Nothing could stop Dale Jarrett this time.
The second-generation NASCAR star, stymied by a crash in the season-opener at Daytona and caught short on adjustments in the two races that followed, did everything right Sunday on the way to an overpowering victory in the Primestar 500.Jarrett, who dominated a race last month at Rockingham, N.C., only to lose to Jeff Gordon, this time gave no opening to his closest pursuer, Robert Yates Racing teammate Ernie Irvan.
The race ended with sundown fast approaching because a spectacular crash 44 laps from the end of the 328-lap event caused a delay of nearly one hour.
It was the third straight top-five finish for the 40-year-old Jarrett, who earned his ninth career victory and first at the Atlanta track while taking the Winston Cup point lead.
"Finally," Jarrett said after climbing from his Ford Thunderbird. "We didn't want to let this one get away. kept adjusting on it. We knew after the last couple of weeks we couldn't get through with what we had and we knew the other guys were working on their cars, too."
Jarrett did get a scare on lap 190, when his engine quite and he had to switch to a backup ignition system. He lost the lead briefly to Irvan, but quickly got back up to speed and moved right back to the top spot five laps later.
"The car just quit running. The coil went out on it but, luckily, I was able to switch over," he said. "It took me a second to remember where the switches were. I thought for a minute it was the end of a perfect day `til then. But that's why we have those backup systems.
"That was a terrible feeling. I've had it happen before, but never when I was leading and running that good."
Jarrett, who now has led 748 of the 1,321 laps this season, Sunday led six times for 253 laps, including the final 59. He was never challenged in the second half of the race, and beat Irvan to the finish line by 1.38-seconds, about 20 car-lengths.
"D.J.'s been pretty dominant all year and we just haven't been able to get to the end," said Irvan, who held off a late charge by Morgan Shepherd. "Obviously, D.J. was awful good all day.
"Sometimes, you just have to take a whoopin' and go on home. At least it was our teammate who did the whoopin' today."
Jarrett, who won $137,650, averaged 132.730 mph.
Bobby Labonte, who won here last November, finished fourth in a Pontiac, followed by the Fords of Jeff Burton, Mark Martin and Michael Waltrip. Dale Earnhardt and defending Winston Cup champion Terry Labonte were next in Chevrolets.
Jarrett moved into the points lead by 29 over Labonte. Gordon, who won the first two races of the season and came in leading the standings, blew his engine and finished last in the 42-car field.
"It blew up, and it blew up big. Probably a rod or something," Gordon said. "It's going to cost us and we're going to have to fight back hard like we always do."
There were only two caution periods in the first 233 laps, but the rest of the race was marred by five yellows - the last one brought out by the wild crash on lap 284.
One lap after a restart, Jimmy Spencer was banged from behind by another car coming off turn two. Spencer slid sideways, and Steve Grissom braked hard and swerved to avoid him.
Rookie Mike Skinner, trying to go between the two sliding cars, slammed into them, sending Grissom's car skidding hard into the low wall at the bottom of the banking.
The rear of Grissom's car shattered as it bounced high off the wall, flipping onto its roof and sliding into the middle of the track. The fuel cell flew out of the rear end of the Monte Carlo and bounded across the track into the outside wall, splashing gasoline on the racing surface.
The gas was ignited into a ball of flame by the heat from the exhaust system of Chad Little's car as he drove through it.
Grissom was examined at the infield media center and released, although he did complain of pain in his left ankle. X-rays were negative.
"I just skinned my ankle up a little," the 31-year-old driver said. "I'm OK. We'll be ready to go at Darlington (for the next race on March 23)."
The race was halted for 52 minutes while the accident scene was cleaned up and the broken retaining wall reinforced with concrete blocks.
Prior to that, the most serious incident came on lap 268, when Ted Musgrave spun and hit the wall after apparently running through oil from Jeremy Mayfield's blown engine. Rusty Wallace, who won last week at Richmond, Va., was hit from behind by Burton as he tried to avoid Musgrave. Wallace went into the wall. Then Ricky Craven slammed into Musgrave's car.
Musgrave, Wallace and Burton were running in the top eight when the incident took place. Musgrave said he bruised his knee when his leg hit the steering column.
A crowd estimated at 100,000 turned out on a warm, sunny day and watched the 75th and last Winston Cup race on the original 1.5-mile oval. Work will begin Monday to turn the track into a quad-oval with a dogleg on what is now the backstretch. It will become the front straightaway for the November race.