DATE: Sunday, August 24, 1997               TAG: 9708240205

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: BRISTOL, TENN.                    LENGTH:   67 lines

JARRETT WINS GOODY'S 500; MARTIN TAKES POINTS LEAD

As Dale Jarrett rode to victory in the Goody's 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway Saturday night, Mark Martin took the lead in the Winston Cup points championship.

Jarrett led the final 29 laps and crossed the finish line about a car length (.102 of a second) ahead of Martin, who finished second.

``Great job, guys, great job,'' Jarrett said. ``Awesome!''

Replied crew chief Todd Parrott: ``How about Dale Jarrett finally winning at a short track! Awesome.''

Jeff Gordon dominated the first half of the race, but Gordon crashed coming off turn two just before the halfway point after a rough restart. He finished 35th.

So as the stretch run begins with 10 races remaining in the 1997 NASCAR Winston Cup season, Martin holds a 13-point lead.

The crowd erupted in a cheer when that news was broadcast over the public address system after the race.

Although it appeared that Martin fell back at the end and couldn't mount a challenge to Jarrett, Martin said he was just being careful.

``I didn't really fall back,'' he said. ``I needed to finish this race. It was more important for me to keep from wrecking it than it was to win at that point. We needed to finish this race tonight and close the gap on Jeff Gordon.''

As it turned out, he did more than close the gap.

As usual at Bristol, it is always a matter of when the hammer will fall, and who it will hit.

And on lap 245, it hit the Winston Cup points leader, much to the delight of the crowd.

It happened on a restart - perhaps the most dangerous time for leaders. Gordon had been dominating the race. He was leading at the time. But when the green flag flew, Geoff Bodine aggressively stayed under him in turn one and Gordon nearly lost it, getting off the gas and pushing high in the turn.

As Gordon tried to get back in position coming off turn two, Jeremy Mayfield filled the hole from behind. They came together and both slid into the inside wall on the backstretch.

``You think the best place to be here is out front and it normally is except on those restarts,'' Gordon said. ``Those guys are wild. It's hard to wreck at this place and not hurt it bad. When I hit that wall, I knew it would going to be pretty tough.''

Said Mayfield: ``There was a hole there and I was trying to get in it. That's just racing.''

Things became downright scary just 13 laps later, on the next restart, when Derrike Cope was hit from behind, lost control and drove into David Green, wedging Green's car into the wall and up on its side.

Green rode sideways down the front straight, sparks pouring from his vehicle. It finally flipped back onto its wheels at the entrance of the first turn as the red flag flew.

Green had to be extricated from his car and was placed on a backboard. The red flag continued for 18 minutes, in part to allow enough time for Green to be taken by ambulance out of the track and off to Bristol Regional Medical Center for a checkup. He apparently was not seriously hurt, experiencing soreness and a bump on his head.

``It was just tough racing,'' Cope said. ``I tried to get underneath David Green. I was trying not to get into him and somebody got into the back of me and I got into him and got him up into wall.'' ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS

David Green, in a neck brace, is helped from his car after he

flipped during the Goody's 500. He was taken to a hospital but was

not seriously injured.

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