Jarrett Wins Shootout With a Friendly Nudge

If Saturday night’s Budweiser Shootout is any indicator, this year’s Daytona 500 next Sunday could be a wild one.

After 70 laps of three-wide restrictor plate racing that included a little of everything fans could hope for, veteran Dale Jarrett came from deep in the 19-car field in a Robert Yates-prepared Ford to win the prelude to NASCAR’s first Nextel Cup season.

“My big break was having Junior [Dale Earnhardt Jr.] behind me on that last lap, banging on my bumper,” Jarrett said. “That’s what you have to have in a situation like that. I owe him one. I don’t think I could have done it without him.

“He so reminds me of his dad, the way he reads the draft. If he’d come up a lap or two sooner, it might have been different, but the way it was he ran out of time. It was fun to get back to Victory Lane.”

Jarrett, a two-time 500 winner, is coming off one of his most disappointing seasons. For the first time in eight years, he finished out of the top 10 in the final standings.

The race was stopped once after 20 laps by design, and again after 60 laps when Jeremy Mayfield tangled with Dave Blaney while fighting for the lead on the backstretch, bringing out a red flag for nearly 14 minutes. Surprisingly, no other cars became involved.

“I hate it for Blaney, I just got a little loose and didn’t have enough room to save it,” Mayfield said. “I think I got into him pretty good, but what do you do? I didn’t have room.”

Ryan Newman led on the restart, with seven laps to go. But the lead changed hands five times among Terry Labonte, Newman and Kevin Harvick before Jarrett used momentum coming from the high side of the track on the final lap to pass Harvick and hold off Earnhardt. Harvick held on for third.

“I pushed him as hard as I could,” said Earnhardt, who started from the 19th position. “It was pretty exciting out there, lot of blocking, lot of drafting, lot of passing, lot of guys goofing off.”

Jarrett collected $213,000 for the victory, his third in the event. He won in 1996 and 2000. Both times he went on to win the 500.

“I hope it’s a good omen that holds true,” he said.

Qualifying for the Daytona 500 is today. Forty-five drivers are expected to take a shot at the pole. The two fastest cars will guarantee themselves a berth. All others will run for positions in Twin 125 qualifying heats Thursday.

The feeling in the garages leaned toward Fords dominating the qualifying. Three of them were fastest in Saturday’s final practice. Elliott Sadler was tops at 189.366 mph; Ricky Rudd and Jarrett were next.

Bill Elliott, after 25 starts and two wins, won’t be qualifying today but not because of the poor showing of his Dodge in the Shootout. His semi-retirement schedule did not include the Daytona 500. Instead, he will be helping Mayfield and rookie Kasey Kahne.

Road racing specialist Boris Said, driving in his first oval race, kept out of trouble and finished an impressive 10th, ahead of such veterans as Bobby Labonte, Elliott and Newman.

Kyle Busch came from a lap down to win the ARCA 200 in the afternoon, escaping a wild finish in which cars spun right and left coming down the tri-oval in front of the main grandstand.

Busch, 18, younger brother of Winston Cup star Kurt Busch, and ARCA champion Frank Kimmel were in front of the melee in which Billy Venturini, Shane Hmiel and Ryan Hemphill slid and scrambled across the finish line inches apart.

“I looked in my mirrors and saw everyone going every which way. All I wanted to do was keep them all behind me. We were penalized a lap for having a guy over the wall without a helmet, but I told the guys we were strong enough to get it back.”

Busch, who finished second in his first Busch at Charlotte two weeks after turning 18 and becoming eligible, will drive in Friday night’s Hershey’s Kisses 300.