THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, March 6, 1995 TAG: 9503060108
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DENISE MICHAUX, STAFF WRITER NASCAR NOTES
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
The 1995 season began with high hopes and even higher expectations for Dale Jarrett and the Robert Yates Racing team.
And for one afternoon last month it looked as if they might live up to them, as Jarrett piloted the Texaco/Havoline Ford to the pole position for the Daytona 500.
Later that day, however, Jarrett was having problems drafting and running in traffic during practice sessions. And on race day, he lost the lead on the first lap.
Jarrett has yet to lead a lap this season, but during Sunday's Pontiac Excitement 400 at Richmond International Raceway, he thought his team had put together a Ford that might be able to run with the Chevrolets, which now are 3-for-3 in Winston Cup victories this year.
Jarrett spun out on lap 85 of the 400-lap event, but a good pit stop improved the car and he found himself in fifth position by lap 271 and moving up quickly.
That all changed on lap 272, when Jarrett ran over the exhaust pipe that had fallen off Joe Nemechek's car.
Jarrett saw Ward Burton swerve in turn three, but Jarrett was running next to Robert Pressley and had nowhere to go but over the pipe. The right front tire blew, and Jarrett and Pressley hit the wall.
The frustration and disappointment were apparent in Jarrett's voice as he told his crew over the radio, ``We're pretty tore up.'' He got back onto the track and cruised around to a 25th-place finish.
``We had a capable car,'' Jarrett said. ``If people would learn how to weld their stuff on and it wouldn't fall off, we would be OK.''
Jarrett said a 100-pound weight reduction in the cars may have led to the problem in that some teams are using lighter bolts.
``You give up something,'' Jarrett said. ``When you put something lighter on the body, you give up something and things are going to fall off.''
Now it's off to Atlanta, where ``we'll be chasing the Chevys again, I guess,'' Jarrett said. ``It's the same old story.''
NO BONUS BUCKS: Pole-sitter Jeff Gordon started going backwards in a hurry on lap 107, and the team still doesn't know why.
``I don't know what happened,'' Gordon said. ``She just died. I've got oil pressure, I've got battery, but it's like when I stood on the gas, the thing just died like it ran out of fuel or something.''
Gordon was running a very competitive third when his Chevrolet died heading down the frontstretch. By the time he was able to limp around the track and reach his pit stall, was six laps down.
The crew got the car in working condition and put Gordon back on the track on lap 224, 116 laps back. They finally called it a day on lap 302 and settled for a 36th-place finish.
``We just parked it. We didn't have another position to gain,'' crew chief Ray Evernham said. ``We're not sure what the problem was yet, we believe it was the fuel pump.''
UP IN SMOKE: It is becoming an all-too-familiar sight - smoke billowing out of Rick Mast's Ford.
On lap 306, it happened again.
Mast had had a top-10 car for the first 100 laps but spent the rest of the race hovering around the 15th position until the motor finally ``blowed up,'' as Mast put it, with less than 100 laps to go. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS photo
Dale Jarrett, left, and Robert Pressley tangled after Jarrett ran
over debris on the track.
by CNB