Win Silences Critics, But Not Jarrett

Last Sunday’s win at Pocono International Raceway could prove to be much more than a vehicle to silence the critics who said Dale Jarrett wasn’t as good as he once appeared to be.

It could give the 38-year-old driver from Hickory, N.C., a little leverage as he tries to put together his own race team for next season.

“We’re negotiating with two sponsors,” Jarrett said after his victory in the Miller Genuine Draft 500, adding that he would make a decision about 1996 in the next month.

After the fourth victory of his career and first in 17 rides in the Robert Yates Ford Thunderbird, Jarrett expected his critics to reassess their position. But he said the victory doesn’t change his own opinion of his ability to drive.

“A lot of people will say, ‘Now, this proves you can drive,”’ he said. “I don’t think I had to prove anything.

“I’ve won races against the best people out there before. There wasn’t any doubt in my mind I could drive.”

Following Ford

Sterling Marlin says NASCAR may have gone too far in trying to make Ford’s Thunderbirds more competitive with the Chevrolet Monte Carlos that have won 13 of 17 races so far this season.

Dale Jarrett won Sunday’s race at Pocono in a Ford, only the third Thunderbird victory of the season.

Marlin, testing his Chevy at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Aug. 5 Brickyard 400, said, “We were the fastest Chevy on Monday, but the Fords tested about a second faster than we did. We sure need something back.

“The Fords just drove away from us up there at Pocono,” he added. “It’s going to be the same at Indy and everywhere else just about if things don’t change. Everything they’ve asked for, they’ve got.

“The Fords are on a roll right now, and Chevrolet isn’t the dominating car it was at the beginning of the year.”

Moving up

Two months ago, Ted Musgrave said he was happy to be among the top 10 in the Winston Cup standings and hoped to finish the season there. What may have seemed like wishful thinking at the time is becoming more of a reality with each passing week.

Finishing fourth while seven-time champion Dale Earnhardt was coming in 20th in the Miller Genuine Draft 500 moved the surprising Musgrave to third in the standings. It also gave him a six straight top-10 finishes and seven top-fives in 17 races this season.

With 14 races remaining, Earnhardt is eight points behind Musgrave, who leads fifth-place Mark Martin - his more celebrated Roush Racing teammate - by 17.

Jeff Gordon has a season-high 106-point lead over Sterling Marlin in the race for the title and the $1.3 million that goes to its recipient. Marlin is 50 points ahead of Musgrave.

Plate race

Today’s race at Talladega Superspeedway will be the fourth and final time this season that Winston Cup teams will use a restrictor plate to artificially slow down the 3,400-pound stock cars.

The plates are inserted between intake manifold and the carburetor. The thin metal restrictors with their seven-eighth inch openings are used for qualifying and in the races at Talladega and Daytona International Speedway.

They are provided by NASCAR, which oversees their installation during inspections which precede each activity.

Prior to the advent of the restrictor plates, Bill Elliott set an all-time stock car qualifying record of 212.809 mph at Talladega in 1987. The top qualifying speeds at the Alabama track have hovered between the low and mid 190s since the plates were introduced in 1988.