THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, October 9, 1995 TAG: 9510090113
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CONCORD, N.C. LENGTH: Medium: 94 lines
For one brief, shining Sunday afternoon at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Mark Martin felt as good as he did when he was a teenage phenomenon slinging his dirt-track car around dust-bowl bullrings in Arkansas and Missouri.
Martin wasn't expected to win back then, but he did.
He wasn't expected to win Sunday in the UAW-GM 500. But he made a thrilling charge in the final 50 laps to win the 334-lap event by 0.96 seconds over Dale Earnhardt, who had charged from the 43rd starting position to gain 97 points on Jeff Gordon in the series championship chase.
Terry Labonte was third, followed by pole winner Ricky Rudd and Dale Jarrett.
``Life doesn't get much better than this for me,'' Martin said. ``Because three of my four wins this year have been surprises. That almost feels like it did in the old days. It's almost that much fun.''
Martin is a competitor who expects the worst and rarely permits himself to get truly excited when he wins. Sunday, he was truly excited.
``I have traditionally been one of the least lucky guys I know,'' he said. ``But things have gone well for us today, yesterday (he won Saturday's Grand National race) and another time or two this year, too. We had it all right there when we needed it. We didn't lead much of the race, but we led the part we needed to.''
Martin, in fact, led only the final four laps, along with one lap earlier in the race. Six other drivers led as many or more laps. But Martin's car was best on green-flag runs - the longer, the better - and he got 116 laps of green-flag racing at the end.
It was Martin's second straight Winston Cup victory and his fourth of the year. Combined with his win Saturday, it gave him the first sweep of a Charlotte race weekend since Earnhardt did it in 1986.
``We normally lose these races,'' crew chief Steve Hmiel said. ``Typically, we lead a lot and have trouble at the end. But the last two races, we just kinda rode around, saw what we had, squared everything up and won.''
The final drama started with about 60 laps to go, after the leaders made their last pit stops, which came under the green flag around lap 275.
Rudd had been the leader before the stops, but Labonte gambled, took on only two tires and emerged with a lead of some eight seconds over the field.
``It was a crazy deal,'' Rudd said. ``It wasn't as much of a gamble as it would normally be because cars were running faster with used lefts (left-side tires) and sticker (new) rights.''
Martin, meanwhile, took on four tires and came out in fifth. He moved up steadily and on lap 297 went around Rudd to take second. But he was still almost eight seconds behind Labonte.
``I thought I'd done good when I got by Ricky,'' Martin said. ``I thought, wow, we're running for second today. I couldn't even see the leader.''
That soon changed. On lap 306, Labonte's lead was down to 4.53 seconds. His car was drifting high in the turns. His tires were wearing out. And Martin was charging.
With 20 laps to go, Martin was about 3.5 seconds behind.
With 15 to go, Labonte's lead was down to 2.7 seconds.
At 10 to go, it was down to 1.18 seconds.
But there was a problem looming ahead: Gordon, Labonte's teammate. Gordon was 13 laps down after losing a rear-end gear, but he had a fast car. And he was hanging behind Labonte, apparently ready to block for him.
Hmiel usually talks a lot to his driver on the radio, especially when Martin is leading. But their radio channel was unusually silent during this drama.
Martin finally spoke.
``Tell the 24 (Gordon's car number) nice try, but we can't have that,'' he said.
Hmiel assured him the team was talking to Gordon's team.
With eight to go, Martin was one second back. The next lap, it was down to 0.78 seconds. The next time around, he was eight car lengths behind Labonte and right behind Gordon.
Martin got back on the radio and said simply, ``Steve, the 24.''
``Yeah, NASCAR is in their face right now, telling them to get out of the way. It'll be fine,'' Hmiel replied.
Gordon did as he was told. Martin moved up on Labonte's bumper.
And on lap 331, Martin swept below Labonte on the backstretch and made the pass stick coming out of turn four.
Earnhardt was not far back, either, and he soon got past Labonte, too.
And when the checkered flag finally fell, Hmiel exemplified the exuberance rarely expressed by this intense team.
``Now it's over! Now it's over!'' he shouted. There was a pause, and then he told Martin: ``Sorry I didn't talk to you much, Mark. I was afraid I'd mess you up.''
``You did perfect, boy,'' Martin replied. ``I was workin.' I didn't think I'd catch him.'' ILLUSTRATION: AP Color photo
"Life doesn't get much better than this for me," Mark Martin said.
by CNB