Jeff Gordon and Dale Jarrett fought the battle of Darlington, and Gordon—the man with a little more fuel in his tank—won it by Bruce Newman Dale Jarrett and his crew chief gambled on his Ford Thunderbird's fuel consumption late in the race. It was a gamble they lost. (Margin of victory: 1.4 seconds) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 293 laps, 124.793 mph Bobby Labonte, Chevrolet, 293 laps Ricky Craven, Chevrolet, 293 laps Rusty Wallace, Ford, 293 laps Terry Labonte, Chevrolet, 293 laps 3 hours, 12 minutes, 26 seconds; 11 flags, 56 laps run under caution Ward Burton 173.797 mph with point totals (and points earned this weekend) 1 Dale Jarrett 783 (123) 2 Dale Earnhardt 736 (126) 3 Ricky Rudd 726 (138) 4 Ricky Craven 698 (165) 5 Bill Elliott 667 (124) When the gas-gauge needle finally hit E on Dale Jarrett's Ford Thunderbird, there were fewer than 15 laps remaining in the TranSouth Financial 400 at Darlington Raceway. So Jarrett—bless his heart—did what any red-blooded son of the South would have done in that situation: He told himself that the big E meant he still had a quarter tank of gas in the car and then put his foot to the floorboard. Jarrett had just hauled past Jeff Gordon, who had led the race most of the day but was now carefully threading his way through slower cars racing on tires that had pretty much lost their grip. Jarrett was on a cannonball run, thundering from eighth place to first in the space of just 55 laps. When he came charging into Gordon's rearview mirror, there was nothing the defending Winston Cup champion could do but wave him by. "This is as fast as I can go," Gordon radioed his crew. For Jarrett the question was no longer how fast, but how far. The first 300 miles of the race had been slowed by 11 caution flags—Jarrett's teammate, Ernie Irvan, had been involved in two wrecks himself—but as the final 100 miles clicked by without incident, it became apparent that some drivers were going to have to perform some gas-mileage magic to make it to the finish line. When Jarrett took the lead, Gordon was assured by his crew that he could finish the race without stopping for fuel but that Jarrett could not. "I kept asking them if they were sure," Gordon said later, "because he sure wasn't driving like he was planning to stop." He wasn't. Jarrett's radio had crackled with the same news from his crew chief, Todd Parrott, who estimated the fuel tank would be bone-dry with five laps left to race, then concluded, "We can gamble if we want to." Jarrett didn't hesitate. "We came here to win, didn't we?" he replied. But the E on his gas gauge was beginning to look like the top line of an eye chart. At Darlington, Jarrett (88) and Gordon were inseparable. photograph by Don Grassman/CIA Then veteran driver Dave Marcis drifted up into his path in Turn 4 with only seven laps to go, forcing Jarrett to sideswipe the wall and allowing Gordon to retake the lead for good en route to his second win in three starts. With two laps to go, 14 cars were on the lead lap, but only seven of those made it to the finish line without sputtering dry. Jarrett began to slow with two laps left and pitted for fuel. But by then anyone could see the handwriting on the wall: Jeff Gordon was back.