FORT WORTH, Texas — A quiet word from his crew chief made the difference Sunday as Dale Jarrett raced from sixth to the lead in 13 laps, passing gambling Johnny Benson and pulling away to win the Harrah's 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.
The NASCAR Winston Cup points leader had been racing at or near the front throughout the 334-lap event, but slipped from second to sixth during the final pit stops by the leaders when he took four tires while most put on two.
The first few laps after the tire change, Jarrett wondered if the team had made the right choice.
"I knew my car usually took eight to 10 laps to come in," Jarrrett said. "I didn't show much patience. There were only 18 (laps) to go and I was probably overdriving the car a little bit.
"Todd (Parrott) came on (the radio) and said to calm down and I'd be OK. I relaxed a little and after a couple more laps the car took off."
The grinning Parrott nodded at Jarrett and said, "The way he was going through traffic there at the end, I almost fell off the pit box."
Benson was the only one of 15 drivers on the lead lap to remain on the track after Elliott Sadler, the winner a week earlier in Bristol, Tenn., brought out the ninth caution flag when he bounced off the first-turn wall on lap 312.
It appeared that Benson might become the fourth first-time winner in just seven races this season, but the event turned into a six-car fight after the green flag waved for the final time with 18 laps to go.
Jarrett, who became the first two-time winner this season, charged from sixth to third in 10 trips around the 1 1/2-mile oval, then passed Jeff Gordon for second on lap 328 and drove his Robert Yates Racing Ford past Benson's Pontiac on the backstretch of lap 329.
The last caution might have cost Dale Earnhardt Jr. a second straight Texas win. The 26-year-old son of the late NASCAR star, was out front and pulling away before Sadler's accident.
During the ensuing pit stops, his Dale Earnhardt Inc. crew also changed four tires. He came out of the pits eighth after a 16.6-second stop but couldn't duplicate Jarrett.
Steve Park, Earnhardt Jr.'s teammate, also had a shot at winning his second race of the season, but fell all the way to 15th when he pitted for gas during a caution period on lap 277, and was still seventh — just behind Jarrett — for the restart.
Park's Chevrolet was obviously the fastest car at the end, but he had too much ground to make up. He managed to pass Benson for second with three laps remaining, but ran out of time and finished 0.703-seconds — about 10 car-lengths — behind Jarrett.
" We got ourselves in a little bit of trouble because the car didn't take as much gas as we thought it would," Park said. "It showed how strong the Pennzoil team is to able to come back."
Park, also second to Jarrett on March 18 in Darlington, S.C., is getting tired following the former series champion to the checkered flag.
"I'm getting to know what the back of his car looks like real good, and I don't like that," Park said. "But we'll take second."
Benson, who finished third, said staying on the track was definitely his best option.
"We had to do that," he said. "We were running eighth or ninth and not able to go forward. I was hoping they'd get to racing behind us and help me out. It gave us the opportunity to lead some laps and try to steal it."
Benson was followed across the finish line by rookie Kurt Busch, Gordon, Dave Blaney and rookie Kevin Harvick, the replacement for the elder Earnhardt, killed in the season-opening Daytona 500.
Jarrett, who led a race-high 122 laps, averaged 141.804 mph. The 1999 series champion got his 26th career victory and moved 75 points ahead of three-time champion Gordon. The winner's share of the $5 million purse was $444,527.
Earnhardt Jr., who led 107 laps, was definitely the favorite of the 200,000 spectators, who stood and cheered every time the third-generation NASCAR star took the lead or made a good move. But the last stop took him out of contention.
"I decided on a four-tire stop and the car got a little tighter and that put a lot of cars in front of us," he said. "The way things have been going, we're happy. We have something to take home with us."
Last year, the youngster had a joyous celebration in Victory Circle, hugging his famous father after earning his first Winston Cup victory. This time, Earnhardt Jr. listened silently during a prerace tribute to the elder Earnhardt, where it was announced that a new interchange at edge of the speedway will be named Dale Earnhardt Way.
Little E, who started from the pole and led the first 21 laps before Jarrett took over the top spot, was probably too busy to notice that on the third lap of the race the fans stood in unison and held three fingers in the air, symbolizing Dale Sr.'s famed No. 3.