THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 19, 1997 TAG: 9702190575
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 72 lines
Although all of the NASCAR Winston Cup drivers involved in crashes in the Daytona 500 walked away from the incidents, one driver did suffer a broken bone.
Johnny Benson broke the big toe on his left foot when he pounded the fourth turn wall head-on in the crash that ended the race Sunday at Daytona International Speedway.
``It's just the toe on my brake foot,'' Benson told team publicist Drew Brown. ``So anyone out there probably shouldn't get in front of the Pennzoil Pontiac on Sunday.''
Benson also experienced pain in his stomach and pelvic area from seat belt strain, but a CAT scan at Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach revealed no internal injuries.
Benson was not planning for relief help this weekend during the Goodwrench 400 at North Carolina Motor Speedway at Rockingham. ``He's all right,'' Brown said. ``The injury is not debilitating, but it's not comfortable.''
Robert Pressley, the other driver taken to Halifax during Sunday's race, was sore but otherwise okay Tuesday.
``I feel great,'' he told a team member. ``A little sore, but I feel great.'' Pressley had no broken bones, but was bruised and sore, particularly around his hips and rear, after his car did a pirouette flip and came down hard on its rear wheels in an accident on the backstretch.
NO FIRINGS: The hot rumor in the wake of Sunday's big race seems to be that Dale Earnhardt's bad pit stops were due to the firing of several crew members for staying out too late on the night before the 500.
Not true, team spokesman John ``J.R.'' Rhodes said Tuesday.
``A couple of crew members were reprimanded,'' said Rhodes. ``They haven't given me any details. But as of right now, nobody has been released.''
Rhodes said Earnhardt's pit problems ``had nothing to do with that. We had our regular guys doing them. The reason we had trouble is the lug nuts were falling off. The lug nuts were falling off the right rear tire and they would not stick.''
Rhodes said the lug nut problem occurred on two stops.
GORDON'S TRIP: As a former Winston Cup champion, Daytona 500 winner Jeff Gordon is experienced at the PR game, so he was having no trouble Tuesday sailing through a day full of media activities in New York City.
``I feel like I've won a championship as big as this room is,'' he said from his suite at the Waldorf-Astoria during a teleconference Tuesday.
Gordon did radio show interviews, television feeds and made an appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman.
UNSUNG PERFORMANCE: Overshadowed by the other more dramatic events of Sunday's race was the fact that Mark Martin led the most laps.
Martin led 52 consecutive laps. He took the lead on lap 94 after a fast pit stop during a yellow flag and held until Ernie Irvan passed him on lap 146. Dale Earnhardt was the next highest lap leader with 48. Gordon was third with 40 laps.
Martin fell to the back of the pack in 29th place after a crewman failed to tighten the left rear lug nuts before the jack was dropped and Mark took off. He had to return to the pits on the next lap to get them tightened.
From there, he and Ricky Rudd, who had stalled his car on pit road, climbed back to the front. Martin made it from 17th to ninth racing back to the yellow flag after the Earnhardt crash. He finished seventh.
``I saw a lot of potential in our team today,'' Martin told Ford's Jeff Owens after the race. ``I'm encouraged by what I saw today, not discouraged with seventh place.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Johnny Benson, his car at left, broke his toe when he got hit twice
late in the Daytona 500, but he expects to race this week at
Rockingham.