Earnhardt gets elusive road-course win in 1995 (cont'd)

"The mistake" turned out to be a streak of rear-end grease laid down by one of the backmarkers. And showing that hand-to-eye coordination isn't the only key sense involved in racing, Earnhardt noticed it with his nose a split-second before Martin did, and that made all the difference.

The two leaders went nose-to-tail into the sweeping, downhill left-hand corner known as the Carousel and when Martin's car hit a patch of grease, it suddenly veered to the outside of the track, giving Earnhardt the one opportunity he needed to complete a clean pass.

Mark Martin led 66 of the 74 laps at Sonoma in 1995.

1995 Save Mart 300

Results

Pos.	Driver	Make
1.	Dale Earnhardt	Chevrolet
2.	Mark Martin	Ford
3.	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet
4.	Ricky Rudd	Ford
5.	Terry Labonte	Chevrolet

• Complete Results

Mark Martin

Road-course results

Site	Starts	W	T-5	T-10
Riverside	4	0	1	3
Sonoma	18	1	7	13
Watkins Glen	19	3	12	16
Totals	41	4	20	32

• Store: Mark Martin

"I smelled it," Earnhardt said. "Then I seen a streak of it I think around Turns 3, 4 or 5, one of those. When we got to the Carousel, I seen it right as we come on the crest when we go into the turn. I went to the outside and angled across it. And Mark went on the inside and hit it. He slopped out and I got under him."

Martin noticed it, too. But he didn't realize where it was on the track until it was too late.

"There was a car out there dumping rear-end grease and I was the first one to it," Martin said. "I hit the grease and he didn't. I could smell it, I couldn't see it. But I guess I must have run right through it. I turned sideways two corners in a row. If I could have seen it, I would have straddled it."

Martin was able to recover quickly enough to keep Gordon at bay, and then went into pursuit mode in an effort to regain the lead, but was never able to get close enough to Earnhardt in the final lap and a half.

"I was as careful as I could be the last lap without giving Mark a chance to get back around me," Earnhardt said. "I knew I was close to getting my first win on a road course and I didn't want to blow it after trying for so long."

And longtime owner Richard Childress, who was off hunting in Africa, missed the post-race celebration.

"I'm going to send Richard to Africa next February," Earnhardt said. "We've never won a road race and then to win a road race while Richard is gone to Africa, well, he's going to go to Africa during the Daytona 500."

Earnhardt was thrilled to be able to cross another item off his "to do" list, leaving only the Daytona 500 -- which he would win four years later -- as the only challenge he had yet to achieve.

"It's been [a goal] every year to win a road-course race and to win the Daytona 500," Earnhardt said. "There's just some things you never do in your career.

"I think I enjoy racing more. I enjoy winning more, and to accomplish something like this today that I haven't been able to do in 14 or 15 years of trying, that's something special."

Martin would add a win at Sonoma to his resume two years later, to go with his three Watkins Glen trophies. But at least on this day, Martin was clearly disappointed at letting one slip away, literally and figuratively.

"I've been doing this for a long time and some days just turn out this way," he said. "I'm just glad we at least finished second instead of spinning off track. That would have really broke my heart."