THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, April 29, 1996 TAG: 9604290137
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: TALLADEGA, ALA. LENGTH: Medium: 99 lines
With 22 laps to go in the Winston Select 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, crew chief Tony Glover sent in the big play from the sidelines.
``Get up there and go for it!'' he told driver Sterling Marlin on their radio.
Seconds later, Marlin did as he was told, and went under Terry Labonte to take the lead for good in the 188-lap event.
Marlin actually stretched it out on the final lap, winning unchallenged by several car lengths over Dale Jarrett, who was that close to winning the second leg of the Winston Million to go with a Daytona 500 win.
The official margin of victory was .22 seconds. Dale Earnhardt was third, followed by Labonte and Michael Waltrip.
Two spectacular accidents - Bill Elliott's single-car crash on lap 78 and and a 14-car melee on lap 130 - slowed down the race and sent Elliott to a Birmingham hospital with a broken left femur.
Ricky Craven was taken to the same hospital to be held overnight for observation, but apparently escaped with minor injuries after a harrowing tumble that shredded his car in the big crash. No other drivers were much hurt.
The larger, second accident started when Jeff Gordon went three wide to the outside of Mark Martin at the end of the trioval. Gordon's left front hit Martin's right rear, turning Martin into the wall.
Craven's car, coming from behind, began tumbling and sailed up into the fence. The Winston Cup sophomore, who came to Talladega fourth in series points, would have gone out of the park except for the catch fencing, which was installed after Jimmy Horton flew over the first turn wall here in July 1993.
The fencing did its job, slinging the car almost over the track surface down close to the apron, where it was struck hard again.
The race had to be stopped for about 52 minutes to repair the fence and clean up debris.
And when it was time to race again, nothing was stopping Marlin.
``This car I felt like was the best race car I've ever had in a Winston Cup race,'' Marlin said. ``It made it easy. It wasn't easy, but it was easy, know what I mean? We knew Saturday evening that if we could stay out of trouble, we could win the race.''
Most of the other teams knew that, too. Marlin had this race covered. That's why he could afford to do things like pit during the final caution period on lap 139 to top off the fuel tank. That sent him to the back of the pack. He lost all of his track position.
No problem. Marlin passed them singly and in groups, slicing his way back to the front.
``When the guys started racing side by side up front, it really busted the air up and you could work back to them and get up to them,'' Marlin said. ``When you've got a good race car, you can really use their air and catch the seams right and get up there. You could almost pull out and pass at will, almost.''
Once Marlin got the lead, Glover unleashed a heavy spell of coaching from the pits.
``Okay, long legs, sticky foot and a carburetor,'' Glover said. ``You got 20 to go. It's a long-legger. And they got to pass us. It's time to go, big buddy, and they can't beat you.''
As the laps wound down, the strategy game heated up.
Car owner Richard Childress told Earnhardt: ``Whenever you think it's time, there's three cars behind you who say they'll go with you. That's what they said. We'll have to see.''
Moments later, Glover was back with Marlin. ``The 3 car and a bunch of 'em are teaming up to gang up on you. You got six to go. Hammer down, baby!''
Marlin never spoke. He just kept driving. And his victory was assured when he and Jarrett pulled away from the pack as Labonte and Earnhardt started racing behind them.
``Sterling was just too strong for us,'' said Jarrett. ``When it comes down to the end, you want to be in the front. I got up into second, but I just didn't have anyone behind me who could give me a push.''
Marlin's only problem came in the first few laps.
``We started the race and the water temperature rose up to 230 degrees,'' he said. ``But we cooled it down (during the first pit stop) and pulled some tape off and it ran about 210 or 215 the rest of the day.
Taping over part of the radiator grille opening improves the aerodynamics of a car, but at the risk of cutting off so much air that the engine overheats.
``You try to run the race with the least amount of tape you can run fast with, so we just started the race with a little too much tape and we got the car hot,'' he said.
But after it cooled down, Marlin's car was still plenty hot.
``I think everybody thought we had a stout car and if we got the lead, we'd be hard to beat,'' said Marlin, whose victory Sunday was the fifth of his career, including Daytona 500 wins in 1994 and '95. ILLUSTRATION: Associated Press
[Color Photos]
RESULTS
[For results, see page C5 of THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT for this date.]
by CNB