Earnhardt gets elusive road-course win in 1995

Mark Martin's surprising victory at Michigan just before the first of the two road courses on the Sprint Cup schedule reminded me of a similar situation in 1995. Martin had just come off a rare win at Talladega when the series headed for Sonoma and the Save Mart Supermarkets 300.

Dale Earnhardt would have been the first to admit he wasn't the prettiest of road-course racers. His style at a technical track like Sears Point International Raceway was much like watching a cowboy wrestling a steer, as he manhandled his Chevrolet through the corners and willed it to keep up with those who had more road-course experience.

How good was Earnhardt? He won poles at Riverside, Sears Point and Watkins Glen, and recorded a total of 31 top-10 finishes in 47 road -ourse starts. But next to that elusive Daytona 500 win, a victory on a road course was one of the goals he most desired to add to his resume. And Earnhardt could be just as intimidating when it came to turning right, as Martin found out that day.

Ricky Rudd started on the pole and led the first four laps, but Martin took the lead following a quick caution on Lap 5 and showed his early dominance, giving up the advantage only during a round of green-flag stops. In fact, after taking the top spot back from Ken Schrader on Lap 29, Martin pulled away for a comfortable advantage over Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, Rudd and Terry Labonte.

However, the field was bunched up one final time for an accident involving Davy Jones, Dale Jarrett and Rusty Wallace, and when the race restarted on Lap 66, Earnhardt clung to the back of Martin's bumper like tin cans tied to the back of a newlywed couple's car. Martin tried his best to shake Earnhardt, but for six consecutive laps, the Intimidator stayed in Martin's tire tracks as the field wound its way up and down the Sonoma hillside.

With three laps to go, Earnhardt began to pressure Martin, hoping for one slight bobble, one little mistake from the Arkansas veteran. But unless that happened, it didn't appear that Earnhardt was going to have enough to make the pass.

"I was going to be there," Earnhardt said. "I was going to be all over his back bumper or up beside him. I was going to race him hard, race him clean. I kept working on him, wearing him down, getting closer and closer. We were there when the mistake was made."

"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."