Jarrett had no warning of breakdown

Steve Guriemand

Monday, March 2, 1998 | 5:35 a.m.

It was an award winning afternoon for Dale Jarrett in Sunday's inaugural Las Vegas 400. But it wasn't exactly the kind of prize Jarrett hoped to walk away with.

Jarrett, who won the Bud Pole and held the lead on four different occasions Sunday, had to settle for the media's $2,500 Goody's Headache Award for the driver suffering the toughest luck in the race.

That's kind of like getting a kiss from your sister, especially when you consider that for most of the bright and sunny afternoon, Jarrett appeared to have a legitimate shot of leaving Las Vegas with a real trophy.

Instead, he settled for a 40th-place finish after suffering engine problems on the 219th lap of the 267-lap race. At the time of the mechanical breakdown, Jarrett was running a strong second in the Quality Care Ford to eventual race winner Mark Martin.

"It never gave me any warning," Jarrett said. "In fact, I was talking to (crew chief) Todd (Parrott) coming down the front stretch about what we were going to do on our last pit stop to try and catch Mark there.

"We had a good race car and all of a sudden, before I could get out what I wanted to do, it lost a cylinder. It's not like we haven't run well. These things are going to happen."

Jarrett led the first 11 laps of the race before Martin moved in front on lap 12. Jarrett retook the lead 11 laps later and held it for 10 more laps before losing it to Rusty Wallace.

Jarrett, who never dropped any lower in the standings than fifth place before bowing out, led for 40 laps on the afternoon, the final 16 coming from lap 156 to 171.

He appeared ready to make another challenge on Martin when smoke suddenly appeared from his header pipe.

"Mark was awful strong there at the end, but we were getting ready to make an adjustment," Jarrett said.

"It was something in the engine, I'm not sure, a valve or something. It just lost a cylinder and then got weaker and weaker and started vibrating, so it was only going to tear up more. It never gave any warning. It just happened."

And what looked like would be a very successful day ended in bitter disappointment.

"I am disappointed with the outcome," said Jarrett. "It just wasn't our day."