THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, April 3, 1995 TAG: 9504030141
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BRISTOL, TENN. LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
Richard Petty and his team left Bristol International Raceway all smiles Sunday after Bobby Hamilton brought the No. 43 STP Pontiac Grand Prix home in fourth place despite being involved in two incidents in the Food City 500.
Hamilton fell a lap down after being involved in a four-car crash on lap 134. And his car was struck on another occasion. But he blew past Rusty Wallace shortly before lap 300 to unlap himself.
It was a particularly satisfying pass for Hamilton in light of Wallace's putdowns after the two tangled at Daytona.
``I had a little incentive,'' Hamilton said. ``We had an accident at Daytona and Rusty said we were an also-ran. So that made me run with about 50 more horsepower.''
Hamilton's fourth-place finish was the best for Petty's Pontiac since Wally Dallenbach finished fourth last May at Sears Point.
``They've worked hard for this,'' Petty said of Hamilton and the team. ``But the big deal is, he drives hard.''
EARNHARDT HITS THE WALL: It doesn't happen very often, but the first driver to crash Sunday was Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt. He hit the fourth-turn wall after pinching Jeff Burton in turn three and colliding with him.
``These (expletive) slow cars!'' Earnhardt shouted into his radio.
Earnhardt's team spent 20 laps fixing his car, and he actually made one of them up before eventually finishing 25th, 21 laps down.
``We were running pretty good after we got back out there,'' Earnhardt told Chevy's Ray Cooper.
GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS: Kyle Petty wound up 35th in the 36-car field Sunday, but his finish was worse than his run.
Petty, who started third, took the lead from Mark Martin on the fourth lap and led for 37 circuits.
The crash that took Petty out occurred on the 277th lap, when he hit the fourth-turn wall after he was hit from behind after slowing to avoid trouble in front of him.
``That was nobody's fault,'' Petty said. ``It was just one of those things that happens here.''
NO DARLINGTON REPEAT: More often than not, a race at Bristol is a wreckfest. But there were only seven yellow flags Sunday - fewer than half the number that flew at Darlington a week earlier.
``I think it took Darlington to wake everybody up for this place,'' said Ricky Rudd, who finished fifth.
The last, biggest and most spectacular crash of the day occurred on lap 347, when Ted Musgrave turned John Andretti coming out of turn two. The cars behind them slowed, and Ken Schrader knocked Robert Pressley into the wall.
A split-second later, Ricky Craven hurtled over the top of Morgan Shepherd, tearing a huge chunk of sheet metal out of the left side of Shepherd's Ford, and came down on the rear deck of Schrader's Chevy.
Amazingly, none of those three cars spun. But all were crippled for the rest of the race. Craven finished 29th, Schrader 26th and Shepherd 20th.
For Andretti, who finished 19th, it was a big letdown after running in the top five for more than 300 laps.
``I'm disappointed, but at least we showed we can run with them,'' he said. ``Now we have to do it with more consistency.''
TOUGHING IT OUT: After breaking his left shoulder in a crash at Darlington, Bobby Labonte's plan for Bristol was to run only until the first caution period.
Unfortunately for Labonte, the first yellow flag didn't fly for 117 laps. He promptly got out and let David Green take over.
``I feel a little whupped,'' Labonte told Chevy's Ray Cooper. ``But who would have thought we'd go 120 laps under green?''
Green, however, was struck by Dave Marcis and hit the wall in turn one on lap 151. The car finished 32nd, 108 laps down. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS photo
David Green, in the No. 18 Chevy, spins. Greg Sacks, top, is headed
in the right direction in what was a fairly clean Bristol race.
by CNB