A ‘Different’ Dale Powers His Way To Daytona Victory
Reprinted February 18, 1993 edition of Grand National Scene
By Steve Waid

A driver named Dale showed he had the skill, determination and guts to win the Daytona 500 by STP with a couple of thrilling maneuvers that propelled him to his first-ever win in NASCAR Winston Cup racing’s most prestigious event.

No, it was NOT Dale Earnhardt, as virtually everyone expected.

Instead Earnhardt was victimized at Daytona — again. This time it was done by Dale Jarrett, a second-generation competitor who, on the final two laps of the 200-lap race, proved he has the skills of the “Intimidator,” the man he beat.

Driving his Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet, Jarrett won big-time stock car racing’s “Super Bowl” for the first time and claimed only his second career Winston Cup victory. His first came in the 1991 Champion Spark Plug 400 at Michigan International Raceway when he was the driver of the Wood Brothers Ford.

In that race, Jarrett beat Davey Allison to the finish line by a half-car length. It wasn’t that close at Daytona, but it was every bit as thrilling, particularly for Jarrett.

“From my perspective, this is the greatest victory a driver could have,” said the 36-year-old resident of Hickory, N.C. “I think Dale (Earnhardt) is the best driver to come into racing in a long, long time. He’s done everything but win the Daytona 500. You almost have to feel sorry for him.

“So when you beat him, you know have had your hands full.”

For Earnhardt, the loss was yet another in what is becoming a long list of Daytona disappointments. For the second time in the last four years, he was the leader as the last lap began. The first time, in 1990, he ran over a piece of bell housing in turn two, cut a tire and had to drop out of the way, allowing Derrike Cope to win.

This time, he was barely in front of Jarrett as the final circuit began. And from that point, Jarrett used the power and the draft to bring home victory for the first time in the brief two-existence of the team owned by Gibbs, coach of the NFL’s Washington Redskins.

It began following the restart from the race’s seventh and final caution period, caused by a three-car incident on the backstretch that sent Rusty Wallace’s Pontiac into a series of frightening flips and rolls. Remarkably, Wallace was unhurt save for cuts on his chin.

Four laps later, the race resumed with Earnhardt at this accustomed position — in front. The five-time Winston Cup champion would lead 107 circuits by the finish.

But behind him were Jarrett and a group of other strong challengers, including Hut Stricklin, Geoff Bodine and rookie Jeff Gordon. Jarrett took the lead on lap 177 and held it for two circuits, but then lost it on lap 179 when he went high in the fourth turn and allowed Earnhardt and Gordon to whisk by.

Earnhardt stayed in front for 21 consecutive laps, with Gordon second and Jarrett third. It became obvious the fight for victory would be settled among the three.

“I was concerned that I was third among only three cars, but only a little,” said Jarrett, who earned $238,200. “There were Chevrolets up front and that’s what we were after — a Chevrolet in victory lane. But there was no one behind me that I could see.”

Which meant Jarrett was in a precarious position — if he tried to pass, he would have to do so without benefit of another car pushing him through the draft. But by the time the race reached its final two laps, things had changed.

“I noticed that Dale’s car was loose in the third turn and that began to slow us up,” said Jarrett. “The other caught us.”

On lap 198, Jarrett made his move. “I knew I wasn’t going to win the race having to pass two cars on the last lap,” he said. “Dale and Jeff were just too strong together.”

So he opted to swing to the outside of Gordon’s Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in turn one — a move not of the ordinary, since the inside, low route is generally faster.

“I knew my car could run on the outside,” said Jarrett. “It seemed to run well from the middle of the track on up all day. I ran up there a lot and I did it to save tires. I didn’t want to run low all the time and use them up.

“I learned a lesson from Darrell Waltrip. You don’t always have to lead every lap of a race to win it.”

Once around Gordon and in second place, Jarrett set Earnhardt in his sights as lap 199 came to its end. In the third turn, this time the son of two-time Winston Cup champion Ned Jarrett, who watched his son win while serving as a member of the CBS-TV broadcast team, went under Earnhardt — on the low side.

“My car could run low, I knew that,” said Jarrett. “Dale was loose in turn three so I took my car to the bottom. That got me beside him as we went into turn four.”

Coming out of the turn, the two Chevrolets bumped — “It was just a slight tap, but Dale was leading and didn’t want to give it up,” said Jarrett — but it was Earnhardt who forged ahead to lead lap 199 by about a half-car length.

