
DATE: Monday, April 7, 1997                 TAG: 9704070143

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: FORT WORTH, TEXAS                 LENGTH:   86 lines

A DAY OF FIRSTS IN TEXAS JEFF BURTON EARNS HIS INITIAL WINSTON CUP VICTORY AT THE INAUGURAL RACE AT FORT WORTH.

It was not how teamwork usually works in NASCAR racing, but Mark Martin's blown engine put teammate Jeff Burton in position to become a first-time Winston Cup winner at the first race at Texas Motor Speedway.

Burton lost a lap early in the inaugural Interstate Batteries 500 because of a bad pit stop, but when Martin's engine let go in a puff of bluish smoke on lap 143, causing a yellow flag, Burton took advantage.

Along with two other drivers, he muscled past leader Terry Labonte on the track too tough to pass on and put himself back on the lead lap.

Burton then gradually moved up and took the lead on lap 277 when Todd Bodine lost control in front of him and led the final 58 laps to win by 4.067 seconds over Dale Jarrett.

Bobby Labonte finished third, followed by his brother Terry, Ricky Rudd, Dale Earnhardt, Ward Burton and Sterling Marlin, the final driver on the lead lap. Michael Waltrip finished ninth, one lap down. Everyone else was at least two laps down.

``It's a bit overwhelming right now, to be honest with you,'' said Burton, a 29-year-old native of South Boston, Va. ``We worked really hard to get this win. This isn't the end of anything. This is the beginning of a lot.''

More than 20 percent of the race was run under the yellow flag, as crashes big and small plagued the event. No one was seriously hurt, although a lot of cars were destroyed or seriously damaged.

``The racetrack is difficult, no question about it. Certainly, if you were going to start over, you'd do some things different. But this is the racetrack we've got. And short of tearing the walls out and moving the grandstands back, I don't know how to make it any better.''

Burton was no surprise as a first-time winner. He's a member of the powerhouse Roush Racing team, with a crafty veteran, Buddy Parrott, as his crew chief. And he's been a regular contender this season.

Even so, as the laps wound down, Burton was as calm as anyone, and certainly a lot calmer than his wife, Kim, who cried as she sat atop the team's tool cart in the pits.

With only about five laps to go, Burton's spotter started telling him not to worry about the smoke pouring from a motorhome that erupted in flames in the infield.

``That's not my motorhome, is it?'' Burton asked.

Parrott laughed. And another team member said, ``I'll buy you a new one.''

He also told Parrott not to give him lap times at the end because he'd push too hard.

``I know I'd race that stopwatch at the end if I didn't watch it,'' Burton said.

Burton, the 1994 NASCAR Winston Cup Rookie of the Year, captured his first win in his 96th career start.

``I had several close calls,'' Burton said. ``Johnny Benson spun right in front of me. But, fortunately, nobody got into me, and I didn't get into anyone else.''

Todd Bodine said he thought Burton probably tapped him coming off the second turn on lap 277. Bodine crashed as Burton made the race-winning pass.

Said Burton: ``I don't think I touched him. If I touched him, it was so easy, I didn't know it. If I touched him, it was solely my fault.''

Burton said he was not worried when the engines broke in the cars of both of his teammates. Along with Martin, Ted Musgrave dropped out with engine failure.

``If you're going to have a motor blow, it's going to blow,'' he said. ``I've never had an experience of trying to save an engine. But we've probably had only one or two engine failures since driving for Jack (Roush). I didn't put a lot of thought into it.''

Burton fell out of the lead briefly on lap 278 when he pitted to top off his fuel tank. But the other leaders pitted the next time they came around, so Burton reinherited the lead without ever actually losing it on the scorecards.

``The strategy to get the lead for good goes on Buddy Parrott's shoulders,'' Burton said. ``He called me in a lap or two earlier than several other cars. As soon as we thought we were in the window (to finish the race without refueling again), we pitted.

``And then several others pitted after we did, and that gave me three or four cars that I didn't have to pass on the restart. That made a huge difference. I was determined to get as far away from those people as I could (after the restart) and let them come get me. ``I was surprised at how far away I got.''

On the stopwatch, Burton pulled ahead by a margin that ranged from three to four seconds, and Jarrett could never make up the gap. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Jeff Burton holds aloft his sponsor's battery after winning a race