THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 24, 1996 TAG: 9603240260
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DARLINGTON, S.C. LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines
Mark Martin won his fifth Grand National victory at Darlington Raceway in the Dura-Lube 200 on Saturday, but not before surviving a close call in the final 500 yards.
Martin led the final 38 laps of the 147-lap race and crossed the finish line a car length ahead of Michael Waltrip. Terry Labonte was third, followed by Ricky Craven and Bobby Labonte.
Martin had a comfortable lead of several car lengths as the last lap started. But as he headed down the backstretch and approached a cluster of lapped cars, Doug Heveron slammed into the fourth-turn wall.
The result was near-mayhem. Martin slowed considerably, which allowed Waltrip to make a run. But as they picked their way through the slower cars, Martin managed to block Waltrip's bid to pass. And there wasn't enough room for Waltrip to maneuver anywhere else.
``It was awful close there, with all those cars,'' Martin said. ``Michael could have gotten us pretty easy there. We were lucky to cross that line in first place.
``But we had to race through all the mess. It was going to be interesting whether there was a crash or not. We were catching some lapped cars, and they weren't being very courteous today.''
Said Waltrip, ``I thought I had a run on him. But he did what I'd have done - he blocked me out.''
Mike McLaughlin led the most laps - 64 - but was knocked out on lap 76 by Dick Trickle, who bumped him and sent him spinning into the turn 2 wall.
Pole-sitter Jeff Green led the first two laps and finished 11th, but his chances for victory were eliminated by an early encounter with the wall. Dale Jarrett spun on lap 69 but came back 10 laps later to lead the race for 31 circuits and finish sixth. There also was a seven-car crash coming out of turn 4 that destroyed Chad Little's car, but no one was hurt.
Martin's performance Saturday added to an already spectacular record in Grand National competition at Darlington. He has raced in 17 Busch races here - and has finished in the top 10 every time. He's finished in the top five 11 times.
The Winston Cup drivers, for that matter, completely overshadowed the Busch regulars Saturday, stealing the top seven finishing positions and nine of the top 10. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Mark Martin and son Matt, 4, celebrate a victory that looked routine
until the final lap.
by CNB