Just two years after nearly dying in a crash, Ernie Irvan returned to Victory Lane, this time at New Hampshire by Bruce Newman Ernie Irvan completed his comeback from a terrible '94 crash by taking a reverse (clockwise) victory lap at Loudon to salute late NASCAR drivers Alan Kulwicki and Davey Allison. (Margin of victory: 5.74 seconds) Ernie Irvan, Ford, 300 laps at 98.94 mph Dale Jarrett, Ford, 300 laps Ricky Rudd, Ford, 300 laps Jeff Burton, Ford, 300 laps Robert Pressley, Chevrolet, 300 laps 3 hours, 21 minutes, 23 seconds; 8 flags, 49 laps run under caution Ricky Craven 129.379 mph* with point totals (and points earned this weekend) 1 Terry Labonte 2,416 (155) 2 Dale Earnhardt 2,398 (132) 3 Jeff Gordon 2,300 (71) 4 Dale Jarrett 2,204 (175) 5 Sterling Marlin 2,054 (76) *Record (previous record: Mark Martin, 128.815 mph, 1995) Ernie Irvan's comeback from the August 1994 crash that nearly killed him was going so badly that just a few weeks before the Jiffy Lube 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway, Irvan approached his team owner, Robert Yates, and asked him point-blank, "Are you going to fire me?" Not many people in the NASCAR garages would have been surprised if the boss had said yes, and even Yates admitted that he had had "a question or two" about Irvan's future. But following his victory at Loudon, Irvan's comeback was going so well that he was talking about winning his first Winston Cup championship. And his chances actually weren't that bad after the win, which earned him 180 points and moved him from 14th place to 12th in the series standings. "Ernie's comeback is over," said an emotional Larry McReynolds, Irvan's crew chief. "He's here. Ernie's winning races and running for the championship. It's over." Not the race for the Winston Cup, of course; that was hotter than ever, with Terry Labonte taking over the points lead—from Dale Earnhardt—for the first time this season. But Irvan was alive in more ways than one, and on this day, that was all that counted. "A human being is ... greedy," Irvan said, his matter-of-factness announcing to the world that, miraculously, nothing about him really had changed since the wreck. "I'm not going to be fulfilled until I get to race Earnhardt or somebody for the championship." As Irvan spoke, Yates sat wearily on a folding chair, his eyes red. The rumors of friction between owner and driver had started because Yates believed Irvan was dissatisfied with the quality of his car. Irvan, meanwhile, thought Yates wanted to replace him because he wasn't driving well enough. The misunderstanding was resolved in New Hampshire. "Well, it's tough to win a Winston Cup race," Yates said. "We're getting ourselves better, and we've improved our equipment. Ernie didn't just wake up this morning and all of a sudden be a hundred percent." Irvan's checkered early season quickly became just a memory after his gritty win at Loudon. photograph by Don Grassmann/CIA Irvan had come to Loudon as a mere spectator a year earlier, looking more like a pirate than a stock car driver, thanks to the patch he wore over his left eye to help correct the double vision brought on by his accident. But this year, by skillfully straddling the yardwide "gravel pits"—narrow strips that the heavy Winston Cup cars tear out of the pavement in each corner whenever they race at New Hampshire—the old buccaneer sailed across the finish line an easy winner. Teams employed a variety of racing strategies as the condition of the track deteriorated: changing two tires instead of the usual four, making fuel-only stops and skipping trips to the pit altogether. But McReynolds timed his driver's final stop perfectly, and after almost two years of blurred vision, Ernie Irvan's eyes were once again on the prize.