THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, February 17, 1997 TAG: 9702170171
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. LENGTH: 99 lines
This one was for the boss.
NASCAR Winston Cup car owner Rick Hendrick, battling for his life against leukemia and fighting for his freedom against federal fraud charges, watched on television as his three cars finish 1-2-3 Sunday in the Daytona 500.
And as winner Jeff Gordon rolled toward Victory Lane at Daytona International Speedway, he spotted Hendrick Motorsports general manager Jimmy Johnson talking on a cellular phone. He knew it had to be Hendrick on the line from his home in Charlotte.
In a smooth handoff, without telling Hendrick, Johnson passed the phone to Gordon.
``We won the Daytona 500!'' Gordon screamed into the phone. ``This is great! This one is for you! We did it! We did it!''
But Gordon couldn't hear anything. The noise from his engine overwhelmed the phone. He turned his engine off. And from the car owner on the other end of the line came these words:
``Who is this?''
``This is Jeff!'' Gordon fairly screamed.
Later, in the press box, describing the moment, Gordon recalled, ``He just went nuts. He started going crazy. And I could hear the excitement in his home. That was as much a goal as winning the Daytona 500 - to put a smile on Rick's face.''
In a phone hookup to the press box, Hendrick said, ``I don't think it has sunk in yet, but this is the best medicine that the good Lord can give me right now. I'm just kind of speechless. This is great. It's an unbelievable deal.''
Terry Labonte finished second, followed by new Hendrick teammate Ricky Craven.
Bill Elliott was fourth and Sterling Marlin fifth. Also in the top 10 were Jeremy Mayfield, Mark Martin, Ward Burton, Ricky Rudd and Darrell Waltrip.
Thirteen other cars finished on the lead lap - a Daytona 500 record. The race finished under a yellow flag after a 12-car crash in turn 4 with four laps to go.
More than halfway into the 500, Gordon was within a car length of going a lap down after he was forced to make an unscheduled pit stop to replace a deflating tire. But he got a yellow flag when he needed one on lap 122, made the lap back up, and led the final six circuits to claim his 20th victory. He led 40 laps in all, but the first 34 came during the first half of the race.
The victory was one of the most powerful testaments ever to the success of Hendrick's three-car juggernaut.
The victim in all of this, besides Dale Earnhardt, who crashed while running second with 11 laps left, was Elliott, who saw his opportunity for a third Daytona 500 victory evaporate under the pressure of a dual-flank Hendrick assault.
Elliott, who led 30 laps, was in front on a restart on lap 194 following Earnhardt's spectacular backstretch crash. But Gordon got a run on him coming through the trioval and went low - way low - to make the pass. Gordon went so low, he went below the yellow blend line from pit road.
``I would have gone down there to the people cooking out in the infield if that was what it took to get by Elliott,'' Gordon said. ``I was going by him no matter what. I was trying to figure out how to go back to the apron and into the first turn without causing a big wreck.
``That was my last chance. That was the chance to win the Daytona 500 right there. And it paid off.''
As Gordon passed Elliott on the low side, he expected Labonte and Craven to go with him. They didn't. They passed Elliott on the high side.
``Yet they were probably the ones that allowed me to get by him,'' Gordon said. ``They went three-wide to the outside of him and Bill didn't know who to block.''
Said Elliott: ``Whenever Jeff and Terry and Ricky hooked up, I was history. I knew it. I was a sitting duck there at the end. But I think that still goes to show you I can still drive a race car.''
Gordon, if only indirectly, also gave Earnhardt his 19th lesson in 500 futility. Gordon was running third, following Earnhardt, on lap 189 when he managed to get below Earnhardt coming out of turn 2. Gordon never touched Earnhardt, but the move seemed to help force Earnhardt's car to push into the outside wall.
``As I came by him, I was like, `Ohhh, this is going to be close,' '' Gordon said. ``I figured he'd hit the wall and bounce back and hit me. And that's what happened.
Gordon managed to remain in control, but Earnhardt was tapped by Dale Jarrett. Earnhardt's car was turned so quickly it flipped into the air, landed on its roof, gyrated around and flipped back onto its wheels.
That ended Earnhardt's bid for victory, even though he drove six more laps to finish 31st, five laps down.
Jarrett also spun to the infield and never again was a factor.
``We were just racing for position, the way I see it,'' Gordon said.
Although Earnhardt suggested Gordon might have been a bit impatient with his move, he did not harp on it.
``One thing I can say is that at the end of the race, when it was all over, I see this mangled black 3 car come driving up,'' Gordon said. ``And I was, `Uh oh.' And he came up and gave me the thumbs-up.
``And I thought that was pretty cool. He didn't win the Daytona 500 and that deal had happened. But to me, that was OK. He wasn't putting any blame on my side.'' ILLUSTRATION: Jeff Gordon, at age 25, became the youngest man ever
to claim the Daytona 500, winning it in only his fifth try .