Jarrett's 1999 win last of caution-free Michigan races

With its wide banked turns and multiple grooves, Michigan International Speedway has a reputation for some great side-by-side racing. In fact, the first NASCAR event there in 1969 resulted in a last-lap battle between Cale Yarborough and LeeRoy Yarbrough, with Cale winning by five car-lengths.

But that combination can also result in a lack of caution flags. On three occasions, a Michigan race has gone the entire 400-mile distance without a break, the most recent coming in Dale Jarrett's dominating 1999 victory.

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In the 1973 Motor State 400, attrition was low and the few cars with engine problems were able to make it to the garage area without incident. By the halfway point, it was evident that David Pearson and Buddy Baker were the class of the field and the race would come down to pit strategy.

Baker led the majority of the laps -- 119 in all -- swapping the lead with Pearson, depending on stops of fuel. When Pearson stopped on Lap 153, he handed the lead to Baker. But Baker's No. 71 Dodge was forced to make a final stop on Lap 177, and despite his best efforts, he was unable to chase down Pearson's No. 21 Mercury over the closing laps, finishing 1.1 seconds behind.

The average speed of 153.485 mph would stand as the race record for another 11 years, until the 1984 Champion Spark Plug 400, when Darrell Waltrip would benefit from a caution-free race.

Terry Labonte dominated the event, taking the lead on Lap 54 and holding it for the next 116 laps. But Waltrip and Bill Elliott were close behind. And again, fuel strategy played a major role in deciding the winner.

Elliott stopped for what he hoped would be the final time on Lap 144, believing he could make it the rest of the way -- with some help from a caution flag. Waltrip rolled onto pit road eight laps later and his team was certain they could conserve enough fuel to go the distance.

When Labonte pitted for the final time on Lap 171, he handed the lead over to Waltrip. Seven laps later, Elliott went around Waltrip, who was in fuel-conservation mode. But the yellow flag that Elliott so desperately needed never came, and he finally ducked into the pits on Lap 192 for a splash-and-go.

Waltrip was surprised to see Elliott's Ford head for pit road.

"I didn't know why he pulled into the pits at that time," Waltrip said. "I thought he had a flat tire.

"If a caution flag would have come out any time within the last 100 miles, he would have been OK. It definitely would have made a difference."

Instead, it was Waltrip who had just enough fuel in the tank to beat Labonte by 1.2 seconds. Elliott was third, followed by Harry Gant and Yarborough, the only other cars still on the lead lap at the finish.

"I feel sorry for his bad luck, but I've lost races the same way," Waltrip said of Elliott's misfortune. "I've been beaten a number of times like that when our team had the same problems."

Waltrip completed the 400 miles at an average speed of 153.863 mph.

Elliott obviously recovered nicely from the setback, sweeping the next four Michigan races, including winning from the pole both times in 1985.

Davey Allison pushed the race record over 160 mph in 1991 and Rusty Wallace upped the mark to 166 mph in 1996, but Dale Jarrett obliterated it in the 1999 Kmart 400.

Starting sixth, Jarrett had the perfect combination of handling and horsepower right from the start. His No. 88 Ford went to the front by Lap 48, and after a series of pit stops, he regained the top spot on Lap 53 and never relinquished it the rest of the day.

"For 90 percent of the race, I couldn't have asked it to do any more," Jarrett said. "I could run high, low, I could pass people wherever I caught 'em."

Jarrett would make two more green-flag stops, but without a yellow to bunch up the field, only Jeff Gordon was close enough to mount a serious challenge. As the laps wound down, many of those in attendance headed for the exits in an effort to beat the traffic.

"Sitting as a fan, I'd hate to see a race like that," Jarrett said. "But where I was sitting, there couldn't be anything better than having an almost perfect racecar and no cautions to interrupt that."

With the cars strung out single-file, there wasn't much for Jarrett's rivals to do except hope for some unexpected turn of events.

"It was a pretty boring day for me," said runner-up Jeff Gordon. "It was pretty uneventful. You never saw a car you were racing all day long. You were just sitting out there riding. That, to me, was pretty frustrating."

"I got excited one time," said third-place Jeff Burton, "but that was when I was in Turn 2 and [Jarrett] was going off into 4. I could actually see him."

Gordon did close to within three seconds of Jarrett near the end, but the handling on his car began to go away -- and he admitted he was fortunate to hang on for second.

"I never could get the car to roll through the corners," Gordon said. "I couldn't try to run the car any faster. It was hard enough for me just to pass a lapped car, let alone run with anybody I was racing with.

"I don't think we could have beat Dale if there had been a caution, but I would have liked to try."

The only things Jarrett had to deal with were lapped traffic and his own handling issues, as his car began to get tight. However, neither one posed enough of a problem to keep him from winning by a half-second.

"There at the end, I tried just to concentrate on what I needed to do," Jarrett said. "You kind of hear things and feel things with the car that concern you a little bit. But the biggest thing I wanted to do was concentrate on what I had to do."

Jarrett's average speed was a blistering 173.997 mph. For comparison, no Michigan race since has been with 18 mph of that mark.

After the race, Burton was honest in his assessment of the day.

"There are basketball games that are blowouts," Burton said. "There are golf matches that are blowouts. There are races that are blowouts. Not all races are going to be exciting. This wasn't. This was a boring race. There's no getting around it."

In terms of boring, Burton's victory at New Hampshire the following season would fit in that category. He would go on to lead all 300 laps, the last time that's happened in the Cup Series.

So will there be another caution-free run this weekend? It's exceedingly unlikely, since the last Cup race without a yellow occurred at Talladega in 2002, and only two of the 22 races this season have had five or fewer caution periods.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.