IT WAS THE PITS STOP

Only an incurable optimist could find something positive in a million-dollar mistake.

Meet Dale Jarrett.

Jarrett had the field covered in the Brickyard 400 last year when his Ford Taurus ran out of fuel. A miscalculation by the crew prevented the 42-year-old second-generation Winston Cup driver from not only winning the prestigious race, but from collecting a $1-million bonus.

So what is Jarrett’s approach to this year’s sixth Brickyard 400 Saturday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway?

“I think it gave us a ‘heads up’ on this year because we brought the same car back,” he said of last year’s gaffe. “It tested well, so we’re excited about being here. What’s over is over, so we’re moving ahead and feel good about it.”

Jarrett was fastest during Indy tests last month, lapping the 2.5-mile track at 179.154 mph, nearly a mile an hour faster than anyone else. He also has a 254-point lead in the series after 19 of 34 races, has won three times and has not finished worse than eighth in 16 consecutive races.

Jarrett qualified fourth at 178.859 mph Thursday, which puts him alongside David Green in the second row, behind Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin. Gordon ran a track-record 179.612 to earn the pole for Saturday’s race.

“I knew when Jeff ran a 50.10 [second] lap that that was out of our reach, so the next thing was to just get a good, solid lap where we could start in the top 10,” Jarrett said.

Jarrett won here in 1996, after starting 24th, but his performance in finishing 16th last year might have been even more impressive.

When his car ran dry on the 80th of the 160 laps, Jarrett coasted to a stop half a mile from his pit. By the time the crew pushed him in and refueled, he had fallen four laps behind Gordon.

In the final 80 laps, he made up all four laps and was still running down cars when Gordon crossed the finish line, winning the bonus that Jarrett felt should have been his. Or if he didn’t, car owner Robert Yates did.

“I had that money already spent,” Yates said with a wry smile.

Jarrett’s comments at the time were succinct: “We ran out of gas. We had a great race car.”

When Yates and crew chief Todd Parrott analyzed the situation, it was determined that the mistake grew out of someone else’s misfortune. Ward Burton had run out of fuel at the entrance to pit row. The other leaders had pitted a lap earlier and Jarrett was preparing to come in, but when Parrott saw Burton’s car stop, he believed NASCAR officials would throw a yellow flag. If they had, Jarrett would have been able to save gas running at reduced speed and would have gained a full lap on the field.

But they didn’t throw the yellow. And Jarrett ran dry.

“Hopefully, everybody learned from what went on there and we know better than to sit and wait on something to happen,” Jarrett said this week. “When we get to the point that we need fuel, we’ll get in and get it regardless of the situation.

“If the guy is sitting crossways on the track, we’re gonna go on and get our fuel. Those are just things that you learn as you go on.”

When the race was over, more people were talking about Jarrett’s making up a four-lap deficit than about Gordon’s winning his second Brickyard 400.

“It was pretty amazing,” Jarrett said. “I had a lot of cooperation from a lot of people. Being four laps down, most of the time guys don’t let you go all the way to the front of the inside line [for a restart], but those guys knew I had a fast car and I think they felt their best shot was to follow me by the leaders, so it helped me get some laps back.

“I just wish we would have had a few more laps to where we could have got back and challenged them for the front, but it made for an interesting day.”

Yates said it should serve as an object lesson.

“The guys who worked on that car are smart enough to get a car that good; they’re certainly smart enough to figure out not to let it happen again,” he said.

However, it almost did.

In the Pepsi 400 on July 3 at Daytona International Speedway, Jarrett was running on little more than fumes when a crash two laps from the end brought out a yellow flag--meaning the race would almost certainly end under caution.

But there was concern that he might run dry. Jarrett had pitted for a splash of fuel on Lap 144, but it was feared that he did not get enough to finish the race.

Jarrett was leading, and under caution conditions could not be passed, but he had to finish those last two excruciating laps--five miles--to get the checkered flag.

As a precaution, he took the No. 88 Taurus down on the apron, where the track is almost level, instead of on the 31-degree banked racing line, thus giving the gas pickup an easier job.

“Riding on the banking that slow gives the fuel plenty of time to get away from the pickup, and we just didn’t want to take any chances,” he said. “We felt we had enough fuel, but there’s no sense in taking a chance in having the thing burping and running out of something for a split-second and then being hard to crank up.”

He made it, but it was so close that the car ran dry after taking the checkered flag.

The Yates crew again had to run down pit lane to retrieve the car. Only this time they pushed it into Victory Lane.

“It was two entirely different situations,” Jarrett said in comparing last year’s Brickyard with last month’s Pepsi race.

“At Indy, it happened halfway through the race; at Daytona it was right at the end. It was difficult, but we know things like that are going to happen. You’ve got to take chances on fuel and tires sometimes. Those are the types of things you have to do if you’re going to win.

“Sometimes you win, sometimes you don’t.”

Jarrett is preparing for this race with a different outlook on the season than he had last year, when he was chasing Gordon, 128 points behind. This year, after failing to finish in five races, Gordon trails Jarrett by 492 points and is in sixth place.

“I actually think right now we feel less pressure because we know we can run our race and they have to catch us [in the standings],” Jarrett said. “I think that makes us a little bit looser and that we can go and have a good time and realize we don’t have to win the race.

“It’s something we really want to do, especially being Indy, but everybody knows that if we don’t win, we’re probably gonna finish in the top three or four without any problems. That will make it difficult for them to gain points, so I think we’re in a good position.

“This is a place, though, that gets your adrenaline flowing a little bit more. I do like the challenge, not only of what the track represents historically, but knowing that everybody is bringing their very best here. So if you can win, I think it adds something a little special.”

If he can retain his lead through the season, Jarrett will become the second Winston Cup driver to join his father on the champion’s honor roll. Ned Jarrett, a TV commentator with NASCAR, won the title in 1961 in a Chevrolet and in 1965 in a Ford.

“Winning would be a tremendous accomplishment for our family,” Dale said. “It’s only been done by one other family, and knowing where the sport was when my dad won his championship and where it is this day and time would be tremendous for us. It’s exciting to think about that opportunity, but we’re still a long ways away from that.”

The Pettys are the only father-son championship tandem. Lee won in 1954, 1958 and 1959, and son Richard won seven times, starting in 1964.

Had it not been for his father, Dale Jarrett might have become a professional golfer. He was one of the best junior players in North Carolina, a golfing hotbed, but working with his father, then a promoter at Hickory Speedway, turned him toward racing.

“I’m sure working with him helped,” Jarrett said. “I learned about every type of position at a race track. I saw what my dad went through as a promoter. I sold popcorn. I sold tickets. I sold programs. I did a little bit of everything, mowed the grass, you name it and I probably did it, so I knew everything that went on.”

The Facts

* When: 10 a.m. PDT Saturday, Channel 7

* Where: Indianapolis Motor Speedway

* Defending champion: Jeff Gordon