THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, July 22, 1996 TAG: 9607220135
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LONG POND, PA. LENGTH: 77 lines
Mark Martin was long gone from Pocono Racway on Sunday as the cheers rolled out of the grandstands for race winner Rusty Wallace.
This could have been - should have been - Martin's race. Instead, he finished ninth.
Before Sunday, Martin had led only 78 laps in all of 1996. In the Miller 500, he led 121 of the first 161 laps. But an unfortunate yellow flag on lap 161 and an awful pit stop ruined his chances for his first victory of the year.
When he pulled in behind his transporter after the race, Martin pulled the helmet off his red and sweaty face and said, ``What do you want me to say? An air wrench broke. We lost it in the pits.''
And then he disappeared into the transporter to change clothes for a quick exit.
After changing, he said, ``I hated to see that caution come out. We were all set. Things were looking good. We stuck a lug nut in a socket. I guess some days it just goes that way.
``We needed for that to happen when we have a day when things aren't going so good. This is only the second time this year that we've run good enough to win.''
There was some question about the debris that led to the yellow flag on lap 161. Television showed a large object up near the wall in turn 1 that had the appearance of a hair ball. Wallace said the caution was for huge chunks of rubber in the groove.
Martin said he didn't see anything. ``Nah,'' he said. ``They probably needed to have some action there.''
After that, he said, ``It was just gone and we just lost the race.''
``I can't believe how good this car was,'' crew chief Steve Hmiel said. ``Rusty couldn't see it all day long. I said this morning that we'll probably lead 195 laps and somebody will beat us on fuel mileage. That didn't happen. Instead, we broke a gun.''
CHEVY DISCONTENT: When the Ford teams take the first four positions and seven of the top 10, as they did Sunday, you can expect some complaints from the Chevy camp.
``All I know is we're going to get killed at Indy,'' said Jeff Gordon, who came in seventh. ``It's the same thing at Indy as it is here - flat corners. It's one thing when they beat us down the straightaways. It's another thing when they're killing us down the straightaways and beating us in the corners, too.''
``Right now, it's so far unbalanced, it's unreal,'' added car owner Richard Childress, who watched Dale Earnhardt struggle to a 14th-place finish, one lap down. ``Right now, we're chasing the Fords so darn hard, anything can happen. We stalled it in the pits and that got us a lap behind.
``But all of the Chevys were fighting it. And wait until the Fords get their cars really balanced. It's not going to be funny what happens. We're about a second off the Fords at Indy.''
``We were first in class,'' said Sterling Marlin, who was sixth in the highest-finishing Chevy. ``When (the Fords) get 'em aimed where they're going, they take off.''
FOUR-CAR ACCIDENT: There were only two crashes in the race.
The first occurred on the second lap, when Jimmy Spencer lost it in turn 3. Spencer spun to the wall without being hit. But trouble erupted behind him, and the cars of Darrell Waltrip, Bobby Hamilton and Jeff Green were involved.
``I saw Spencer get loose,'' Hamilton said. ``I waved all the way from turn 2. And John Andretti ran in there from 10 car-lengths back and run plumb over me. I tell you, the guy can't see. He just can't see.''
``I was already in the rear,'' said Waltrip. ``I never expected to get hit from the rear.''
The second accident occurred in turn 1 on lap 183 and involved Joe Nemechek and Brett Bodine.
There were no injuries in either accident.
TESTING: The Winston Cup teams of Bobby Labonte, Sterling Marlin, Ted Musgrave and Bobby Hillin will stay over for a test session today on the 2.5-mile tri-oval as they prepare for the Aug. 3 Brickyard 400.
NASCAR, which limits teams to seven test sessions during the season, offered a free session at Pocono because it hopes to experiment with new aerodynamics. by CNB