DAYTONA DALE DENIES DALE\Jarrett frustrates Earnhardt again.

Byline: Tom Higgins Charlotte Observer

For the second time in four years, Dale Jarrett denied NASCAR rival Dale Earnhardt a first victory Sunday in the Daytona 500.

Jarrett, driving a Ford, did it this time at Daytona International Speedway by holding off Earnhardt's Chevrolet over a tension-packed final 24 laps at the 2.5-mile track.

Brilliantly blocking Earnhardt's darting moves to pass during the last lap, Jarrett got the checkered flag .12 seconds ahead of the race's four-time runner-up, whose record in the season-opening Winston Cup classic is 0 for 18.

Jarrett took a different route to his previous Daytona 500 victory in 1993, when he passed Earnhardt on the next-to-last lap and held on to win by .16 seconds.

"I knew I had a really strong engine, and that was the key today," said Jarrett, 39, who also won the Busch Clash at Daytona on Feb. 11. "I didn't beat Dale Earnhardt, my Robert Yates team's engine beat him. I'm not a better driver, I just had a better engine.

"The last lap seemed like it was 500 miles. I'd rather see anything than that black No. 3 in my mirror."

Jarrett led 40 of the 200 laps overall in earning $363,775 and averaging 154.308 mph in front of a crowd estimated at 150,000.

The winner said he felt that crew chief Todd Parrott deciding to put on four fresh tires during a final yellow-flag pit stop on lap 160 while Earnhardt got only right sides also was a pivotal factor in his fifth career victory.

"We just didn't have anything for Jarrett," said Earnhardt, who has a record 28 victories in other events at Daytona. "I was doing all I could, but every move I made, he moved over to block.

"We tried to get a run on him, but he was too stout. We finished second again and that's not a problem. We'll go on."

Ken Schrader, in a Chevy, was in third place behind Earnhardt as the laps wound down. The expectation was that Schrader would draft with Earnhardt to push him around Jarrett and give General Motors the triumph in the sport's biggest show.

Even Jarrett thought that move was coming.

"I saw those Chevys lined up back there and it wasn't a pretty sight," Jarrett said.

Schrader, who finished third, said his not going all out with Earnhardt didn't make any difference in the outcome.

"I don't think Earnhardt could have got Jarrett anyway," Schrader said. "He (Jarrett) was just too strong.

"I'd mosey down there once in a while with Earnhardt, but I knew if I went too far somebody would shoot the gap and I'd be looking at finishing seventh or eighth."

Roush Racing teammates Mark Martin and Jeff Burton were poised close behind in Fords to make the move Schrader feared. The two finished fourth and fifth respectively.

Wally Dallenbach Jr., making his first start for the Bud Moore Engineering team, was sixth. Next came Ted Musgrave, Bill Elliott, Ricky Rudd, Michael Waltrip and Jimmy Spencer, giving Ford nine of the top 11 spots.

Several drivers with strong cars had trouble:

Sterling Marlin, going for an unprecedented third straight victory in the 500, experienced engine trouble on his Chevy, led only three laps and wound up finishing 40th in the 43-car field.

Jeff Gordon, the 1995 Winston Cup champion, scraped the wall off turn 4 in his Chevrolet on lap 10, triggering a six-car crash. Gordon's crew attempted repairs, but he completed only 12 laps and finished 42nd.

Terry Labonte led the most laps, 44, but his Chevy developed a mechanical problem and he wound up 24th, four laps down.

Ernie Irvan, who started on the outside of row 1, tagged the wall after having to check up for Earnhardt on lap 28 and tagged the wall exiting the trioval homestretch. After a long period behind the wall for repairs to his Ford, Irvan, coming back from near fatal injuries in August of 1994, eventually returned to the track and completed 145 laps, finishing 35th.

John Andretti led 23 laps in a Ford, lost a lap when lug nuts were left loose during a pit stop and then hit the turn 2 wall. He finished 38th.

"You experience an awful lot of emotions in this sport, especially in this race," said Yates, a Daytona 500 winner as a team owner for the third time. "We were very low because of what happened to Ernie. Then Dale gave us a high."

And gave that other Dale what has to be another deep, deep low.

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PHOTO

(1--color) Dale Jarrett, who averaged 154.308 mph, celebrates from his Ford Thunderbird. (2--color) A disappointed Dale Earnhardt prepares to meet reporters after losing again at Daytona Beach. (3) Steve Grissom's Chevrolet spins in traffic with the cars of Joe Nemechek, left, and Jeff Purvis, right, in the grandstand straightaway at Dayton International Speedway. Associated Press