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Sunday, April 8
DJ hoping to party like it's 1999
By Jerry Bonkowski
ESPN.com
MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- If there was ever any doubt about Dale Jarrett's
determination and motivation to regain the Winston Cup championship this
season, it was effectively erased in Sunday's Virginia 500.
|  | | Dale Jarrett celebrates his first victory at the Martinsville Speedway after winning the Virginia 500. |
Driving a savvy race, Jarrett picked the perfect time to squeeze past Robert
Yates Racing teammate Ricky Rudd six laps from the finish and held on to win
his second consecutive race and third overall this season. He remains the
only multiple race winner in 2001. By comparison, Jarrett won just one race
in 2000, failing to mount a challenge to repeat as Winston Cup champion.
Even though there are still 28 more races to go on the schedule, Jarrett is
already having championship dreams.
"I don't think I could be any more determined," Jarrett said. "We just
didn't hit on it last year. Todd's (crew chief Todd Parrott) had the time to
build some new cars, and we also added some new key engineers, to help us see
what we've been seeing. We didn't know where to go from last year. These guys
have helped us.
"Certainly after last year, once you win the championship, you want to do it
every year and nothing else will suffice. Right now, we really have things
going our way. I really like what I see happening. We're putting ourselves in
place to take advantage of situations. I'd like to see this be another year
like 1999."
Sunday's win, the 27th of Jarrett's Winston Cup career, follows last
weekend's victory at Texas, as well as three weeks ago at Darlington, S.C.
Ironically, it was his first triumph at the half-mile Martinsville bullring,
where he competed in his first NASCAR event in 1984.
"This means as much to me as anything," Jarrett said. "I've been coming here
a long time, to watch my dad race here. It was also the place of my first
Winston Cup start. I've come a long way from there. We weren't necessarily
the best car, but we were a pretty good car. This is very special for me to
get into Victory Lane.
"I was hoping it was a matter of time (to win here), if I just had enough
time left. We've run good here in the past, to run in the top-5, but just
never had enough to win. Yesterday in practice, I saw we were able to pass,
and we were able to pass today."
The victory increases Jarrett's lead atop the Winston Cup point standings. He
came to Martinsville with an 83-point margin over Jeff Gordon. After Sunday's
race, Jarrett extended his lead over Gordon to 123 points.
With next weekend an open date, Jarrett said he will enjoy Sunday's win even
more on a long-overdue family vacation in the Bahamas.
Tires were the key to Jarrett's victory. After taking on what proved to be a
bad set of four tires on lap 365, luck was on Jarrett's side as another
caution on lap 413 allowed him to return to the pits for yet another set --
this time a good set -- which helped propel him towards the checkered flag.
"We were very fortunate to get that caution with (97) laps to go," said crew
chief Todd Parrott. "We put on four new tires, readjusted the air pressure
and wedge ... and that was the difference.
"It was a very stress-related race, do you pit for two tires or four tires
(during stops)?" Parrott added. "It was a chess match. It was just one of
those deals where we're very fortunate to have what's happening to our race
team. I wish I could go to the Bahamas with him."
Jarrett started the day in 13th position, falling as far back as 19th after
125 laps, but slowly and methodically began picking his way back through the
field. He used lapped cars to his advantage, particularly in the latter
stages of the event.
Jarrett won the event with a plodding-like speed of 70.799 mph. His margin of
victory over Rudd was 1.388 seconds. The race took 3 hours, 42 minutes and 53
seconds to complete.
Rudd was extremely disappointed afterward. Having led for 50 laps, he
envisioned his first Winston Cup victory since joining Robert Yates Racing
last season, as well as his first Cup win since triumphing at Martinsville
three years ago. But such would not be the case.
Rudd stormed out of the post-race press conference when asked what he felt after having victory pulled from his grasp so close to the finish.
"I was absolutely tickled to death (to finish second)," he said smugly. "What do you want me to
say? I wanted to win the race. It wasn't meant to be. It didn't happen."
To his credit, Rudd had perhaps the most inspiring effort of the day. Early
on, brake problems forced him to drop to last place. Like Jarrett, Rudd began
his climb back upward -- and likely would have won had it not been for
Jarrett's pit strategy to take on fresh tires.
"It could have gone either way," Rudd said. "I think it's almost unbelievable
that we came from dead last to get to where we wound up."
While pit strategy was the key to Jarrett's victory, it was also what led to
defeat for third-place finisher Jeff Burton. Burton led 128 laps and appeared
ready to cruise all the way to the finish line. He and crew chief Frank
Stoddard decided against pitting when Jarrett came back into the pits on lap
413.
"Tires won the race. We didn't pit the one time we should have," Burton said.
"Frank said 'Don't pit,' and I have the power to overrule him, but I didn't
pit. Jarrett did, and that's what won him the race. We didn't do that good of
a job, but hindsight is 20-20."
Instead, Burton pitted on lap 453, dropping to 14th before battling his way
back to a third-place finish.
This was Burton's third consecutive top-3 finish in the spring race at
Martinsville, having finished second in 1999 and 2000.
It was also the best finish of the current season for Burton, whose previous
best was 18th at Darlington.
"This is more of what we're used to, without a doubt," said Burton, a native
and resident of nearby South Boston, Va. "You can say a lot about us this
year, but you sure can't say we're quitters or that we've given up. Even
after we left Texas, where we ran so bad (finished 19th), our guys kept their
head up. It's a long year, and hopefully this (his resurgence) is where it
started."
Veteran motorsports writer Jerry Bonkowski covers NASCAR Winston Cup for
ESPN.com, along with CART and NHRA. Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
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