Earnhardt Can’t Get Over Dale

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. —  No longer a stand-in driver, Dale Jarrett celebrated his new status on Robert Yates’ Ford Thunderbird team by fending off the challenge of seven-time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt to win the 38th Daytona 500 on Sunday before an estimated 180,000.

For the final 23 laps, after he had powered his way past Earnhardt into the lead, Jarrett rode in front of a 190-mph train of six to 10 cars, but mostly he was concerned with Earnhardt, who tried every trick but bumping him off the track in battling for what would have been his first Daytona 500 victory.

Nothing worked as Jarrett demonstrated a variety of blocking tactics he learned as a North Carolina high school football player that held off the frustrated Earnhardt.

“The last lap was close to 500 miles in itself,” Jarrett said. “I would rather look in my mirrors and see anyone but the ‘3’ car behind me.”

Last year, Jarrett was a stand-in for Ernie Irvan while Irvan recovered from 1994 crash injuries, but when Irvan returned this year to claim the seat in the No. 28 car, Yates decided to form a two-car team with Jarrett driving No. 88.

It was Jarrett’s second victory, having also frustrated Earnhardt in 1993 by passing him on the final lap to take the checkered flag.

“I think this one was sweeter,” Jarrett said. “It sure was more difficult. Those were the most nerve-racking 15 or so laps I’ve ever run, knowing Dale was behind me, knowing he was planning every trick he could think of to get by.

“I knew he had another healthy Chevy [Ken Schrader] behind him to help, but I also knew I had a Robert Yates engine. This wasn’t a driver win, it was an engine win. It was especially sweet because we are a new team with a new crew chief in Todd Parrott. We were so new that we had never done a pit stop until the first one in the race. But like I’ve said before, we’re one team with two cars and two drivers. One of the big thrills has been having Ernie back.”

Schrader finished third, followed by eight Fords. Mark Martin was fourth, Jeff Burton fifth and Ted Musgrave seventh, all in cars owned and prepared by Jack Roush.

Jarrett credited fellow Ford driver Wally Dallenbach Jr. with helping him get the lead the final time.

“I had quite a bit of help from different guys all day--you had to if you wanted to move up--but Dallenbach really worked with me to get past Earnhardt. He actually came up behind me and gave me a shove that knocked me past Earnhardt. I tried to bring him along with me but he got stuck in traffic.”

Dallenbach finished sixth.

Jarrett’s .12-second margin earned him $362,775. Three years ago his margin was .16, but that time, Jarrett was the trailing driver going into the last lap before passing Earnhardt in the first turn.

Why wasn’t Earnhardt able to return the favor by passing him like a slingshot in the same way?

“He didn’t have a Robert Yates engine. I did,” Jarrett said.

It was the fourth time Earnhardt finished second in the 500. He was runner-up to Cale Yarborough in 1984, Jarrett in ’93 and Sterling Marlin last year. And in 1990, he led going to the third turn of the final lap before a cut tire dropped him to fifth place.

“We just didn’t have enough for him today,” Earnhardt said in a disappointed tone. “It was a good race. We adjusted well. We lost the ignition one time. That’s when Ernie [Irvan] bumped me and he wrecked. We got the other ignition on and everything worked well for us.

“It’s Daytona. We just didn’t have enough. Those Fords have it and we don’t. Our car was super all day, but those Fords were super too.”

What made Earnhardt’s plight more exasperating is that he has won 28 other races on this same Daytona track, his favorite. It was his 18th 500.

From the first time around the 2 1/2-mile tri-oval, when Irvan jumped into the lead as pole-sitter Earnhardt was shuffled back to 11th position when he got caught in the middle of a three-wide pack through the third and fourth turns, it was the most competitive race in Daytona history.

There were 32 lead changes--not counting numerous others made, and then lost, in the same lap--among 15 drivers. Terry Labonte led the most laps, 44, four more than Jarrett.

Seventeen cars were on the lead lap when Jarrett crossed the finish after 3 hours 14 minutes 25 seconds. Six caution flags for 26 laps brought the winning speed down to 154.308 mph.

Among the cars caught up in accidents were those of Irvan, who ran into the rear of a slowing Earnhardt on lap 27 and wound up against the outside wall, and Winston Cup champion Jeff Gordon, who crashed eight laps into the race after being bumped by Jeremy Mayfield.

“Coming off [turn] four I came up on Dale and I lifted,” Irvan said. “Then it look like he got going again, but right at the start-finish line it was like he shut the switch off. I hear his ignition went out.

“I hit him and then somebody hit me from behind. I can’t worry about it now. There’s no use worrying about things you can’t change.”

Gordon was the victim of extremely tight quarters in the early going.

“I just got squeezed up against the wall when Mayfield came up on me going into [turn] three,” Gordon said. “I was up against the wall as far as I could go to make sure we didn’t touch. But we did. Then I got clipped from behind. I got the right front into the wall pretty bad.”

Marlin, the two-time defending champion, looked strong enough to get that elusive No. 3 until his engine expired on the 81st lap while he was in the lead.

“We were right where we wanted to be and something broke,” Marlin said. “We busted a piston or something. That’s the same motor we won with here last year, but it didn’t quite make it this time.

“All that doing everything the same we did in ’94 and last year, staying in the same room, eating the same breakfast, all that stuff, is over now. We’ll throw them out the window and start all over next year.”

Another hard-luck driver was John Andretti. After leading for 23 laps, he lost a lap when he had to pit to have a loose nut tightened on his right rear tire. He was battling with Bill Elliott and Jarrett in an attempt to get his lap back late in the race when he was involved in a wreck with Rusty Wallace and Michael Waltrip.

Neither of the other cars were damaged but Andretti slid into the wall and got airborne before sliding onto the grass, too damaged to continue.

Dave Marcis, who will be 55 next week, was about as pleased as anyone could be with a 15th-place finish. Marcis, in a record 29th consecutive Daytona 500, finished on the lead lap--his best finish since 1978, when he was sixth.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Daytona 500 Finish

THE TOP FIVE

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Driver Car Laps 1. Dale Jarrett Ford 200 2. Dale Earnhardt Chevy 200 3. Ken Schrader Chevy 200 4. Mark Martin Ford 200 5. Jeff Burton Ford 200

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OTHERS

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Driver Car Laps 8. Bill Elliott Ford 200 9. Ricky Rudd Ford 200 10. Michael Waltrip Ford 200 16. Rusty Wallace Ford 200 18. Kyle Petty Pontiac 199 24. Terry Labonte Chevy 196 29. Darrell Waltrip Chevy 180 34. Geoff Bodine Ford 157 35. Ernie Irvan Ford 145 40. Sterling Marlin Chevy 81 42. Jeff Gordon Chevy 13

*--*

* Winner’s speed: 154.308 mph

* Margin of victory: 0.12 seconds (2 1/2 car-lengths)

* Complete results: C10