As the leaders went into the first turn on the final lap, Jarrett was faced with a dilemma. He was on the inside of Earnhardt and Gordon had elected to place himself behind the Kannapolis, N.C., driver’s RCR Enterprises Chevrolet thereby giving him the edge in the draft.

Along came Geoff Bodine, the driver of the Bud Moore Engineering Ford who spearheaded the group that had caught the three leaders. Bodine fell to the inside, behind Jarrett. That gave Jarrett just the shove he needed.

“When I made my move under Dale, we were side by side and I saw where Gordon got in behind Dale,” said Jarrett. “I hoped that Geoff would go with me and he did. That gave me just the little boost I needed.

“Without that, I would have stayed side by side with Dale and someone would have to try something. When you’re in that situation, you end up three abreast and if you do that on the last lap, the guy who was running 15th might have ended up winning the race.”

Jarrett said he felt confident the win would be his once he was able to squirt ahead out of turn two and maintain his advantage all the ay down the backstretch, through the third and fourth turns and into the trioval.

“After we got by, I felt we were in good shape,” said Jarrett. “I knew all I had to do was put the car on the white line at the bottom of the track and keep it there. I hit the button (on the two-way radio) when I got to the trioval. I figured by then, I had enough to win no matter what happened.”

“Dale came on the radio and said, ‘It’s ours! It’s ours!’” said crew chief Jimmy Makar.

Earnhardt wound up second by 0.16-second while Bodine edged Gordon for third place. Stricklin, driver of the Junior Johnson & Associates Ford who locked into the draft behind Bodine on the last lap, was fourth while Gordon took fifth in his first-ever Daytona 500.

Mark Martin was sixth in the Roush Racing Ford, Morgan Shepherd seventh in the Wood Brothers Ford, Ken Schrader eighth in the Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, Sterling Marlin ninth in the Stavola Brothers Ford and Wally Dallenbach Jr. rounded out the top 10 in the Roush Racing Ford.

The race had two caution periods before it was 13 laps old and then went through a long period of green-flag racing that didn’t end until lap 131, when Martin took a wild spin out of turn four.

Subsequent crashes involving Rick Wilson, Bobby Hamilton and Ernie Irvan brought on the fourth and fifth yellow-flag periods while the sixth was created by what was easily the day’s most controversial incident.

On lap 157, just three laps after the fifth caution period ended, Derrike Cope was leading a long, tight pack of cars running two abreast. Suddenly, Al Unser Jr.’s Chevrolet was sent sliding across the track out of the fourth turn after being clipped in the rear by Earnhardt.

Unser’s spinning car was whacked by Bobby Hillin’s Ford, which then slid across the entire length of grass at the front trioval and then slowly but steadily drifted back onto the racing surface. There, it was hit by Kyle Petty’s Pontiac.

Petty, who started from the pole and had been one of the race’s strongest competitors, was clearly perturbed. He and Hillin, another strong competitor, had more than one face-to-face confrontation before being separated by NASCAR officials.

Petty finished 31st while Hillin was 35th. Wallace’s spectacular crash relegated him to 32nd. Other retirees included Irvan, who finished 37th, Bill Elliott, who experienced engine failure in his Ford and wound up 39th and Jimmy Hensley, who also had engine failure and crashed Jimmy Means’ Ford on lap 11. He finished 40th.

“One of my biggest concerns all day was not to get involved in a wreck because after the caution periods, everyone gets bunched up and a lot can happen,” said Jarrett. “Fortunately, I was in front of most everything that did happen.”

Jarrett signed a contract with Gibbs in May of 1991 after nearly two seasons with the Wood Brothers, who selected him to replace the injured Neil Bonnett for 24 races that year.

“I don’t even know if I would be here today without the Wood Brothers because I was at loose ends,” said Jarrett. “I had been with Cale (Yarborough) for a season but he lost his sponsor and I didn’t have anything to do.

“They were like family to me. But then Joe Gibbs gave me an opportunity and Jimmy Makar took a big chance because he was already a crew chief with a team. I can say now this is the best team I’ve ever worked with.

“The next thing for us to do is to get another victory.”

The victory, however, was in the race called the “Super Bowl of Stock Car Racing.” And Gibbs has coached two Super Bowl winners during his tenure in the NFL.

“Winning the Super Bowl and this race are two great experiences,” said Gibbs. “But for this one, I can’t take any credit. All I can take credit for is hiring Dale and Jimmy. They put it all together.”

Obviously, they did it quite well.

See Also:

1993 Daytona 500 Photo Gallery (coming soon)