LONG POND, Pa. — Dale Jarrett was starting to wonder when his slump would end. He knew luck played a part when that finally happened Sunday at Pocono Raceway.
Certain to be beaten by at least one driver who could have stretched his gas to the end, and being outrun by Ricky Rudd, Jarrett figured the Pocono 500 would be just another loss even though he was running well.
"That last yellow, that's when you know that prayer works," he said. "When that caution came out, I knew we'd have a chance."
Jarrett ended a 30-race losing streak and won for the third time in his career at Pocono.
He passed Rudd, his Robert Yates Racing teammate, on the 195th of 200 laps, then won under caution after Rudd hit the wall with one lap to go. Rudd looked like the driver to beat, but had a late tire problem that made it easy for Jarrett.
"Maybe not the best car but the luckiest car won today," said Jarrett's crew chief, Todd Parrott. "You just keep praying, keep hoping and keep working."
Rudd, who continues to run well but have late problems, was almost resigned to his fate.
"I guess the good thing is we're up front when we have trouble," said Rudd, who finished 17th.
Crew chief Michael "Fatback" McSwain was very upset by the team's continuing run of bad luck. A late tire problem also killed Rudd's chance for winning a week earlier in Dover, Del.
"Don't give me a gun to play with right now," McSwain said. "And you sure don't want to take me to Las Vegas with you,"
The victory was the first for 1999 Winston Cup champion Jarrett since last July in Loudon, N.H. He also won on this 2 1/2-mile triangle in 1995 and 1997, both times in the Pennsylvania 500, Pocono's July race.
Jarrett got the 29th victory of his career.
Mark Martin had enough gas in his Ford to go the end, but was victimized when the key caution flag waved on the 168th of 200 laps. That permitted Jarrett, Rudd and the other contenders to gas up and have plenty of time to get back to the front.
"Knowing that everybody else had to stop, I could have started running half-throttle down the straightaways and really saved some extra gas," Martin said. "We feel like we would have easily been able to cover it."
Jarrett felt sorry for Rudd, who ended an 88-race losing streak by winning this event last year. But Jarrett was delighted to cap a great weekend for his family. His son Jason finished second Saturday in the ARCA series race at Pocono.
Even though he realized luck was on his side, Jarrett said a strong run put him in position to win. That hasn't been the case in many of his recent races.
"If you put yourself in the top five, you've got a chance," he said. "I might have been able to catch Ricky, but passing him might have been another."
He conceded Rudd had the best car, and said that teams constantly in contention are in position to have disappointments when things don't work out.
"There's nothing I can say to make them feel better," Jarrett said. "That team has been going through this for three years. Today, at least his teammate benefited."
The 45-year-old driver from Hickory, N.C., has not been effective for most of this season. His best previous finish was fourth in April in Martinsville, Va.
With the field set by points after qualifying was canceled because water from recent heavy rains was seeping through the track, Jarrett started 13th.
Polesitter Sterling Marlin wound up fourth in a Dodge.
"It was terrible early," said Marlin, whose lead in the series standings remained 136 points over third-place finisher Jimmie Johnson. "It was pretty decent at the end, but we were no match for the Fords and Chevrolets."
CANADIAN GRAND PRIX: At Montreal, Michael Schumacher insists race wins and championships are no longer his main goals.
The German driver won the Canadian Grand Prix, making a record-tying fifth Formula One championship a virtual rubber stamp with half a season to go.
He took the lead for good when pole-winner Juan Pablo Montoya made his second and final pit stop on lap 51 of the 70-lap event on the 2.747-mile, 13-turn road course.
His sixth win of the season stretched Schumacher's season lead to an eye-popping 43 points, putting him well on the way to matching Juan Manuel Fangio's record of five titles.
David Coulthard, whose McLaren Mercedes won two weeks ago in Monaco, inherited second place and fought off a strong attack from Rubens Barrichello the rest of the way.
GRAND PRIX OF MONTEREY: At Monterey, Calif., Cristiano da Matta, starting on a CART pole for the first time, pulled away from the competition to easily win the Bridgestone Grand Prix of Monterey, his second victory of the season and sixth of his CART career.
Da Matta's unchallenged triumph moved him into the lead in the championship points race.
Christian Fittipaldi was second, 19.087 seconds behind the winner. Kenny Brack, who started alongside da Matta in the front row, was third, 19.410 seconds behind the champion.