THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, August 14, 1995 TAG: 9508140270
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. LENGTH: Medium: 84 lines
Three caution flags in the Bud at the Glen Sunday at Watkins Glen International were just the right number for a routine victory by Mark Martin but one too many for luck-starved Wally Dallenbach.
Dallenbach was 5.1 seconds ahead of Martin and on his way toward a major upset when fate and Todd Bodine intervened.
Bodine's crippled car put oil on the track as it headed back to the pits after a sideways trip through the inner loop on lap 79. That brought out the caution, closed the gap and allowed Martin to charge to the inside of Dallenbach's car at the end of the front straight and take the lead with six laps to go.
Dallenbach finished second, followed by Jeff Gordon, Ricky Rudd and Terry Labonte. Also in the top 10 were Bobby Labonte, John Andretti, Darrell Waltrip, Geoff Bodine and Ricky Craven. Nine other drivers finished on the lead lap.
``I didn't necessarily want to see that caution,'' Martin said as he reviewed his third consecutive Watkins Glen win and his 16th career victory. ``I'm going to look at it and say it was a blessing. But I didn't call for it. I never said a word.''
Dallenbach had to be devastated by the yellow. He had been sick in the car earlier in the race, felled by exhaust smoke. But he had recovered, primarily because of the break afforded by the first yellow flag, and was in command.
Martin had been in command until he and his team decided he probably would run out of gas unless he pitted for gas only during the second caution period, which started on lap 61 after Robert Pressley's car stalled. So Martin pitted and Dallenbach took over.
Dallenbach was five seconds ahead and only 11 laps away from that most elusive of goals - a Winston Cup victory - and a jump-start on a dormant NASCAR career.
But Dallenbach accepted his lot with poise and grace. When the caution came out, he first talked with Davis and crew chief Chris Hussey about pit strategy and track position. He discussed how his car was handling.
Only after dealing with those matters, and then only after the longest pause, did Dallenbach ask, ``What was the yellow for?''
``Same old thing - oil on the track,'' Hussey said.
``It would have been nice if it had gone green,'' Dallenbach quietly replied.
Could Martin have caught Dallenbach without the yellow?
``I tell you what, I don't know,'' Martin said. ``There wasn't a lot of racing left. We were catching him. But he was out there pretty good. I said to myself, `Boy, this is going to be hard.' ''
Dallenbach, 32, was just as stoic after the race as he had been after the final yellow.
``It feels good to just be able to get in a race car and drive it hard,'' he said. ``It would have been a hard race (for Martin without that last caution). He would have used a lot of stuff up trying to catch me. I was running a real nice, consistent pace, my tires were good and it would have been real hard for him to get me.''
Instead, it ended with the same Martin-Dallenbach, one-two finish of 1993. Except this year Dallenbach is not Martin's teammate. He's not driving for Jack Roush. He's not driving for Richard Petty. He's not driving for anyone.
The deal with Davis was a one-race arrangement that came about because Dallenbach is such a skilled road racer.
Even so, the Winston Cup series has become so competitive, a driver usually doesn't hop into a stranger's car these days and take it to the front, even on a road course.
As Martin himself noted: ``That was all Wally because that car hasn't run that well here before.''
Whether this performance changes the course of Dallenbach's career remains to be seen.
``I proved I could do it, anyway,'' Dallenbach said. ``And I'm just going to try to work hard to get in a good program for next year.'' ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS
``I'm going to look at it and say it was a blessing,'' Mark Martin
said of the yellow flag that wiped out Wally Dallenbach's 5.1-second
lead in the final stages of Sunday's Bud at the Glen.
RESULTS
[For a copy of the graphic, see microfilm for this date.]
by CNB