Gibbs Sees Efforts Pay With Victories
Joe Gibbs is having fun.
When he was coach of the Washington Redskins, the pressure was always on to win another Super Bowl.
Now he’s making his living from a sport he’s always enjoyed as a fan, and he’s getting a big kick out of doing it.
Bobby Labonte’s victory last Sunday at Michigan was his second since taking over as Gibbs’ driver from Dale Jarrett at the beginning of this season. It was also the fourth Winston Cup win for Gibbs, who also owns a drag racing team.
“It’s been a long 3 1/2 years of hard work and it’s great to see the team come together,” said Gibbs, who retired from football after the 1990 season and began putting together his NASCAR team.
“I’m a very small part of the overall operation,” he said. “I’m used to being a football coach and having control over the entire team and its function. It isn’t that way with a race team.
“The roles have been switched and now I’m in the background watching everyone else work. But I’m becoming more like the crew chief in many ways. I’m really enjoying the role I’ve given myself, which is obtaining sponsors and keeping them happy. My children and my wife are with me on the road and it’s a good time.”
Referring to Redkins owner Jack Kent Cooke, Gibbs added, “I couldn’t figure out why Mr. Cooke would want to own a football team. Now I know. I’m never going to lose a race, make a bad call or a bad drive. And I can take the credit when we win.”
Sterling guy
Sterling Marlin won the 1994 Daytona 500 and promptly fell into a season-long spin that left him 14th in the final season points.
The driver from Tennessee won again at Daytona this year, and he has stayed on a roll ever since.
Now, after finishing in the top 10 in 11 of 14 races this season, including the last five in a row, Marlin is perched atop the Winston Cup points, leading seven-time series champion Dale Earnhardt by six and Jeff Gordon by 12.
“I feel real good about going to Daytona (for next week’s Pepsi 400) with the points lead,” the secondgeneration NASCAR star said. “Our engine builder, Runt Pittman, has done a real good job with the motors. We’ve got a good deal going.”
Tony Glover, crew chief for Marlin’s Morgan-McClure team, said, “The season isn’t quite half over, but we’re certainly performing up to our expectations so far. Our big goal this winter was to get our race team settled down and get our engine program where we didn’t have any engine failures.
“We wanted to base ourselves like the (No.) 3 (Earnhardt),” Glover added. “To be the best you have to be like the best. They race real hard every week and try not to have any bad runs. We were striving for consistency, and so far it’s happening.
“I know we’re going to have our problems, but we’re going to enjoy it while we can.”
Way back
When Bobby Labonte won last Sunday at Michigan, it was only the second time a driver has come from further back than 12th to win a Winston Cup race on the 2-mile Michigan International Speedway oval.
Harry Gant won from 24th in the August 1992 race and Labonte started 19th in Sunday’s 42-car field.
“I didn’t used to like that track, but it’s growing on me,” Labonte said of the 18-degree banked oval. “At first I couldn’t go around it like I was supposed to. I kept lifting my foot (off the accelerator) at the startfinish line.
“I just had to put it in my mind to keep my foot down and drive that place the way it’s supposed to be driven - keeping my foot down.”
Pit strategy
After second-year Winston Cup driver John Andretti came in a career-best fourth at Michigan, it was crew chief Tim Brewer and his Kranefuss-Haas Racing crew who got most of the credit. Very fast pit stops and terrific gas mileage kept Andretti among the leaders the entire second half of the race.