DATE: Sunday, April 6, 1997                 TAG: 9704070574

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C4   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY FRANK VEHORN 

        STAFF WRITER  

DATELINE: HAMPTON                           LENGTH:   52 lines

BUFFKIN HOLDS OFF WARREN, WINS OPENER AT LANGLEY

Mike Buffkin won the Late Model Stock championship at Langley Speedway last season by being a master of tire strategy.

That proved to be the key again Saturday night as Buffkin won the season opener on the recently repaved Langley oval.

Still, Buffkin felt fortunate to hold off a hard-charging Phil Warren for the victory. Warren, the 1994-95 champion, came back from a flat tire and a wreck to excite an overflow crowd of 9,000 fans with his late charge.

Warren caught Buffkin in the fourth turn on the 99th lap. The two cars bumped, but Buffkin held to the low groove and opened up enough space to beat Warren to the checkered flag.

``Phil ran me down, so he had to be a little faster, I guess,'' Buffkin said.

The race was stopped at the halfway mark so crews could inspect the tires on the cars. Several teams had reported during practice sessions in the last two weeks that their tires were blistering because of the new pavement.

Track promoter Wayne Wyatt inspected the tires on the front five cars and recommended that NASCAR allow drivers to change two tires without penalty. NASCAR director Butch Lassiter, though, ordered the cars back to green-flag racing. He said any driver who changed tires would be penalized a lap.

Buffkin, who had driven at a conservative pace during the first half of the race, said his tires were not blistered. ``I took it easy for another 10-15 laps and ran hard from then on,'' he said.

Warren had been moving to the front before he was involved in a wreck with leader Charlie Bryant on the 62nd lap. Bryant, the fastest car on the track, was trying to pass traffic when he ran into a slower car and spun. Warren rammed into Bryant but was able to continue after quick work by his pit crew. Bryant was eliminated from the race.

McFarland, with a qualifying time of 15.836 seconds, was among 12 drivers who broke the old record of 16.107 seconds set on July 15, 1989, by Billy Smith. Six had sub-16-second times.

In other races:

Steve Mendenhall led the final 19 laps to win an accident-marred 25-lap Legends feature. Dale Lemonds, who started on the pole, dueled Mendenhall for the lead during the first half before dropping back to finish second.

Sixteen-year-old rookie Denny Hamlin of Chesterfield led all 25 laps to win the Mini Stock feature. Bobby Spivey finished second, foollowed by Jeff Dodson.

Dude Gibbs, last season's Rookie of the Year in the Pure Stock division, regained the lead five laps from the end to win a 25- lapper. Gibbs started on the pole but lost the lead to Jimmy Adkins on the first lap. Adkins led until the 20th lap, when Gibbs and Robert Paul drove by him. Paul finished second and Adkins third.

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