If Dale Earnhardt finally wins the Daytona 500 Sunday, he won`t have any trouble finding victory lane. Earnhardt put his car in the winner`s circle for the third straight day here Saturday by capturing the Goody`s 300 Busch Grand National Race for the third year in a row and a record-tying fifth time overall.
Earnhardt followed up his victories of Thursday in a 125-mile qualifying race and Friday in the International Race of Champions by leading 101 of the 120 laps Saturday, including the last 48. His margin was only a car length over fellow Winston Cup driver Ernie Irvan, but his black Chevy was so strong that Irvan never even tried to pass him on the final lap.
Irvan said he didn`t want to tip his hand before the 500. ”You can`t always make your big move on the day before the big race.”
Irvan beat Earnhardt off pit road twice, but was never able to maintain the lead under green-flag racing conditions.
Busch Grand National regular Ward Burton, making his first start at Daytona, ran a strong third. Jimmy Spencer came from a lap down to finish fourth.
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”I thought Ward Burton had one of the best cars out there,” said Earnhardt, ”and I thought he`d hold onto second. He was the one I was worried about, and then here comes Ernie. He made me a little loose through three and four, but I held him off. We`ve had a good week, and we`ve got a lot of momentum.”
Earnhardt will start third in Sunday`s $2.5 million race. By winning Saturday`s $478,000 event, he collected $38,068, increasing his earnings for the week to $73,368.
He has 16 victories on the 2.5-mile track, five in Grand National competition to tie Darrell Waltrip`s record in the 34-year-old event. But he has not won the Daytona 500 in 13 attempts.
Seven crashes held the average speed to 132.434 m.p.h. and sent three drivers to the hospital with apparently minor injuries.
Robert Huffman`s Oldsmobile erupted in flames after he spun coming out of turn two and was tagged hard by another Olds driven by Dave Rezendes on the 32nd lap. Huffman suffered minor burns on the chin and shoulder.
”He just got together with somebody and hit the wall,” said Rezendes.
”He came down off the wall, and I had nowhere to go. They were rubbin`
wheels a little bit. They must have forgotten where they were and thought they were at some littte short track, and it looked like Robert got the worst of the deal.”
Joe Nemechek spun out in almost the same spot on lap 76, and his car exploded in flames as Chuck Brown plowed into him. Nine other cars were also involved. Nemechek was able to get out of the car but apparently got some chemical in his eyes when he triggered his fire extinguisher.
”It looked like the 24 car (Troy Beebe) started getting sideways,” said Bown, ”and Joe had to spin to miss him.”
Shortly after that, Jimmy Hensley hit the wall hard in turn four, and Earnhardt prudently let Spencer go by him to get his lap back as they raced back to the finish line. Hensley went to the hospital after his blood pressure dropped in the infield care facility where he was being treated for a fractured right foot.
An estimated 110,000 fans attended Saturday`s race, with up to 140,000 expected Sunday.