Jarrett gets around Rudd, wins at Loudon
By Dave Rodman, Turner Sports Interactive
July 25, 2001
9:45 AM EDT (1345 GMT)
LOUDON, N.H. -- Dale Jarrett took advantage of a restart with five laps to go and won Sunday’s NASCAR Winston Cup New England 300 Sunday at New Hampshire International Speedway.
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The win leaves Jarrett tied with Jeff Gordon in the points race.
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Jarrett and Jeff Gordon remained tied in Winston Cup points. Ricky Rudd remained third in the standings.
Jarrett led the final four laps and was .659 seconds ahead of Jeff Gordon after 300 laps. Jarrett’s Robert Yates Racing teammate Ricky Rudd was third, Jimmy Spencer was fourth and defending champion Tony Stewart was fifth.
Before that, Rudd used a strong race car and Casey Atwood’s lapped car as interference in his attempt to win his second race for RYR
Rudd led 61 laps of the race, and had made a perfect restart after the eighth caution with 48 laps remaining. Atwood’s lapped car dropped in behind him and slightly delayed the pursuing cars of Gordon and Jarrett.
Spencer and Jerry Nadeau got together going into Turn 3 with less than 10 laps to go and brought out the 10th and final caution.
Steve Park, rebounding Bobby Labonte, top rookie Kevin Harvick, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Mike Wallace finished sixth-10th.
The day swung on a set of yellow flag pit stops that occurred under the seventh caution at lap 233, following a spin by Kevin Lepage and Bill Elliott in Turn 4. Following the round of stops, Rudd led from Gordon, Spencer, Jarrett and Stewart.
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Dale Jarrett got around Ricky Rudd in Turn 4.
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The restrictor plates were gone in Sunday’s event, and stout race cars allowed Gordon and Jarrett to utterly dominate the first two thirds of the NASCAR Winston Cup Series race -- the second straight event at the track that was markedly devoid of competition.
The day, played out before an estimated crowd of 101,000, was virtually a tale of three races. But the fact remained that Tony Stewart’s winning pass one year ago in this event on lap 219 was the last green flag pass for the lead at NHIS before one occurred in a round of green flag pit stops Sunday at lap 216.
Gordon led the first 62 laps before surrendering the point to Sterling Marlin on a round of pit stops. But one lap later Gordon was back out front and paced the field from lap 63 to 127, when another set of pit stops under caution mixed the field.
On that restart at lap 132, Jarrett, who came into the race tied with Gordon for the point lead, led his Robert Yates Racing teammate Rudd with Gordon in third. Jarrett led the next 88 laps from Rudd and Gordon before the lead again shuffled on a round of green flag pit stops at lap 216, when Jarrett and Gordon stopped.
Rudd stopped one lap later at lap 217 and the seventh caution ultimately interrupted the cycle, when the final green flag cycle of stops was completed.
Jarrett reassumed the Winston Cup championship lead. Fourth-place point man Rusty Wallace took the biggest hit when he was the first car out. His Miller Lite Ford’s engine failed after 11 laps and Wallace ended up 43rd.
Tire troubles plagued teams in the first half of the race. Jeremy Mayfield, Johnny Benson and Dave Blaney all suffered deflated tires that caused their cars to crack the wall between Turns 1 and 2 of the 1.058-mile speedway.
The day’s most spectacular wreck occurred when Ron Hornaday’s No. 14 Conseco Pontiac was forced into the backstretch wall, bringing out the sixth caution on lap 165. Hornaday’s car rode up on the wall with its two right side tires before it dropped onto the track and spun in front of Mike Wallace, who narrowly missed t-boning Hornaday’s errant car, which continued to finish the race.
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