THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, May 1, 1995 TAG: 9505010142
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: TALLADEGA, ALA. LENGTH: Long : 114 lines
It would be hard to say who was more surprised with the outcome of Sunday's Winston Select 500: Mark Martin, who won the race, or Dale Earnhardt, who found himself spinning down the back straight and into the wall on the last lap.
Time and again at Talladega Superspeedway, and at Daytona as well, Martin has been snookered, smashed up or simply beaten.
Time and again, Earnhardt has done the snookering, sometimes even skirting late-race mishaps to win, or at worst to post his trademark top-five finish.
But in another wild finish at Talladega, the tables were turned.
Earnhardt entered the last lap battling Martin for the lead. He finished the last lap in 21st place with a wadded-up race car as Martin sailed to his first superspeedway victory, crossing the finish line a couple of car lengths ahead of Jeff Gordon.
Morgan Shepherd, who bumped Earnhardt and caused his spin, finished third, followed by Darrell Waltrip and Bobby Labonte. Bill Elliott, Geoff Bodine, Todd Bodine, Jimmy Spencer and Loy Allen completed the top 10.
Eleven other cars finished on the lead lap, including Earnhardt, who managed to drive his crippled Chevrolet back around the 2.66-mile, high-banked track as the last car to complete all 188 laps.
``I can't believe it,'' Martin told his crew on the radio in a calm, even voice. ``Congratulations, boys. We got that big shove from the 24 car.''
It was questionable whether any of the crewmen heard him. Their shouts on the radio were all but unintelligible as they jumped for joy and danced on pit road. Finally, Martin had won a superspeedway race. It was his 15th career victory.
Earnhardt was another story. He hopped out of his battered Monte Carlo and made a beeline to his motor home, with Chevy motorsports' Ray Cooper hot on his heels to record whatever he had to say about the finish.
It wasn't much.
``Wrecked,'' Earnhardt said. ``I got loose off of turn two over there and wrecked. Watch the replay and see what happened. I don't know if I could have passed Mark or not, but you can't win the race when you're spinning around on the last lap. What can you do?''
Earnhardt's hauler was not a happy place after the race.
``Got those damned lapped cars in there racing,'' said car owner Richard Childress. ``It was just one of those deals. Can't worry about history. Got to worry about the future.''
Sunday's race is indeed history, but it allowed Gordon to tie Earnhardt for the Winston Cup points lead. And after a brilliant start that saw him finish no worse than fourth in the first five races, Earnhardt now has wrecked in three of the last four events.
So fate has a way of making things even. Earnhardt is no exception.
And Martin was due. He had been burned here many times before, particularly a year ago, when ``I almost went out there among the campers'' in one of the most spectacular wrecks of the year.
The final chapter of this event opened with 19 laps to go, when Gordon abandoned the four-car breakaway he was a part of with Earnhardt, Martin, and Shepherd to make a final three-second pit stop for gas.
Four laps later, the other three also pitted, with Martin in the lead. But Earnhardt skidded to a stop in his pit, which was just ahead of Martin's, and managed to sneak out ahead of Martin.
Now it became a two-car draft at the front, with Earnhardt leading Martin. Some distance behind them were Shepherd and Dick Trickle, who was eight laps down but hoping to help his fellow Ford drivers.
Meanwhile, Gordon was seven seconds back. But Sterling Marlin, who had lost 43 laps while his crew fixed an engine problem, was up to full speed once again and pulling Gordon toward the leaders. Shepherd and Trickle soon joined them.
With two laps to go, Martin looked into his mirror and said something unprintable on the radio.
He explained after the race: ``I was hating it that Morgan (Shepherd) and Jeff Gordon were catching us. I was concerned that I wasn't going to be able to beat Dale without help, but I didn't want any help.''
As it turned out, Martin didn't know what was best for him. Even before the leaders reached the white flag for the last lap, Martin was making his move. He went low to pass Earnhardt just as Gordon arrived with a head of steam.
``I couldn't believe Mark got by Earnhardt,'' Gordon said. ``He must have had the momentum from me coming up behind him. And he drove right by him.''
Martin then was able to block Gordon's attempts to pass him. And behind them, Shepherd drifted up into Earnhardt in turn two.
Shepherd blamed Trickle: ``The 15 car was eight laps down and he come in there and run side-by-side with me and got me messed up and made me loose and I got into Earnhardt. I don't know what he was doing.''
Trickle told Ford's Wayne Estes: ``I was just trying to help a fellow Ford driver. I got him up there. He never would have caught that lead pack, but I pushed him up there.
``When he got loose, he didn't expect it. I stayed off of him at that point. He can say what he wants, but I'm taking half the credit for their finish.''
Martin never saw any of that. He was looking ahead, and still is.
``We've got a lot to look forward to this year,'' he said. ``We're right there in the points'' in third place. ``We've been strong and we haven't been unlucky.''
On Sunday, the bad luck was Earnhardt's. ILLUSTRATION: Color AP Photo
"We've got a lot to look forwad to this year," Mark Martin said in
Victory Lane after a wild finish at Talladega Superspeedway.
[List]
Top 10 Winston Select Finishers
Winston Cup points leaders
For copy of list, see microfilm.
[Results]
[For copy of results, see microfilm.]
by CNB