| | DOVER, Del. -- With the exception of Jeff Gordon's year, the 1999 Winston Cup season has turned out to be just what everyone wanted. The No. 24 title train never really got untracked, but Gordon's struggles did open up a championship free-for-all.
Enter Dale Jarrett, who picked up where Gordon and his Rainbow Warriors left off.
After crashing at Daytona to start the season, all the No. 88 team did was put together a consistent season worthy of a champion. Each stop the train made toward a potential title, Jarrett wound up leaving on top of the standings.
|  | | Points leader Dale Jarrett listens to his crew chief Todd Parrott last week in his garage area at New Hampshire International Speedway. |
It started in Richmond when Jarrett won the Pontiac Excitement 400 and overtook Jeff Burton in the points standings. It continued through Charlotte, Michigan, California, Daytona and other small points along the way.
It's been seven months filled with good runs and lucky breaks. Jarrett has picked up four victories along the way, and at one point finished 21 races in a row 11th or better. His lead grew to over 300 points.
Then the train rolled back into Bristol Motor Speedway last month. And it was in Bristol, Tenn., where Jarrett's championship train appeared to be headed for a derailment.
Jarrett spun and finished 38th in the Goody's Headache Powder 500. He spun again in Darlington the next week during qualifying and salvaged 16th in the Pepsi Southern 500. Then came the double-whammy in New Hampshire when D.J. ran over an air hose and then pitted outside of his pit box.
Four three weeks, Jarrett's results on the track looked like a freshman college student's first term paper -- filled with plenty of whiteout due to mistakes. What happened to the consistent performances by a driver on his way to class valedictorian?
Now, suddenly, Jarrett has lost points in three of four races. Sure, he still has a 254-point lead, but he can't afford to keep giving away points in foolish fashion.
All one has to do is remember 1992 when the late Alan Kulwicki left Dover 154 points behind Bill Elliott and wound up winning the Winston Cup title by 10 points. Kulwicki made up 164 points in six races. There will be seven races remaining after Sunday's MBNA Gold 400.
Bobby Labonte has taken over the role as Jarrett's closest threat. Labonte and Mark Martin swapped spots in the points standings after Labonte's third-place finish in New Hampshire last week. But Jarrett has to worry about both drivers with Martin just 18 points behind Labonte.
If Jarrett is going to finish strong, Dover Downs International Speedway is a good place to start. Jarrett, however, isn't alone when it comes to good results at The Monster Mile.
Jarrett, Labonte and Martin have all posted wins within the past two years at Dover. Labonte won this year's spring race, while Martin has won the past two fall races. Jarrett reached Victory Lane in between Martin's two wins.
The Monster Mile has lived up to its nickname the past few years. In 1997, Jarrett was leading the race when he was spun out by Gordon. Earnie Irvan was leading the same race before he spun out in some oil on the track.
The key to success at Dover is simple. Drivers shouldn't care about trying to beat The Monster. They just shouldn't antagonize it. The concrete mile oval is tough enough without getting in silly situations by trying to get too much too soon.
The Jarrett we watched the first six months of the season wasn't prone to silliness on the track. If he stays patient, he can get all he needs out of Dover Downs on Sunday. It's a formula he used early in the season to be successful and one that will allow his title train to pull into Atlanta on time.
Aside from the points championship, there are several drivers and teams chasing good runs Sunday for different reasons.
Take a driver like Joe Nemechek, who scored his first Winston Cup win last weekend in New Hampshire, or Johnny Benson. Both are still hunting for rides in 2000. Nemechek has to think his win at New Hampshire will raise his stock, but there are plenty of drivers who are trying to make it three first-time winners in as many weeks.
In 1964, Billy Wade followed up his first win by winning three more in a row for a record four straight. In the modern era, however, we haven't seen three first-time winners in as many weeks. And I don't expect to see it this week. Dover hasn't been a kind place for drivers looking for their first Winston Cup wins. Jody Ridley is the only driver to score his first career win at Dover in 1980.
But no matter if a driver has won at Dover before, or never won a Winston Cup race, in order to get to Victory Lane he'll have to watch his fuel mileage. Good mileage won the June race for Labonte. Less than stellar fuel mileage and a poor pit stop sequence cost Tony Stewart the race.
One last note, Labonte is trying to pull off the double Sunday at Dover Downs -- something that has only been done six times since 1971 and last accomplished by Gordon in 1996. | |
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