand National triumph. ``You don't get cars like this very often. It's a lot of fun to drive a race car like this.''

Martin said he had a good car, but ``it was no match for Chad. He whipped it on us really bad.''

The only other driver to lead the race was Morgan Shepherd, who led 20 laps, more or less by mistake.

``We didn't realize the rules,'' Shepherd said. ``We thought we could just change two tires at a time.''

The result was that Shepherd's pit stops were quicker, which twice allowed him to take the lead until Little repassed him on the track.

Pole winner David Green never led a lap and his Chevy engine expired after 112 laps, giving him a 33rd-place finish.

``We were fast qualifying, but Johnny Benson and I were the only Chevy guys up there to battle the Fords,'' Green said.

Said Little, ``I don't think you could ever expect to be that dominant. It felt almost as good on 80-lap tires as it did on sticker (new) tires.''

``As a matter of fact,'' car owner and NFL quarterback Mark Rypien said, ``it got rather boring. The excitement in the pits was not the same it was last week.''

With his back-to-back victories, Little has a 30-point lead over Labonte and a 66-point lead over Benson, his closest full-time Grand National competitor. Benson is fourth in points.

``Now we're going to Richmond with a brand-new car that we just tested there last week,'' Little said. ``Could we make it three in a row? I don't know.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Chad Little led 177 of 197 laps and crossed the finish line 9.39

seconds ahead of Mark Martin.

by CNB