Dale Jarrett's 1999 victory at Michigan was the first of four wins during his championship year. Credit: ISC

Enduring Performance: 1999 Kmart 400

While the competition worried about the change in weather, Dale Jarrett simply went for a pleasant Sunday drive in the 1999 Kmart 400 at Michigan Speedway.

	Nobody could catch Dale Jarrett at Michigan in 1999 when the race went caution-free. Credit: ISC
	1999 Kmart 400 Results Pos. Driver Make 1. Dale Jarrett Ford 2. Jeff Gordon Chevy 3. Jeff Burton Ford 4. Ward Burton Pontiac 5. Bobby Labonte Pontiac 6. Steve Park Chevy 7. Ernie Irvan Pontiac 8. John Andretti Pontiac 9. Tony Stewart Pontiac 10. Mark Martin Ford • Complete results, click here Free VideoA day's worth of news in 90 seconds

Expecting the day to be hot and sunny, nearly every team was caught with the wrong setup when thunderstorms pelted the track Saturday night and the weather turned cool and cloudy.

Nearly everyone, that is, except Jarrett and his No. 88 Ford.

Starting sixth, Jarrett took the lead for good on Lap 53 and checked out on the rest of the field. Without a caution flag, no one could come close to chasing Jarrett down, as only five cars were still on the lead lap at the end.

The race was over in a little more than two and a quarter hours, meaning many fans were stuck in traffic longer than it took for the race to be run.

"Sitting as a fan, I hate to see a race like that," Jarrett said. "But from where I was sitting, there couldn't be anything better than to have a day where you had an almost perfect racecar with no cautions or anything to interrupt that."

It was only the third caution-free race in the track's history -- David Pearson in 1973 and Darrell Waltrip in 1984 were the others -- leaving Jarrett's competition to bemoan the lack of trouble on the track.

The closest thing to a caution came on Lap 168, when Bill Elliott's No. 94 Ford broke an oil line and the car began smoking. However, Elliott quickly dropped below the white line and was able to enter pit road without incident.

"I was hollering that there was nothing on the track," Jarrett said. "There were a lot of other places to run other than right down there on the bottom, but there wasn't anything on the track.

"When you have a day like today where there are no cautions, you wonder if [NASCAR is] sitting there ready to throw a caution just to make it a little more interesting."

Certainly, Jeff Gordon and Jeff Burton, running second and third at the time, were interested in bunching up the field late in the race.

"I was praying there was something, anything to bring out [the yellow]," Gordon said.

"I didn't see anything, and I was looking real hard," Burton added.

Ward Burton and Bobby Labonte were the only other cars that weren't lapped by Jarrett, even though 42 of the original 43 starters were running at the finish. Jimmy Spencer retired with engine problems after 159 laps.

Gordon said the change in weather affected his car's handling all day, leaving him frustrated at finishing second.

"I started out pushing and pushed and pushed and pushed all day long," he said. "I just never could get the car to roll through the corners. We were caught off guard.

"I'd almost rather get beat by fuel mileage and have a car that's capable of winning than go out there and run around second and never see another car that you're racing with all day."

It was the third of four Michigan wins for Jarrett, but the only one in the spring event. Gordon would go on to win from the pole in 2001, the last driver to do so there -- and the only victory for Chevrolet in the past decade. Burton's third remains his best finish at Michigan in 24 starts.