By Luis Torres, Staff Writer/Photographer
Since the early days of auto racing in Daytona Beach, speed has been paramount. A key character to success and the Daytona 500 is no different.
From land speed records at the world-famous beach to pushing over the 200-mph barrier at the 2.5-mile superspeedway, speed became an attraction and made common men into household names. Even after the days of unrestricted machines were gone, speed was still an important factor for a driver’s chance of winning the 200-lap contest.
However, speed hasn’t fully translated to a driver being a guaranteed slam dunk to win “The Great American Race.” In fact, it’s been almost a quarter century since NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Jarrett won the Daytona 500 after being the fastest man in qualifying.
A race that people then and now openly criticized for the lack of passing with the mighty Ford Taurus just one-upping the competition being a key highlight. Long story short, Jarrett simply was the flag bearer of “The Blue Oval” during Speedweeks in 2000.
Despite a particular setback that almost doomed the No. 88 Ford Quality Care machine, that year’s 500-mile victory was the culmination of a myriad of accomplishments.
Jarrett entered the 2000 season as the defending NASCAR Cup Series champion. In retrospect, Jarrett’s title campaign was one of the most dominantly consistent campaigns in history, highlighted by finishing in the top-10 in all but five of the 34 races held.
Additionally, Jarrett also arrived in Daytona as the most recent Cup winner at “The World Center of Racing” as one of his four victories took place the previous July, leading the final 15 laps of the 400-mile event.
Furthermore, Jarrett’s No. 88 Robert Yates Racing squad was strengthened on pit road as five of the seven crew members of Jeff Gordon’s iconic “Rainbow Warriors” jumped ship from one elite team to the next.
As memorable 1999 was for Jarrett and his crew squad, Jarrett’s previous Daytona 500 attempt was one of the rare low points of his title run.
On Lap 136, Jarrett was collected in the Big One which saw him tumbling upside down before landing back on four wheels. It was Jarrett’s only DNF during the championship trail. Therefore, there was a chip on Jarrett’s shoulder to bounce back in the Daytona 500.
The road to victory began during qualifying as Jarrett wasted zero time on besting the fastest qualifier Robert Pressley from the top spot with his opening lap time of 47.395 seconds (189.893 mph) alone. Jarrett would really put on a flyer in his second qualifying lap, clocking in at 47.098 seconds (191.091 mph) and nobody was able to match his pole speed. It ended up being a superb session for RYR as Jarrett’s teammate Ricky Rudd qualified outside pole for the 200-lap race.
Jarrett told Motorsports Tribune at Phoenix Raceway last November that winning the pole was a continuation of their 1999 championship campaign. Added by the fact it backed up a positive off-season test session where he felt the Taurus, which made its Cup debut in 1998, had finally caught up to the days when Ford ran Thunderbirds to tremendous success.
“That was a time that we’d changed cars over to the Taurus in ’98 and I think that we saw kind of a backslide there in ’98. Our cars got a little better in ’99, but then after winning the championship in ’99 and competing at a high level like we did every single weekend,” Jarrett commented.
“Our test session for the Daytona 500 was one that we felt like that we had gotten the Taurus back to what we had with the Thunderbird previously and could compete for a win. We went (to Daytona), we sat on the pole, so just a continuation of our championship celebration. Knowing that it’s not very often that the pole winner goes on and win (the 500).”
After scoring his first pole since the 1998 Southern 500, Jarrett competed in the Bud Shootout Qualifier, a preliminary event to the Bud Shootout, the very next day. Jarrett was one of 11 drivers who were fastest in second round qualifying the previous season.
The only way to make the main event was to cross the line in first place.
After avoiding a multi-car crash on the opening lap, Jarrett checked out on the field and earned his spot in the 25-lap main event.
During the Shootout, Jarrett waited for the right time to make his winning move as he was three spots behind leader Sterling Marlin coming to the final lap, racing side-by-side with his teammate Rudd.
