Jarrett Has Finishing Touch

For a 500-mile race that had only three passes for the lead--and only one after the fifth lap--Sunday’s 42nd Daytona 500 kept most of the 205,000 fans on the edge of their seats for the better part of three hours.

Dale Jarrett won the race, his third Daytona 500 in the last eight years, and his third win during this year’s Speed Weeks, but how the defending Winston Cup champion won was not in the script.

Johnny Benson, a journeyman driver from Grand Rapids, Mich., who has never won a Winston Cup race in five seasons, had stolen the lead on the final pit stop by taking on only two tires while Jarrett and others took on four. With it almost impossible to pass because of new shock and spring rules adopted by NASCAR this year, Benson kept his Lycos Pontiac in front of five Fords for 39 laps and appeared on his way to the 500’s biggest surprise since Derrike Cope won 10 years ago.

Then Jarrett laid the hammer down.

A caution period caused by a six-car accident on lap 194 ended three laps later as emergency crews hurried to get Elliott Sadler’s damaged car off the track and the debris cleaned up.

As the cars came down for the green flag with four laps to go, Benson tried to block Jarrett by taking a middle line, but Jarrett faked to the outside going into the second turn. When Benson made a move to hold him off, Jarrett took his red and blue No. 88 down to the inside and swept past.

It was over.

Four other Fords, driven by Jeff Burton, Bill Elliott, Rusty Wallace and Mark Martin, stampeded past Benson and before the race ended the Cinderella driver had been shuffled back to 12th.

“I knew Johnny was gonna try to block me wherever I went,” said an elated Jarrett, who collected $2,277,975 for the victory. “I knew that he knew it was critical time, especially with the horsepower that I have. I wasn’t able to lay back on the start.

“We got a good start. The car really came up to speed really well and Johnny made just enough of a move when I faked to the outside that it let me get down to the inside. I just came down off the banking and I had a big head of steam and then the 99 [Jeff Burton] came and helped me get by there.”

Before that dramatic pass, the only time anyone passed the leader was on the second lap when Mike Skinner got by Ricky Rudd and three laps later when Jarrett passed Skinner. Rudd, Jarrett’s Yates teammate, took the lead at the start from the outside of the front row.

Every other lead change came in the pits.

Even though passing for the lead was almost nonexistent, the sight of 10, 12 and sometimes 20 cars racing two by two--three abreast at times--back in the pack kept the anxiety level high. It seemed almost impossible such a scenario could last without a pileup, but it wasn’t until lap 194, six laps from the end, that the first accident occurred.

Ford cars, which dominated from the moment Jarrett took the pole a week ago with a 191.091 mph lap, took the first five positions. The Labonte brothers took class honors, Bobby Labonte sixth in the first Pontiac and Terry seventh in the first Chevrolet.

In addition to winning the pole, Jarrett also won a Bud Shootout qualifying race and the 25-lap Bud Shootout despite starting last. It brought his Daytona win total to eight.

The race ended under caution shortly after Jarrett took charge. Skinner hit the wall coming off the fourth turn and came to a stop near the finish line with one lap remaining. It was Skinner’s second crash in five laps, having been in the earlier one.

“It they [Fords] hadn’t had that last caution, I don’t know if them boys could have passed that 10 [Benson],” said Terry Labonte. “They ganged up on him.”

Benson said he wasn’t sure what might have happened.

“If the race had stayed green, who knows, but it didn’t so that’s where we ended up,” he said. “I got up to speed as quick as I could, but with the Fords ganging up on you and getting a good draft off me, there was nothing I could do about it.

“I wish I had a little more than I had, but that’s all I had. I knew what they were going to do and I did everything I could to prevent it. Dale’s car was just too strong coming off turn two, and he got underneath me. I ran him down as low as I could, but I wasn’t going to wreck us all, either.

“One against however many just wasn’t going to happen.”

Jarrett led 89 laps, more than any other driver, and averaged 155.669 mph for 3 hours 12 minutes 43 seconds. In the middle of the race, Jarrett had a 189.127 mph lap.

Jarrett first won the Daytona 500 in 1993, driving a Chevrolet for Joe Gibbs. In 1995, he switched to Yates Racing and drove the No. 28 Ford as a replacement for the injured Ernie Irvan. The following year, with Irvan returning, he moved to the 88 car and won his second 500. It was his first race with crew chief Todd Parrott, who also masterminded Sunday’s win.

Parrott had to work overtime Saturday night to repair Jarrett’s car after he became involved with Jeff Gordon and Bill Elliott when Mike Bliss spun in front of them during the final moments of late afternoon practice.

The Yates crew worked past 10 p.m. and arrived in the garage at 4:45 a.m. Sunday to make repairs.

“Pretty much every corner on the car was damaged,” Parrott said. “It bent all the rocker panels, the back bumper and the nose. We had to change the complete left front fender, most of the right front fender, new exhaust pipes, and half the rear bumper. To do the fabrication, we had to fly three guys in from [team headquarters] Charlotte.”

Jarrett said he was apprehensive about how the car might react in the race’s early laps.

“There was no way of knowing it was gonna be right until we took off and saw what happened with the car,” he said, “but I knew when Todd Parrott put it out there I had confidence in it.

“With my teammate [Rudd] on the outside I wasn’t sure I wanted to race with him right at the start. I wanted to make sure the car was gonna turn, so I held back. Once we got into it I knew the car was just as good as it had been, so I got out in front and led.”

Rudd led only one lap before he started slipping to the rear.

“It took about six laps before it started pushing and it was really bad when I was behind,” said Rudd. “I had to completely get out of the throttle to get the front end to stick. That cost us track position and as you could see, track position was everything.”

Jeff Gordon, last year’s Daytona 500 winner, was the first one out this year as his Chevrolet had an oil line break on lap 34. He later returned to the track but was five laps down.

“I couldn’t run with those Fords,” Gordon said, “but I think we would have been able to get up to fifth or sixth. I think that’s about it.”

THE FINISH LINE

1. Dale Jarrett*

2. Jeff Burton

3. Bill Elliott

* Average speed:

155.669 mph

Margin of victory:

Under caution

MOST DAYTONA 500 VICTORIES

Richard Petty: 7

Cale Yarborough: 4

Bobby Allison: 3

Dale Jarrett: 3