THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, May 8, 1996 TAG: 9605080603
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 53 lines
After Morgan Shepherd finished 24th in Sunday's Save Mart 300 at Sears Point Raceway, he and car owner Butch Mock had a tense discussion.
``If you feel like you can do better equipment-wise, you should go find another ride,'' Mock told him.
Shepherd took that to mean that he had been fired and began telling people this.
Not true, Mock said Tuesday.
``It's all been clarified now,'' Mock said. ``He felt he was released. But that comment was not made and was totally taken out of context.''
Shepherd is participating in Kyle Petty's cross-country motorcycle ride for charity, but Mock said he reached him by phone to assure him he hadn't been fired.
The team is 33rd in Winston Cup points and has only one top-10 finish - an eighth at Darlington.
``We're struggling here a bit,'' Mock said. ``Our biggest single problem is actually the performance and handling of the chassis on the racetrack. Morgan has always been a hands-on chassis and shock guy of his own.
``We're applying the same concept here - where he's got total control of the chassis and car. He just says he's missing a little bit. He's trying some new things that are just not working the way he wants them to work.''
ELLIOTT REHAB: Bill Elliott is on a daily routine of physical therapy at home in Blairsville, Ga., after being released Sunday from Healthsouth Medical Center in Birmingham, Ala.
Elliott spent a week at the hospital as his initial recovery from a shattered left femur, which he suffered in a single-car accident at Talladega on April 28.
Elliott will return to the Alabama hospital every two weeks during a recovery that could last up to four months.
THE WINSTON SELECT: The next event on the schedule is not for points, but for glory. And Jeff Gordon, defending champion of The Winston Select, which will be run the night of May 18 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, explained why it's the most exciting race of the year, at least before it starts.
``It's nothing but fun,'' he said. ``I don't think we necessarily expect to use that race car the following weekend, so kinda anything goes.
``When you get out there on that front straight and you see the fans . . . and for some reason, whether it's nighttime, or whether the moon comes out, or I don't know, but the fans really start getting wild. It just lit a fire in me when I heard those fans go nuts the way they did.'' by CNB