With drafting help from Bobby Labonte and aggressive driving from Jeff Gordon just to pass Marlin, Jarrett took the lead and went on to win as carnage ensued behind him. The carnage ended with Rudd sliding on his roof, putting a damper on what ended up being the series’ most competitive race during Speedweeks.
No question, Jarrett was the man to beat heading into Thursday’s 125-mile qualifying race. However, another Ford driver had a different plan as Bill Elliott passed Jarrett on the backstretch after Elliott had drafting aid from Mark Martin to take the lead and never relinquished it.
Jarrett had to settle for second, but remained confident his No. 88 Ford is strong enough to beat the other 42 competitors in the Daytona 500.
Suddenly, the biggest hurdle on what was otherwise a superb Speedweeks occurred the evening before the race.
During Happy Hour, it was anything but happy for Jarrett as the pack went awry in Turn 1, causing an accordion effect where Jeff Gordon ran into the back of Jarrett and was out of control, but kept it off the wall as other cars scurried away to avoid him.
Just as Jarrett got his car in control, he was sideswiped by Elliott before diving below the apron and bringing his damaged car to the garage where work was immediately done.
The No. 88 Ford sustained damage front-to-back, and for a period, the chances of a third 500 win and scoring the million-dollar bonus were at odds. But the resilient No. 88 crew went to work deep into the night and into the early morning.
Crew chief Todd Parrot informed Jarrett the chassis and the car in general would be alright for the race. The long working hours required six specialized sheet metal workers to travel from Charlotte to Daytona overnight.
“We had so much that happened. Everything went well. We ran well in the qualifying race. Even though we didn’t win it, we ran well,” said Jarrett.
“Then the final practice on Saturday evening, we got some things stacked up in front of us and some cars got spun. I didn’t spin all the way out, but I spun down onto the apron and messed up the front fenders and the valence a little bit.”
After all the man hours were spent to get the car back in top shape, Jarrett was locked in on the task at hand. The moment he led the 43-car field to the green flag, there was no stopping the No. 88 Ford Taurus.
“We wanted to start on the pole,” Jarrett said of bringing those six Yates employees from Charlotte. “That was the car that we knew that we could win with, and so the job that they did when they came down, they had all the templates to get everything back exactly right as to how that car left the shop. But it took a lot of manpower to make all of that happen.”
Hard Work Pays Off in the Daytona 500
With the crew having an excellent setup and the ever-vital Doug Yates horsepower, Jarrett conquered the polarized superspeedway package where handling was at an all-time premium with near perfection.
By near perfection, Jarrett still had to earn the victory as one underdog was in his way.
All throughout Speedweeks, General Motors struggled immensely to match Ford’s prowl, but an unsponsored Pontiac, driven by Johnny Benson, who was let go of a Ford team (Roush Racing) during the off-season, became the final hurdle Jarrett had to conquer.
As time was running out, the race came down to the final four laps and the battle was short and sweet. Finding an opening on the bottom, Jarrett dethroned Benson entering the backstretch and without hesitance, the Taurus parade led by Jeff Burton followed Jarrett, leaving Benson hung out to dry as the Daytona 500 upset was gone and had to settle for 12th.
Jarrett’s pass on Benson marked the race’s ninth and final lead change, the fewest since Fred Lorezen’s win in 1965 when it had only seven.
Two laps later, Jimmy Spencer hit the wall to bring out the race-ending caution.
Riding at snail’s pace behind the Pontiac pace car ironically, Jarrett led a Ford sweep in the top-five to score his third and final Daytona 500 win and an extra million dollars to boot.
The victory became much sweeter as this Daytona 500 marked the final time his father Ned Jarrett called “The Great American Race” on CBS.
Ned was there when his son won all three of his 500 victories, most notably calling his son home in 1993 and 1996 that’s forever etched in Daytona 500 lore as he bested Dale Earnhardt in those races.
“With my dad still being there and calling it, he was there in ’93, calling on the first one. It’s just a special day to make all of that happen,” said Jarrett. “So many times you go, and you have that car and then all it takes is just one wrong move or anything.
