THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 5, 1996 TAG: 9610050231
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: NASCAR REPORT
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CONCORD, N.C. LENGTH: 64 lines
It was only a glorified heat race, but when you haven't won in 14 years, seeing any Victory Lane is a special occasion.
Dave Marcis, six months past his 55th birthday, beat pole-sitter Ron Barfield by 1.27 seconds after leading every lap of the Busch Grand National Challenge Race on Friday at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
``It's been a very, very, very, very, very long time,'' said Marcis, who earned a starting spot in today's All-Pro 300. ``It's great to be out front. That's what this sport is all about.''
The race was interrupted on the second lap by a 14-car crash in turn 2. No one was hurt, but 11 cars were knocked out of the event.
Marcis, who started second in this so-called ``hooligan'' race, took the lead from Barfield on the first lap and fended off several challenges from Jimmy Spencer, who finished third.
Marcis drove a Ken Schrader-owned Chevrolet, but only after some persuasion.
``I didn't want to run it,'' he said. ``I didn't want to take that ride away from a Busch guy. They called back and said they were going to put a Winston Cup guy in that car. They said, `We want you.' ''
The win was Marcis' first since he won a rain-shortened event at Richmond in the spring of 1982. Marcis, 38th in the Winston Cup points, failed to qualify for Sunday's UAW-GM Quality 500.
ALL-PRO 300: A 43-car field will start today's All-Pro 300. (1 p.m., TBS). In addition to Marcis, Barfield and Spencer, the drivers who made it into today's field from Friday's Challenge Race were Kyle Petty, Tommy Houston, Tim Fedewa, Darrell Lanigan, Mike Wallace, Jeremy Mayfield and Jim Bown.
Jeff Purvis and Jeff Green qualified for today's race on their times but will have to start from the back of the field after crashing in practice Friday. Neither was hurt, but both had to revert to backup cars.
A SHOT AT VICTORY: Rick Mast struggled most of the season, trying to get competitive. Then, after he finally did get his Pontiac Grand Prix in the running, new problems arose.
``It's gratifying to finally run well, but the problem with that is, like Sunday at (North) Wilkesboro, the first half of the race I felt like we had a dominant car,'' Mast said. ``I was sitting there trying to figure out how we could win, what to do the last couple of hundred laps to win the race.
``I kind of did some wrong things with the car, and we got it off a little the last 100 laps. Instead of being real happy for finishing sixth, I'm a little disappointed because we didn't have a shot at winning.''
For Mast, having a shot at winning is a feeling he hasn't had too many times during his eight-year Winston Cup career. His best finish, a second place, came at Rockingham in 1994, and there have been only seven top-fives in all.
But Mast is riding a hot streak heading into Sunday's UAW-GM 500. His last three races have produced finishes of sixth, fourth and sixth. And adding to the excitement, his wife, Sharon, gave birth to twin daughters, the couple's first children, Wednesday night.
``Everybody at home is fine and I feel great,'' he said. ``The team is on a roll. What we've done the last three races is what I've been saying and thinking we could do for a long time.''
NEW SPONSOR: Dale Jarrett announced Friday that Gillette's White Rain brand of hair-care products will be the primary sponsor of his Busch Grand National car in a limited, 14-race schedule in 1997 and 1998. MEMO: The Associated Press contributed to this report. by CNB