Dale Jarrett has finished third in two of the last four races. Credit: Autostock
By Ryan Smithson, Turner Sports Interactive
July 12, 2004
3:20 PM EDT (1920 GMT)
The best pit move of the Tropicana 400? Probably the guys who elected to keep their helmets on during the Lap 127 melee in the pits between the 9 and 20 teams.
Alas, we jest. But the much-ballyhooed fight overshadowed some of the race's storylines, most notably, an overlooked rally by Dale Jarrett.
A lot of focus was displayed on Jeff Gordon's tremendous lap-down to fourth-place finish, but Dale Jarrett ended up third despite being nearly two laps down.
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Crew chief Mike Ford elected to pit Jarrett with just 22 laps to go. Jarrett, who was running eighth at the time, dove down pit road and got two tires.
He exited 12th. The car took off after that, and with the help of another caution, Jarrett wound up with his best finish of the year.
Not bad for a guy who spun out early in the event due to a cut tire. Jarrett came within a hair of going two laps down, but he eventually fought back and got to the tail end of the lead lap.
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That is where the big wreck came into Jarrett's favor. Jarrett was running at the head of the field ? about to go back down a lap ? when the big one on Lap 127 hit, allowing Jarrett to get back to the tail end of the field.
"To make the pit stop that we needed there towards the end, with about 20 to go to get two tires -- a great call by Mike Ford and that really let us come back up through the pack," Jarrett said.
Despite a lackluster year for Jarrett, the finish vaulted him into sight of the Chase of the Nextel Cup, just 90 points behind 10th-place holder Kevin Harvick.
"We've got a couple of tests coming up that, hopefully, will put us in good position for a couple of these races coming up," Jarrett said. "We entertain the thoughts of getting ourselves in the top 10, and hopefully we can do that."
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