THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 9, 1996 TAG: 9610090549
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 61 lines
With three races left in the Winston Cup season, never has a championship battle been so close as the one between defending champion Jeff Gordon and former champ Terry Labonte.
Gordon leads by a single point. The only other points race remotely similar was in 1979, when Darrell Waltrip led Richard Petty by 17 points with three to go, only to lose the title in the finale.
Rick Hendrick, who owns both cars, concedes the contest is ``bittersweet,'' because at least one of his drivers must lose. Dale Jarrett, 92 points behind, is by no means out of it yet.
``It's hard on you, standing there and watching it, knowing so much is at stake,'' Hendrick said Tuesday. ``I'm very fortunate that neither one of the drivers lean on any other drivers, let alone a teammate.''
Hendrick said he's more worried about Jarrett than anything else. And as the series prepares for the next race at North Carolina Motor Speedway on Oct. 20, Hendrick also will concern himself with reliability.
On the last visit to Rockingham, both Gordon and Labonte were knocked out by engine failure.
``In the first race, those two cars dominated the race, but we had the same problem with both cars,'' he said. ``We took some measures to prevent that from happening the rest of the year and we got away with it until we had that problem develop again at Charlotte (in Gordon's car).
``So we're going back and checking those pieces again, trying to get the best pieces we've got.''
Meanwhile, Rockingham is a busy track today, with open testing for the AC-Delco 400.
Ernie Irvan, who suffered a mild concussion Sunday in the UAW-GM 500 at Charlotte, has confirmed for today's session, as has Ward Burton, Bobby Hamilton, Jeremy Mayfield, Lake Speed, Robby Gordon, Geoff Bodine and a slew of Grand National drivers.
David Green, who suffered a concussion and bruises in a Saturday crash at Charlotte, canceled his testing appointment today.
DRIVER SWITCH: Robert Pressley is out and Todd Bodine is in the driver's seat of the No. 33 Chevrolet Monte Carlo for the rest of the year.
Pressley decided he needed to move on to his new team, and will be behind the wheel of his 1997 ride, the No. 29 Diamond Ridge Chevrolet, at Rockingham.
``The Diamond Ridge team can get started on their 1997 program with Robert and we needed to try something new so we could finish the season with some momentum,'' said Andy Petree, crew chief and soon-to-be owner of the No. 33 team.
``I think a change will do all of us some good. I enjoyed working with Robert this year, but the chemistry was not producing the results everyone expected.''
Ken Schrader will move to Petree's team next season. Bodine is still looking for a full-time ride.
CRAVEN BACKS OFF: Ricky Craven, who will replace Schrader in the Hendrick Motorsports No. 25 Chevy, said is glad he never signed the contract to buy part of Larry Hedrick's No. 41 team.
``I enjoy being an owner in Busch Grand National North and Busch Grand National,'' he said, ``but when you get to Winston Cup, you truly need to be one dimensional. And that's the form I've gotten back into the last couple of weeks since Larry and I settled. . . . I've released myself from any responsibility except driving the car.'' by CNB