Waltrip Gives Earnhardt Reason to Gush

Dale Earnhardt worked his Chevrolet steadily from the back of the field to as close to the front as he could get Sunday afternoon, starting 43rd and finishing ninth in the California 500.

But what he was celebrating was that the car he owns finished fifth.

Earnhardt drives a Chevrolet Monte Carlo for Richard Childress but has his own Chevrolet, driven by Darrell Waltrip.

It was Waltrip’s best finish since he was fifth a year ago at Sears Point.

“How about that Darrell Waltrip?” Earnhardt gushed. “He had a great run today. I thought I had a chance to get him there at the end, but he was just too strong.

“I’m going to have to have a word with him about beating the car owner.”

For the record, the listed car owner is Earnhardt’s wife, Teresa.

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Last year’s winner, Jeff Gordon, finished fourth after pitting for gas and two fresh tires late in the race.

“We’re racing for a championship,” he said. “We felt like we could get back up to the top five and we did. We’re pretty happy about that.”

And Gordon obliquely joined the Chevrolet vs. Ford fray that has been boiling since Ford brought its Taurus model to Winston Cup racing.

“I feel like we’ve got the best Chevrolets out there, but I don’t know if that’s enough,” he said of himself and teammate Terry Labonte, who finished third but never really challenged.

This is the fourth win for Ford, against four for Chevrolet and two for Pontiac.

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Mark Martin received $141,375 for his win, moving him into second place in Winston Cup earnings after 10 races. He has $1,177,190, trailing only Daytona 500 winner Earnhardt, who has $1,505,995.

Martin led the most laps, 165, and has led the most laps in three of the season’s 10 races.

Martin has won 25 races in 367 starts.

Terry Labonte finished third and has five top-10 finishes in his last six races.

Dale Jarrett, who failed to finish only one race last season, failed for the second time in 1998.

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Flushed with the success of his second California 500, with 115,000 spectators moving in and out with a minimum of delay, track president Greg Penske said he anticipated another expansion program before next year’s race.

“We won’t make any definitive decisions for several months, but I’m sure we’ll look at more growth. We added 15,000 this year and are pleased with the response, so we could add 20,000 more seats or perhaps a portion of that number plus some sky boxes on top of the grandstands.”

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Buddy Parrott, team manager for Martin and Jeff Burton, was a casualty on pit row, but after treatment at the infield care center he was released in time to attend ceremonies in Victory Circle.

“I fell on pit row,” he said. “They had some wires and cables running along the edge of the pit wall on our side. When I got my toes on that, I reached over to grab the tire, and I fell down on top of the road and I felt something crack.

“I said, ‘ . . . I broke a rib in two.’ The doctors said it was cartilage or something. It’s a little unsettling when you feel something pop inside your body. I went down [to the care center] and they checked me out. I’m going home. I’ll be fine.”