THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 6, 1995 TAG: 9507060495
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
It wasn't a Winston Cup victory, but Dale Jarrett's win by several car lengths over Larry Pearson at the Grand National race in Milwaukee last Sunday was, for him, almost as good.
Jarrett, the hard-luck driver of 1995 while driving for the sport's ultimate hard-luck team, said the victory ``gives me new confidence to run and to win, and it shows the guys on the Winston Cup team that they have a winner. And I hope it gives them confidence in me.''
Jarrett said that if Ernie Irvan is unable to return to the team next year, he'd like to stick around.
``If given the opportunity, I want to stay at Robert Yates Racing,'' he said. ``They're really good people. . . . They've been through so much.''
The team lost Irvan, at least temporarily, after his near-fatal crash in practice at Michigan last August. Irvan had replaced Davey Allison, who was killed in a helicopter crash in 1993.
Jarrett, who is 16th in Winston Cup points, may find his Milwaukee victory helpful this weekend at New Hampshire International Speedway in Loudon.
``We set the (Grand National) car up a lot like Loudon in a Cup race,'' he said. ``They're very similar. And (Winston Cup crew chief) Larry McReynolds helped us set this one up.''
TIGHT RACE: After 15 races, Sterling Marlin, Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon are locked in the tightest points race since the current points system was developed before the 1975 season.
Marlin leads Gordon by seven points and Earnhardt by 16 as the NASCAR season reaches the halfway point with the New Hampshire race.
In the 21 seasons in which the current points system has been used, the next-closest race was in 1984, when Darrell Waltrip led Earnhardt by 30 points after 15 races.
NASCAR spokesman Kevin Triplett said the driver leading the points after 15 races has gone on to win the title in 10 of the past 20 seasons.
Marlin, by the way, passed the $6 million mark in NASCAR purses last weekend, and Waltrip passed the $14 million mark.
NEW BURTON BABY: Kim Burton, Jeff Burton's wife, gave birth to the couple's first child, Kimberle Paige, at 5:45 p.m. Monday at Halifax Regional Hospital in South Boston, Va., two days after the Pepsi 400 in Daytona. The baby weighed 6 pounds, 14 ounces.
MORE SPOILER: NASCAR's newest spoiler change applies to the Pontiacs as well as the Fords.
Beginning this weekend at New Hampshire, the Pontiacs and Fords can have a spoiler height of 6.375 inches, an increase of 1/8 inch. The Chevys remain at 5.75 inches, or 5/8 of an inch lower than the other two manufacturers.
APPEAL DENIED: Geoff Bodine's fine of $5,000 for ignoring the black flag at the end of the June 18 race at Michigan was upheld by a three-member panel of the National Commission on Stock Car Racing last weekend at Daytona. Bodine had appealed the penalty. by CNB