Jarrett Wins Bristol Crashfest

Dale Jarrett survived a typical Bristol Motor Speedway crashfest Saturday night, holding off new series points leader Mark Martin to win the Goody’s Headache Powder 500 at Bristol, Tenn.

Jeff Gordon went out in a crash after leading 188 of the first 244 laps of the 500-lap event on Bristol’s .533-mile oval.

Jarrett, who picked up his fourth victory of the season and the 12th of his career, dominated the middle portion of the race and held leads of up to two seconds. Martin continued to stalk the leader, but was having trouble gaining the momentum until Jarrett had to brake hard on lap 396 when Bobby Hamilton turned sideways. Jarrett barely tapped Hamilton, but Martin took advantage to race into the lead.

It stayed that way until Martin bobbled on lap 470, allowing Jarrett to shoot past just as the 12th and final caution flag of the night waved because of oil on the track.

Martin, who leads Gordon by 13 points, was not able to mount another challenge.

Jarrett’s Robert Yates Ford finished 0.102 seconds--about 1 1/2 car-lengths--ahead of Martin’s Ford.

The race’s most spectacular crash involved rookie David Green on the main straightaway, but he escaped serious injury.

*

Jacques Villeneuve got a break from the weather, and broke his own track qualifying record while taking the pole for the Belgian Grand Prix today at Spa Francorchamps, Belgium.

Villeneuve’s Williams-Renault was timed in 1:49.450. He set the old record of 1:50.574 in 1996.