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Pulling away Jarrett gets third Winston Cup win in four weeks
By Stephen Thomas, CNNSI.com MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- For the second consecutive race and for the third in the last four, a late-race decision by Dale Jarrett and his pit crew delivered Jarrett another race victory. On a brutally hot day at Martinsville Speedway -- as if getting around the small, flat track isn't a chore under the best of circumstances, temperatures in the 80s plagued drivers -- the No. 88 team's decision to take on four new tires 76 laps from the end fairly shot Jarrett to the front, giving him his third win of the young season. Jarrett's teammate, Ricky Rudd, winless since taking the second Martinsville race in 1998, came home a dejected second. Jeff Burton finished a season-best and morale-boosting third. When the 11th caution of the day came out on lap 413, Jarrett was running fifth. The only racer among the leaders to take on four tires, he emerged from the pits in 12th. "We were very fortunate to have gotten that caution with 85 laps to go," said crew chief Todd Parrott. "We had made some terrible adjustments to the car and we weren't going to win at that moment. It wasn't a hard decision -- we came in made a few adjustments and changed four tires." It wasn't a hard decision and the smartness of it was immediately apparent. From that 12th spot on lap 418, Jarrett methodically carved his way through the field. By lap 441, he was in seventh; by lap 450, fifth; another 12 laps, he was third. By lap 475 he was second. Finally, six laps from the finish, Jarrett ducked underneath Rudd and cruised to the win. They were the only six laps Jarrett led all day; but they were quality laps and enough to extend Jarrett's lead for the championship to 123 points over Jeff Gordon, who finished 12th.
"We've been fortunate enough to win at a lot of race tracks, but this means as much to me as anything," Jarrett said. "I've been coming here for a long time -- as a kid I watched my dad drive here and this was the place where I was fortunate enough to get my first Winston Cup start in 1984." If Jarrett was the beneficiary of good judgment, Rudd was the victim of bad luck. When Ricky Craven spun in turn two on lap 453, bringing out the day's 12th and final caution, his healthy lead over then second place Sterling Marlin (with Jarrett in fourth) was gone and set the stage for Jarrett's dash. "It was real simple," Rudd said. "It was the tires, the cycle on the tires. I don't know exactly when D.J. pitted and when I pitted, but there was probably 30, 40, 50, 60 laps difference on tires. We were sort of a sitting duck there at the end. Had the last caution not come out, our strategy would have worked and they'd be sitting here talking about second." Tires, and the decision when, and if, to take them also ruined Burton's chance to kick-start a moribund season. Like Rudd, Burton also chose not to take on new tires at a critical point in the race. Leading at the time Jarrett made his crucial decision, Burton stayed out, then decided to make a pit stop during the day's final caution flag, dropping well back in the field before finishing third. "Hindsight is always 20-20," Burton said, "but we were the best we had been and I thought 'Let's stay out here and keep track position.'" For his part, Jarrett knew that his only chance rested on making that gamble. "I don't know that we were necessarily the best car," Jarrett said, "but we were an awfully good car. We were at times the best car and we were as good as we've been at Martinsville."
And that was plenty good enough.
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