2000: Car repaired, promise broken

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Even after his pole-winning car was heavily damaged in a practice accident less than 24 hours before the Daytona 500, Dale Jarrett wasn't worried.

He knew he had the experience of crew chief Todd Parrott and the Robert Yates Racing crew behind him.

"When this man tell me it's OK, then I believe everything is OK," Jarrett said.

The RYR team hurriedly replaced both front fenders, the exhaust pipes and the rear bumper, completing the task in about eight hours. Even so, Parrott wondered if the car would run the same as it had all week.

"I felt very confident that once I got my car out front, I was there to stay," Jarrett said.

Jarrett's ride was as stout after the wreck as it had been before. But in order to capture his third Daytona 500 victory, Jarrett had to ruin the Cinderella story of one driver and a gentleman's agreement with another.

ALSO  2000 Daytona 500 Results  2000 Season Recap  More NASCAR History

Johnny Benson came to Daytona with two goals: find a sponsor and win his first Winston Cup race. He picked up sponsorship before the race, and with four laps to go, seemed poised to accomplish the second.

On a day when passes for the lead were as precious as diamonds, Benson appeared to be OK, as long as there wasn't another caution flag. Unfortunately for him, there was.

Benson's Cinderella story reached an unhappy ending when Jarrett and the rest of the Ford contingent ganged up on his lonely Pontiac on the lap 197 restart. Jarrett faked high, then ducked low, bringing the line of leaders with him as Benson found himself without drafting help. He wound up a distant 12th.

"I knew what was going to happen," Benson said. "The Fords were going to gang up on the Pontiac. The Fords have been dominant here all weekend.

"We were just glad we could go up there and share a little bit of that good run."

Mark Martin was more than a little miffed at the end, because he thought his crew had worked out a deal with Jarrett to move to the front near the end. Instead, he found out that drivers have few friends when the Daytona 500 is on the line.

Jarrett saw two other Fords building up momentum and switched allegiances, leaving Martin high -- and out of the draft. He finished fifth.

"I got lied to," Martin said.

"If I was in Mark's position, I'd feel the same way," Jarrett said. "But when I looked up and saw Jeff Burton, knowing he had Bill Elliott right behind him, I was getting ready to lose my spot for sure and didn't know how far back I'd go. All I wanted to do was to protect my position."

Jarrett pulled Burton and Elliott to the front, while Rusty Wallace came along for the ride. And when Jimmy Spencer wrecked in Turn 4 two laps later, Jarrett coasted to the victory as Martin felt betrayed.

"(Martin) didn't shake his fist and he didn't give me the finger," Jarrett said. "He threw his hands up like, 'What happened?' And I totally understand that. I would've been the same way."

The Earnhardts weren't happy, either, for similar reasons. Dale Earnhardt Jr. wound up 13th in his Daytona 500 debut, while Dale Earnhardt ended up 21st.

"(Junior) didn't work at all with me," said Dad Dale. "He wanted to pass. That's why he finished where he did."

Of course, the younger Earnhardt had a different view.

"I thought (my dad) would be the first one to help me and the last person who wanted to stay behind me," Junior said.

Matt Kenseth's debut resulted in a 10th-place finish while Dave Blaney wound up 27th.

This is one in a series of articles counting down to the 2003.