Thursday, April 23, 1998 | 5:59 a.m.
By MIKE HARRIS
AP Motorsports Writer
Bobby Hamilton, coming off a dominating victory on the short oval at Martinsville Speedway, is ready to challenge NASCAR's biggest and fastest track.
"I want to win a superspeedway race," Hamilton said as the Morgan-McClure Racing team prepared his Chevrolet for Sunday's DieHard 500 at Talladega.
Prior to the Martinsville win, his two other victories were on one-mile ovals at Phoenix and Rockingham.
"Now I'll be labeled as a short-track, flat-track driver, so maybe we can go down to Talladega and win," Hamilton said. "I don't know what they'd label me then."
For that to happen, Larry McClure's team must rediscover the magic that helped it win nine times and finish among the top five 16 times in the last 24 Daytona and Talladega races. That streak began with Ernie Irvan's victory in the 1991 Daytona 500.
Last year, Sterling Marlin, who has since moved to Team Sabco, was fifth in the Daytona 500 and second in the July race there. Those, however, were the team's only top-five finishes in 1997, and Hamilton's record this year wasn't much better until his win last Monday.
He finished an undistinguished 12th in the season-opening Daytona 500, his first race with Morgan-McClure, followed by a ninth at Rockingham, then finished no better than 18th in the next five races.
"We were good at Daytona, but the motor was down about 35 horsepower," Hamilton said. "To finish 12th down there was a victory in itself. I think we'll be pretty good at Talladega.
"Larry told me when he hired me that if I'd win him a short-track race, he'd win me a superspeedway race. So it's his turn now."
McClure, team manager and co-owner, said, "We've got a great engine program, a great Talladega car we've really spent a lot of time on, and a great driver.
"Like anybody in anything you do, we'll have our ups and down. But we've been working hard to shake off those down and to get ourselves back to where we're enjoying the ups a whole lot more often."
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INTIMIDATING FACTOR: Even though seven-time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt has struggled since his dramatic victory in the Daytona 500, he will certainly be among the favorites in Sunday's race at Talladega.
Since the advent of restrictor-plate racing in 1988, "The Intimidator" is the only driver to win three of the four restrictor-plate races in a single season.
In 1990, he finished fifth at Daytona when he ran over a piece of debris while leading the race on the last lap. Earnhardt then won the Winston 500 at Talladega, the Pepsi 400 at Daytona and the DieHard 500.
Although Earnhardt has only one top-five finish - fifth at Martinsville - since the opener, he is confident heading to Talladega looking for his 72nd career victory and his eighth on the 2.66-mile, high-banked Alabama oval.
"We showed at Daytona we've got our restrictor-engine program in pretty good shape and we've got a real good car," Earnhardt said. "I don't see why we can't win it."
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COMING BACK: After a one-race hiatus to allow two broken ribs some healing time, Derrike Cope will return to the driver's seat of the Bahari Racing Pontiac at Talladega.
Cope had to sit out and watch on TV as Jeff Green raced the No. 30 car at Martinsville. While Green finished 17th, Cope acted like a distant back-seat driver.
"I was right there with him, trying not to get lapped and trying to get the cautions to fall right for us," Cope said. "It was still difficult. You hate not being there."
Cope broke his ribs in a crash last month during the race at Atlanta, then aggravated the injury in a crash earlier this month during qualifying at Texas.
"I feel pretty good," he said. "A lot of the pain has left. I still have some soreness in my ribs, but that's going to be there for a while. There's still a little stiffness in my neck, but therapy has taken a lot of that out.
"I feel like I can drive the car hard. My only worry is qualifying the car with the harsh shocks. Other than that, I feel good."
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GETTING LUCKY: Randy LaJoie, who has two top-10 finishes - including fifth place at Martinsville - since taking over the No. 50 Chevy for injured Ricky Craven, has enough experience to know what to expect Sunday at Talladega.
"You've got to have a good car and a good motor," the two-time defending Busch Series champion said. "You've got to be lucky, too.
"It's like Interstate traffic when you go to a toll booth and try to pick the right lane. If you get in the wrong lane, you go back 10 spots. You might even get behind somebody asking directions."
LaJoie, who will also drive in Saturday's Busch Series race at Talladega, said he particularly looks forward to running with the Winston Cup regulars on the big, fast track.
"Two wide ain't bad there (in the Busch Series)," he noted. "When it gets three-wide and guys start bopping around, it gets pretty hairy. Some guys out there in the Busch Series, I wouldn't let valet-park my car. Those guys are quick sometimes, too. I'm sure Winston Cup is going to be a little easier."
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REVERSAL: The DieHard 500 is the race that previously was run at Talladega in July, then moved to October last year. Officials decided to switch it with the Winston 500, which is one of NASCAR's major events. This year's Winston 500 will be run Oct. 11.
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STAT OF THE WEEK: The only Pontiac victory in a Winston Cup race at Talladega was in the 1983 Winston 500, won by now-retired Richard Petty.
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