THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 2, 1995 TAG: 9507020188
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. LENGTH: Medium: 96 lines
This time, Jeff Gordon got it right.
This time, there were no mistakes on the final restart as Gordon charged to victory in the Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday for his fourth win of the season.
Victory No. 4 should have come at Pocono last month, but Gordon broke his transmission trying to keep ahead of the pack on the final restart.
``I had to make up for Pocono, and this is the best way I could do it,'' Gordon said after his first victory in a points race at this 2.5-mile superspeedway.
Sterling Marlin nipped Dale Earnhardt at the finish line for second, both several car lengths behind Gordon, as the Chevrolet Monte Carlos dominated yet another race.
Gordon, Marlin and Earnhardt started the race third, second and first, finished first, second and third and are now second, first and third in Winston Cup points, with Gordon bumping Earnhardt from the second spot.
Mark Martin finished fourth in the top Ford Thunderbird, followed by teammate Ted Musgrave. Ken Schrader was sixth, followed by Kyle Petty, Ricky Rudd, Jimmy Spencer and Bill Elliott.
Gordon and Marlin each led 72 laps of the 160-lap event, but it all boiled down to a final-lap shootout when Mike Wallace spun in turn three on lap 158.
Gordon was leading, Earnhardt was second and Marlin third when the green flag fell for the final 2.5 miles.
``The most crucial point in the whole race was that last restart,'' Gordon said. ``A great start at Daytona is actually the worst start you'll ever have. If you take a big jump, the pack is going to get momentum and they're going to drive right by you on the backstretch.
``It seems like every time on a restart here at Daytona, I go from first to 10th. I wasn't going to let that happen again. I tried to keep Earnhardt close behind me. I didn't want to get out there too much.
``I tried to get a good start and block like crazy. I've seen (Earnhardt) do it enough times, and I didn't even have to do it.''
That's because Marlin was determined to pass Earnhardt for second. When Marlin got on the outside of Earnhardt in turn three, the race was over.
``You got 'em, buddy,'' Gordon's spotter told him. ``They're side by side behind you. Bring her home! Bring her home!''
``Just racing,'' Marlin said. ``We was having fun.''
Said Earnhardt, ``There wasn't anything we could do there at the end but race 'em. We just raced all the way back and got all we could.''
For Gordon, the final restart was the key to preserving the victory. The key to winning had come on lap 130, when Jeff Purvis spun and the yellow flag flew after 87 laps under the green. This yellow allowed Gordon's team to make some critical adjustments.
Before Purvis spun, Marlin was leading, and Gordon simply was trying to survive in second, some distance back. His car was jumping out from under him in every turn.
Around lap 120, with great distress in his voice, Gordon had radioed crew chief Ray Evernham and said, ``I don't know what to tell you. It's loose. It's tight. Oh, man, it's a handful.''
``OK, you're the driver,'' Evernham replied. ``You stay up there.''
Afterwards, Evernham said, ``The change I made (on a previous pit stop) was the wrong change. And it probably was a handful. But once we went the wrong way, we knew which way to go.''
During the pit stop after Purvis' spin, Evernham made changes to the front and rear aerodynamics, changed the wedge and made a tire-pressure adjustment.
``We made four changes on that last pit stop and still beat the 4 car (Marlin) out,'' Evernham said. And Gordon knew that the lead was the place to be at Daytona in July.
Besides Gordon and Marlin, only two other drivers, Earnhardt and Rudd, led laps Saturday.
``At Daytona right now, if you're the lead car, you are the best car,'' Gordon said. ``It's very hard to pass unless you can get the guy loose in front of you. When you're leading, as long as you don't have to get out gas, nobody is going to get by by you. Usually the lead car is going to be the toughest car to pass.''
And it was no different when it came down to the last lap, especially after Marlin and Earnhardt began battling together.
``When I saw them side by side, that was the best thing that could have happened,'' Gordon said. ``All I did was watch my mirror to see which one was going to get in front. But I didn't have to do any blocking or anything.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jeff Gordon took the checkered flag ahead of Sterling Martin and
Dale Earnhardt in a 1-2-3 finish of NASCAR's 3 hottest drivers.
Photo
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Pole-sitter Dale Earnhardt led Sterling Marlin, left, and Jeff
Gordon, behind Earnhardt, at the start. The three, though not in the
same order, also led the field at the end.
by CNB