THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 27, 1995 TAG: 9508270199
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BRISTOL, TENN. LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
Terry Labonte, knocked spinning by Dale Earnhardt as he crossed the finish line, won the caution-wracked, rain-delayed, survival contest at Bristol International Raceway known as the Goody's 500.
At 28 minutes past midnight this morning, Labonte crossed the finish line sideways. Earnhardt was just behind, his passing effort foiled by a pack of three slow cars ahead of Labonte.
Earnhardt clearly had the strongest car, and he proved it during two memorable runs through the pack to take the lead.
Earnhardt was 29th on a restart on lap 122, having been relegated to theback of the field by NASCAR after causing Rusty Wallace to spin.
But he cut through the field like a scythe, passing car after car on a track where passing is notoriously tough. On lap 195, he blasted past Jeff Gordon to take the lead.
Later in the race, at around lap 260, Earnhardt fell back to the end of the lead lap in about 12th place after a slow pit stop. But he was back in the lead on lap 308, diving below Darrell Waltrip in turn three.
Earlier in the evening, it was a race against the weather. Although there was never much more than a heavy drizzle here all day, it was enough to delay the start for more than an hour and prompt a yellow flag for 18 laps early in the race.
But once racing started, it didn't take long for the fireworks to begin.
Wallace was the first victim of the notoriously rough racing on the highbanks of this .533-mile track. Wallace looped his Ford Thunderbird in a huge cloud of white tire smoke on lap 32 after getting a tap from Earnhardt.
And NASCAR race director David Hoots quickly penalized Earnhardt by sending him to the back of the field. Moments earlier, Wallace had pulled up next to Earnhardt and expressed his displeasure.
Hoots was cutting no slack Saturday night. At the driver's meeting, he had warned: ``You can make a real smooth night of it or you can make a long night of it.''
And when Bobby Hamilton intentionally rammed Brett Bodine into the turn one wall on lap 62 (after Bodine retaliated for an earlier encounter), Hoots sent Hamilton to the pits for a five-lap penalty.
``I don't know why it always happens to us,'' said crew chief Robbie Loomis.
There was a gaggle of other accidents as well, including a nine-car accident on lap 232 that started when Steve Grissom got into the back of Jeremy Mayfield.
The race was scheduled to start at 7:40 p.m., but the 36-car field didn't get onto the track until about 8 p.m. They made a number of laps under the yellow flag, but the drizzle picked up and NASCAR brought the field back onto pit road.
Finally, at 9:10 p.m., the green flag waved. But on lap 74, the yellow came out again for rain and waved for 18 laps. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Mark Martin of Batesville, Ark., climbs into his car in the pole
position before Saturday's Goody's 500 in Bristol, Tenn.
by CNB