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| Dale Jarrett takes the checkered flag while track workers help Jimmy Spencer, whose crash forced the race to finish under caution. |
Who wants to be a millionaire?
Dale Jarrett, who crossed up longtime friend Mark and
outmaneuvered Johnny Benson to win the Daytona 500. Jarrett,
the 1999 Winston Cup champion, made a nifty move with four
laps remaining in the season opener and had the victory clinched
two laps later when the caution flag was raised. "I'll tell you
what, that's the money car," Jarrett said. "It won a million
dollars at Talladega in '98, won another million here and won
a million for a fan. Man, this is fantastic." Just as he has
every time but once in a Winston Cup race for the past two
weeks, Jarrett left his competitors to decide the also-ran
positions. Some of them weren't too happy. Mark said Jarrett
reneged on a radioed deal between the crews and hung him
out on the high side of the race track."I got lied to," said Mark, who fell from second to fifth when Jarrett went to the front without him. “All I ever wanted to do was be a contender down here. I just asked to have a chance and today we had a chance. I did get lied to, but it was a good run.” "If I was in Mark's position, I'd feel the same way," Jarrett said. "But when I looked up and saw 
Jeff Burton, knowing he had Bill Elliott right behind him,
I was getting ready to lose my spot for sure and didn't know
how far back I would go. All I wanted to do was protect
my position." On the way to the pits after the race, Mark motored
up to the side of Jarrett's car for several seconds. Jarrett said
he didn't seem too happy. "Mark didn't shake his fist, and give
me the finger," Jarrett said. "He threw his hands up like,
'What happened?' And I totally understand that. I would've
been the same way.
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On lap 80, Mark,
who was running second to Jarrett, slowed dramatically
down the backstretch of the 2.5-mile Daytona track, the
victim of a blistered tire. He pitted and fell to 37th
place. Eleven laps later, the leaders cycled through a
series of green-flag pit stops. Because his stop had
been made earlier, Mark inherited the lead on lap 93.
Jarrett gave chase and would take the lead if Mark had
to make a pit stop under the green flag. His stops were
out of synch with the rest of the field. Mark needed a
caution period to remain a contender. He got it on lap
157, when the race's third caution period began after
debris from John Andretti's STP Pontiac was discovered
in turn two. Mark joined the leaders on pit road for
four fresh tires. But something happened. Johnny Benson,
Bill Elliott, Terry Labonte and Dale Earnhardt Jr., in
an effort to gain track position, took on right-side
tires only. As a result, when the race restarted on lap
163, Benson was the leader, followed by Earnhardt Jr.,
Elliott, Martin and Jarrett. Benson, driving the Lycos
Pontiac, proved to be stronger than most could imagine.
He stayed in front of his challengers, who swapped
positions behind him. On lap 194, the fifth caution
period began following a multicar accident out of the
fourth turn. All the leaders remained on the track and
safety crews quickly removed the damaged vehicles and
debris. At the time, Benson was leading Jarrett, Jeff
Burton, Elliott, Rusty Wallace and Martin. The green
flag flew on lap 197 and Jarrett, with no time to lose,
made his move. He faked a move on the high side and
then, with a push from Burton, scooted around Benson
out of the second turn. Benson, the improbable leader
of 39 laps, got kicked out of the draft and fell back
to 12th place. With two laps to go, the sixth and final
caution period began after Jimmy Spencer slammed into
the wall out of the fourth turn. Jarrett made it back
to the yellow and white flags as the leader and the
victory was his. "If it hadn't been for the horsepower
I have from Robert and Doug Yates, I'm not sure I could
have gotten around Benson," said Jarrett, who won his
third career Daytona 500. His others came in 1993 and
1996. "He was doing a really good job. "But then I got
the push from Jeff I needed. The one thing I regret is
that Mark and I had talked and we agreed that if he was
second behind Benson and went high, I would go high
with him. "We tried it on one lap and on the next lap,
Mark tried it again. But then Jeff dove down below me
and I went down to protect the position. And when I
did it, it gave me a real push and I went by Mark.
I wasn't trying to set him up or anything, and I hate
that.
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