THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, June 3, 1996 TAG: 9606030148
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: NASCAR Notes
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DOVER, DEL. LENGTH: 66 lines
As Dale Jarrett sat by his transporter after the Miller 500 on Sunday and described his worst finish of the season, his team stole the moment with a display of pure sportsmanship.
Most of the team was standing on the lift about 10 feet above the ground in the garage at Dover Downs International Speedway when the crew of Robert Yates' other team pushed Ernie Irvan's car past the Jarrett transporter.
Irvan had finished fourth. And despite their own poor finish, Jarrett's crewmen began clapping and cheering their fellow employees.
``Good job, boys,'' a crewman said. ``Good work.''
Irvan crewman Norman Koshimizu fired back a thumbs-up, and it was clear that though they're competitors, the two teams have good rapport.
Still, it was a crushing disappointment for Jarrett and his crew. He led 83 laps. And he was running third on lap 361 when his car suddenly spun sideways coming off turn 2. No one was near him.
``As I came off the corner, it swapped ends in a hurry,'' Jarrett said. ``Somebody dropped oil or water, and it was right where I ran - a lane lower than the 3 and 5 cars (of Dale Earnhardt and Terry Labonte) were running. We had a good car. And this was going to be a good one. You hate to give that up.''
Irvan, meanwhile, had his third top-five finish of the season. And he led 16 laps.
``Definitely at one point we were one of the better cars,'' he said. ``We had a great race car today. Just a little off. It just started pushing too much.
``I was a little nervous about running this 500-lap race. But this is about the best I've felt, considering how long the race is.''
FEW WRECKS: Although an event at Dover can be a wreck-strewn affair, Sunday's race was remarkably clean. There were only three incidents other than Jarrett's, and each involved just one car.
Steve Grissom hit the outside wall in turn two on lap 67.
``I bruised my shoulder a little bit,'' Grissom said. ``I was just getting started and we had a right front tire go flat. These cars don't turn too good with the right front flat.''
Geoff Bodine got tapped and spun into the frontstretch wall on lap 107.
``It looked like the 90 car (of Mike Wallace) got sideways,'' Bodine said. ``I backed off a little bit and I ended up getting run into.''
And Rick Mast lost control off turn 4 on lap 195 and hit the inside wall on the frontstretch.
``I just looped it,'' Mast said. ``I pinched the car a little too tight trying to get by Rusty and the back end just got away.''
ENGINE WOES: Engine failure hit two key drivers Sunday: Sterling Marlin and Mark Martin.
Marlin dropped out on lap 87.
``Something happened going down the backstretch,'' he said. ``The engine seized up. She blew up.''
Martin's engine died on lap 219.
``It just shut off,'' Martin said. ``That's about the third time this year we've had that. Broken timing chain. Can't fix it.''
PIT NOTES: Buddy Parrott, crew chief for Jeff Burton's Winston Cup team, was released from Kent General Hospital on Sunday evening after being examined for chest pains suffered late in Sunday's race. . . . Jeff Gordon collected $138,730 from a $1.5 million purse, bringing his earnings this season to $972,502. His payoff Sunday included a $38,000 bonus for Unocal for winning from the pole. It also was the first time the race was won from the pole since David Pearson prevailed in 1975. . . . Hermie Sadler of Emporia, Va., finished 37th, completing 349 laps before handling problems forced him out of the race. by CNB