Jarrett takes first victory since July 2001

LONG POND, Pa. -- Dale Jarrett picked up his first win of the season by passing his bad-luck-bitten teammate of Ricky Rudd with six laps remaining in the Pocono 500 at Pocono Raceway.

Dale Jarrett crosses the final line under caution. Credit: Autostock

Jarrett, driver of the No. 88 UPS Ford, was chasing Rudd after the No. 28 Havoline Ford took the lead from Jeff Burton on lap 179 of the 200-lap race.

Just when it looked like Rudd had victory within his grasp, the right-rear tire started to go flat.

A few laps later, it went totally flat and Rudd went into the wall bringing out the caution. The race went to finish under the yellow flag.

Jarrett notched his 29th career victory and first since the July race at New Hampshire last year, 30 races ago.

After two runner-up finishes in the last five June races, it was Jarrett's first victory for the Pocono 500 and his third at the track.

"This was a brand-new car, but I'm really hating it right now," a sweat-soaked Jarrett said in Victory Lane. "I'm glad to be here, but my teammate is having some terrible luck right now.

Jeff Gordon spun out on pit road but rallied back to finish fifth.

"He did a great job last week, had himself in position to win and then had the unfortunate problem with the tire and then today again.

"I don't know if I could have caught him. We were just so equal. It's really tough when you're trying to run down another Robert Yates engine -- it makes it difficult."

Making things even more difficult was the fact the No. 88 Ford team was scheduled to test the new car at Michigan on Tuesday and Wednesday this week.

However, rains forced that to be canceled and Jarrett hustled down to Kentucky Speedway, instead.

"These guys worked hard on this car and tested there," Jarrett said. "We appreciate them letting us come over there."

Sterling Marlin passes Ken Schrader in the Tunnel Turn. Marlin scored his first top-five since Talladega.

For the second week in a row, Rudd had trouble with the same tire causing him to fall out of contention -- again.

"That's two weeks, three weeks-- I don't know, I lost count, that something has happened." Rudd said, climbing from his damaged car in the garage area. "We were just sitting out front and were in great shape and opening up some daylight on D.J., he wasn't catching us.

"I figured it was going to be a one-two Yates finish and looking like the No. 28 was going to win. All of a sudden, I told the guys I have a slow leak and that I was getting a flat tire. We tried to stay on the race track. Maybe I should have slowed down more. It finally came apart and I hit the fence in Turn 1."

He may be leaving Pocono a little dejected, but his 17th-place finish moved him up two spots to eighth in the points battle.

Following Jarrett was Mark Martin for second with Jimmie Johnson taking third.

Jeff Green's brake rotors caught fire early in the event. He lost nearly 30 laps as his crew made repairs.

Martin led twice for seven laps in the No. 6 Ford. The second time was on lap 159 when the caution came out for the fourth of five times for debris.

Martin felt that was very costly to his chances because they believed they were good to go on fuel to the checkered flag.

"This team fought hard today," Martin said. "The car didn't work too well in the beginning. But, the last three sets of tires we had were really good.

"We thought we could go the distance until we had that "mystery" caution there. We were set to win that thing on fuel mileage."

The lap 169 caution was waived for metal debris on the race track.

Johnson, who raced here for the first time, never led a lap in the No. 48 Lowe's Home Improvement Chevrolet. Didn't seem to matter much as the rookie sensation battled back from 10th on the lap 172 restart to clinch another top-notch finish.

Ryan Newman (12) and Kurt Busch (97) crash going into Turn 1 at Pocono. Credit: AP

He leaves Pocono still trailing Sterling Marlin, who finished one spot behind Johnson, by 136 points.

"I'm not disappointed by any means," Johnson said. "To be this competitive at this place and be here running in the top five like we did all day is a great accomplishment. I don't think I've ever been to a track that has been as mentally taxing than here with the upshifts and downshifts.

"I had a blast and it was great to finish third."

Rounding out the top-10 was point-leader Marlin, Jeff Gordon, Jeff Burton, Tony Stewart, Michael Waltrip, Rusty Wallace and Dave Blaney.

There were 17 lead changes among 12 drivers during the race that took 3 hours, 29 minutes and 10 seconds to finish. There were five cautions for 17 laps.