Jarrett Has A Shot At Winning $1 Million Bonus
Coca-Cola 600
Dale Jarrett set himself up for a run at a $1 million bonus by running away from the field in NASCAR’s longest race.
Jarrett dominated the second half of the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway and finished 11.98 seconds - more than one-third of a lap on the 1.5-mile tri-oval - ahead of Dale Earnhardt.
The victory put Jarrett in position to join Bill Elliott as the only drivers to win the Winston Select Million. The bonus goes to any driver who wins three of the sport’s four jewels in a year.
Jarrett, who won the season-opening Daytona 500 and finished second in the Winston Select 500, can claim the bonus with a victory in the Southern 500 on Sept. 1 in Darlington, S.C.
Since Elliott collected the $1 million in 1985, only two other drivers have had a shot at the bonus - Darrell Waltrip in 1989 and the late Davey Allison in 1992. Both failed to get needed victories at Darlington.
“We’re going to see if we can win us a million bucks come Labor Day,” Jarrett said. “If you’re going to win just a few, it’s good to win the big ones.”
Jarrett led five times for 199 of the 400 laps, including the last 62. He averaged 147.578 mph and won $165,250 from the race purse. Jarrett also will get a $100,000 bonus that goes to any driver who can win two crown-jewel races in a given year.
Winston Cup career victory No. 6 for Jarrett came in a race that was delayed 1-1/2 hours at the start by rain and was then delayed by six crashes.
The last 184 laps of the 600-mile race were caution-free, allowing Jarrett to take control. Except for green-flag pit stops, he kept his Ford Thunderbird up front almost every lap over the last half of the event.
Before coming in for his final service stop on lap 336, Jarrett had built his advantage over Earnhardt to 16 seconds - more than one-half lap.
Earnhardt used some fast work by his pit crew to chop Jarrett’s lead to 9.5 seconds, but once both drivers were back on the track, it didn’t matter.
Jarrett gradually built his lead back to the 16-second mark, then cruised through traffic over the last 10 laps.
“I’d like to take a lot of the credit,” Jarrett said, “but a lot of people could have taken this car tonight and done well. The car was just terrific.”
Terry Labonte and Jeff Gordon were the only other drivers on the lead lap at the end.
Four of the top five finishers were in Chevrolets, but five of the top 10 were in Fords.
Spokane’s Chad Little, who had qualified sixth, had oil-pump problems and failed to make the start.