“I really thought that maybe Saturday I’d lost that opportunity because could we even fix the car? But for everybody to come in, do their job, get the car back to where it could be competitive, and we were all day.”
Following Jarrett’s Daytona 500 victory from pole position, no other driver has accomplished this feat. Of the next 24 Daytona 500 pole winners, they’ve finished no better than fifth, set by both Bill Elliott in the ill-fated 2001 race and Alex Bowman in 2023.
Adding salt to the wound, four out of the last six pole winners failed to finish due to being collected in wrecks. Proving the drastic change of superspeedway racing where speed is nice to have, but it’s now a game of survival.
“To think that it’s going on 25 years that nobody has won from the pole. It’s just kind of crazy because you take a fast car there, you expect that to happen and think it can happen, but obviously it shows just how difficult that is,” Jarrett said of the Daytona 500 pole winner drought.
One trait in superspeedway racing that’s coming back over time is the importance of handling, especially at Daytona as the track pavement continues to age since being repaved after the 2010 July race. Perhaps the days of speed may come back in its true form to crown a Daytona 500 winner.
Jarrett explained that part of the reason handling is gradually becoming a premium at the 2.5-mile superspeedway is aided a little bit by the current Cup car that’ll enter its fourth season.
“We’re starting to see a few more things happen as far as the handling side of it,” said Jarrett. “Even discussions of when they were talking about it first with this car, they could go almost two fuel stops without changing the tires at the most, getting right side tires for a couple of stops. Now that’s starting to go away.
“I think that we’re gonna start seeing some racing that I know a lot of the older fans appreciated back in that day to where you really had to work hard to make it happen.”
Reminiscing on The Rock
Following his win at Daytona, Jarrett wouldn’t visit victory lane again in 2000 until late October when he won at Rockingham Speedway. A particular venue NASCAR is returning to with both Xfinity and Craftsman Truck Series running there during the weekend of April 18-19.
Jarrett won again at Rockingham in 2003 after having an intense, hard fought battle against Kurt Busch as both men had to navigate around the 1.017-mile oval under competitive pressure. More so when lapped cars were surrounding them, but with three laps to go, the race was in Jarrett’s hands and brought home the penultimate of his 32 Cup victories.
Fond memories are evident from Jarrett when discussing Rockingham’s return to the NASCAR calendar.
“It’s just a special place,” said Jarrett. “You talk about worn out racing surface and that’s what that was. It would wear out the tires. You had to move around on the track and the bottom would be really fast as your tires were new. You had to be careful not to abuse them, but you could race from the bottom to the top of the track. It just gave the opportunity for great racing to happen.”
With other North Carolina tracks such as North Wilkesboro and Bowman Gray returning to the fray, Jarrett hopes the beauty of those venues returning will lead to the Cup Series will come back there in the foreseeable future.
“I think the Xfinity guys are gonna put on a tremendous show,” said Jarrett. “I really look forward to watching that and seeing how they handle that.”
Jarrett’s success at “The Rock” in its final Cup years was a cultivation of learning from Gordon, who won four times from 1995-98, and understanding the challenges the legendary circuit provides.
One specific trait to the aura of Rockingham that makes the circuit unique which Jarrett learned over time and will be vital for the drivers upon the sport’s return – tire management.
“There are certain ways to drive it. I think we all learned from different people that we raced against. Jeff taught me some lessons before I finally learned to win there about how hard to run with new tires,” Jarrett explained.
“But I think that would be the biggest thing is, as good as your car feels on those new tires the harder you try to go in the first 10 laps is gonna determine exactly what you’re gonna have on the backside of that run. So, take care of your tires.”
Time will tell if the pole sitter of the 67th Daytona 500 will snap the quarter-century drought as the fight for the pole commences Wednesday, February 12 at 8:15 p.m. ET on FS1. Coverage of the 200-lap race begins Sunday, February 16 at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX as William Byron looks to add another Harley J. Earl Trophy like Jarrett did on three occasions.
