Jarrett charges back from spin to win Pepsi 400

The Associated Press

BROOKLYN, Mich. -- Dale Jarrett rebounded from a spin on the 12th lap and passed Jeff Burton with five laps to go to win the Pepsi 400 at Michigan International Speedway on Sunday.

Jarrett's 30th career victory -- and fourth at Michigan -- came on the 11th anniversary of his first one, when he edged the late Davey Allison by inches on the two-mile track. Jarrett also won this race in 1996, the last time it was held on Aug. 18.

The Ford driver has two victories this year, also winning the June race at Pocono.

Burton stretched his fuel for the final 53 laps, but it was an overheating engine that was a bigger concern. With two laps to go in the 200-lap race, Burton's car began spewing water and trailing smoke, but he held on to finish fourth.

Tony Stewart finished second in a Pontiac, about 2 seconds back, and Kevin Harvick was third in a Chevrolet. Mark Martin trailed Burton to the line, with point leader Sterling Marling sixth.

"Who'd have thought when I spun out earlier that we'd be right here," Jarrett said in victory lane.

Jarrett's team decided to take four tires during the sixth caution with on lap 164, while the rest of the front-runners -- except Burton -- took just two. The decision put Jarrett back to 17th on the restart, but he steadily made progress through the field.

He took fifth from Bobby Labonte with 20 to go, then passed Kevin Harvick for fourth three laps later.

A final caution for Derrike Cope's crash on lap 186 set up a final dash for the checkered flag, with Burton leading Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jarrett. Earnhardt got by Stewart with 10 laps left, but neither could hold off Jarrett.

He moved past both to second on lap 192, then closed in on Burton. With four to go, Jarrett drove to the inside in Turn 4 and pulled easily into the lead, leaving Burton to race with the others.

Rookie Jimmie Johnson finished seventh, followed by Johnny Benson, Jeff Green and Earnhardt, who fought an ill-handling car over the final laps.

"I won't lie about being disappointed, because if you're not disappointed about that, then you don't want to win very bad," Burton said. "We stayed out, because you never know what was going to happen."

Jarrett's spin came after he had just passed Steve Park for 12th. Coming off Turn 4, Jarrett pulled in front of Park but immediately got sideways, sliding down through the infield grass but not damaging the car.

He rumbled his fender a bit when he pulled away, but crew chief Todd Parrott and the team were able to fix the problem under the caution. Jarrett fell back to 43rd before making his run to the front.

"I saw D.J. spinning down through the grass and couldn't believe it, because I knew what a good car we had," Parrott said.

The race was the first for a rule change by NASCAR that allowed General Motors teams to bump their front air dams out slightly; Chevrolet was given an extra inch, and Pontiac a half-inch. Although Ford and Dodge teams speculated the move would leave their cars uncompetitive, all manufacturers had cars near the top of the leaderboard.

Bill Elliott, looking for his third victory in four races, led early but fell back when his Dodge began jumping out of gear. He drove most of the final 150 laps one-handed, keeping his right hand on the gearshift, and finished on the lead lap in 22nd.