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| | Sunday, October 24 | |||||
| ROCKINGHAM, N.C. -- Although he still couldn't figure out a way to win at North Carolina Speedway, Dale Jarrett wasn't complaining after finishing fourth in Sunday's Pop Secret Microwave Popcorn 400.
In his last eight starts on the 1.017-mile oval, Jarrett has
often dominated but finished second six times, seventh and fourth.
The son of two-time NASCAR champion Ned Jarrett led a race-high
160 laps on Sunday, but never got back to the lead after the 261st
of 393 laps.
"We just can't seem to get the car right at the end of this
race," Jarrett said. "We came here to win and we thought we had
the car to win. There again, we just have to find out what this
racetrack wants at the end of the race." Despite coming up short in the race, Jarrett got just a little closer to his first Winston Cup championship. Thanks to the five-point bonus for leading the most laps, Jarrett remained 246 points ahead of runner-up Bobby Labonte, who finished third in the race. Jarrett can clinch the title Nov. 7 in Phoenix if he can add 126 points to his lead. Even without a big swing in points, though, he can wrap up the championship simply by finishing 20th or better in each of the remaining three races. "We're getting a little closer now," he said. "As we knock these races off, and don't lose any points, or even gain a few, it's looking a lot more promising," Jarrett said. "The team has worked awful hard to get to this point." Labonte called the day "a wash," as far as the points battle is concerned. "We're excited we were able to bring home a third-place finish after a tough day," he said. "I guess it's a shame it wasn't a 500-mile race because we were getting better as it went. But I'm glad it ended when it did because we were the best we were all day, and you never know after the next stop." Ford will be tough to beat Jeff Burton's victory in a Ford Taurus all but assured the Michigan auto maker of winning the 1999 NASCAR Manufacturers' Championship. Ford only needs a second-place finish in one of the last three races to wrap up its fourth title since NASCAR's modern era began in 1972. Actually, each of the three championships by Ford has come in the '90s. The company previously won in 1992, 1994 and 1997. The victory Sunday was Ford's 13th of the season. Chevrolet had 12 wins and Pontiac six. Rough early exit for Earnhardt Dale Earnhardt, who came into Sunday's race hoping that a late-season surge could carry him into the top five in the points, had a crashed-shortened afternoon. On lap 322, he tangled with Kenny Irwin and slammed into the wall on the backstretch. Earnhardt's Chevrolet then careened down the banking. Wally Dallenbach eased off the gas to avoid Earnhardt and got hit from behind by Jerry Nadeau. Earnhardt wound up 40th in the 43-car field. He remained seventh in the standings, but now trails sixth-place Jeff Burton, the race winner, by 161 points and fifth-place Tony Stewart by 204. "This might knocked us out of it," said Earnhardt, who won the previous week in Talladega. "It depends on how the guys do that are in front of us. "We just wanted to finish today. We just needed to finish, at least." Spark plugs ... Burton's sixth victory of the season moved him within one of series leader Jeff Gordon. ... Ward Burton's second-place finish Sunday was his best in Rockingham since he won this race in 1995. ... Bobby Labonte's third-place finish was his seventh consecutive top 10 this season. ... Mark Martin, sixth on Sunday, has finished sixth or better in each of his last five Rockingham starts. ... Rick Mast, who finished 38th, 24 laps behind, remains the only driver to be running at the end of all 31 races this season. | ALSO SEE Burton wards off big brother (again) to win Pop Secret 400
AUDIO/VIDEO   Dale Jarrett discusses his run at North Carolina Speedway.wav: 114 k RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6 Dale Jarrett says he came to North Carolina to win.wav: 91 k RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6  | |||||