THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, May 19, 1996 TAG: 9605190176
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CONCORD, N.C. LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
When it finally happened for Michael Waltrip, when he finally won a big league NASCAR race, he could barely believe he was the guy in Victory Lane at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
But Waltrip was, indeed, the unlikely winner of The Winston Select Saturday night by a full second in his Wood Brothers Ford Thunderbird over Rusty Wallace. Dale Earnhardt was third, followed by Mark Martin and Terry Labonte.
``Wow, that's big,'' Waltrip said in a raucous, joyful Victory Lane. ``I ain't supposed to win this race. I don't even know what to do.''
Waltrip became the first driver in the history of the race to win after transferring from The Winston Open. Even more remarkably, he finished fifth - the last transfer spot - in the Open.
``That'll show you what the Wood Brothers can do,'' Waltrip said. ``We took a car that we ran fifth with in the Open - I mean it was terrible - and we won The Winston. I cussed that car all night long. But man, what a motor.''
``I'm not that emotional because I didn't believe this could happen. Pretty cool.''
This was Waltrip's first Winston Cup victory in a career that extends back more than 300 races, to 1985. It was the all-star race, but it wasn't a points race, as he was quick to point out.
``Well, they'll say, `He never won a points race.' Well, I won a lot of money and I've got a nice trophy, and I don't care what they say.''
After finishing fifth in the Open, Waltrip did well in the first 30-lap segment and clawed his way to 10th. That meant he started 10th in the second segment. He moved up to sixth by the 10th lap of the second segment and eventually finished fourth.
The final segment saw Earnhardt and Labonte start side by side, with Wallace and Waltrip behind them. Two laps into the final segment, Earnhardt and Labonte were battling side-by-side through the first and second turns when Earnhardt's car pushed up into Labonte and both nearly wrecked.
Waltrip dove low and passed both of them in turn 2.
``I knew something like that might happen when Dale and Terry got side-by-side,'' Waltrip said. ``I just took the car low and went past them. I seen it on TV.''
And then he took off, stretching his lead to 15 car lengths before winning by a healthy 1.052 seconds.
Each of the two preliminary 30-lap races had its own complexion.
In the first, Jeff Gordon jumped out to an early lead, but Dale Jarrett tracked him down and blew past him in turn 2 on the 12th lap.
Jarrett went on to a comfortable victory, trailed by Bobby Labonte, Ward Burton, Martin and Gordon.
The field was inverted for the second section and Terry Labonte, who finished 17th in the first segment, took the lead early and led until five laps to go, when Earnhardt got him.
Earlier, in The Winston Select Open, Jimmy Spencer made a nifty outside pass of Lake Speed in turn 4 and the tri-oval on lap 31 of the 50-lap event and held on for the victory.
``The Smokin' Joe's guys built me a heck of a car. I don't get to say that too often,'' Spencer said. ``I don't know if we have anything for the next race, but we're sure going to try.''
Speed finished second in the Open, followed by Hut Stricklin, Jeff Burton and Waltrip as Fords took the five transfer spots into The Winston Select.
In the ARCA 100, Tim Steele grabbed a set of new tires during the final caution period and charged from seventh to first in the last seven laps to win the first ARCA race at Charlotte in 32 years.
``Something was on fire inside the car and it was burning up,'' Steele said. ``I was having a hard time breathing and seeing, and it was nasty. I think some of the roll-bar padding caught on fire.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
ASSOCIATED PRESS
``Wow, that's big,'' Michael Waltrip said in Victory Lane after
posting his first win as a Winston Cup driver. ``I ain't supposed to
win this race. I don't even know what to do.''
by CNB