NASCAR Winston Cup Series Transouth 400 at Darlington: Report and Results
23 March 1998
Jarrett Captures TranSouth Financial 400 at Darlington DARLINGTON, S.C. -- Dale Jarrett captured the TranSouth Financial 400 NASCAR Winston Cup Series event at historic Darlington Raceway Sunday beating Jeff Gordon and Jeff Burton to the finish line after a thrilling three-car scramble over the closing laps. For Jarrett, it was his first NASCAR Winston Cup Series win of the season and his second consecutive victory in Darlington's spring event. The race came down to a shootout among a tight pack of three cars. Burton, who led a race-leading 195 laps on the day, survived multiple challenges from Jarrett and Gordon before experiencing handling problems. With 18 laps remaining , Burton relinquished the lead to Jarrett with Gordon taking over second place. Jarrett held on to the lead over the remaining laps to win by a mere .228 seconds. Darlington Raceway, commonly referred to as the track "Too Tough To Tame," was usually tame as NASCAR's original superspeedway was the scene of only five cautions for 31 laps. The fifth and final caution of the day, which was brought out by a spinning Randy LaJoie, set up the 39 -lap duel to the finish. "It's such a great feeling to win at a racetrack like Darlington, it's such a tough place." said Jarrett. "It got exciting there at the end with (Jeff) Gordon. I thought we might have used up to much of our race car getting around (Jeff) Burton. He was awful strong and I didn't know if we had anything for him. "We finally got around Burton, then at the end I was using up a lot of the racetrack trying to keep Gordon behind me. I felt that was my right since I was the race leader. He got up to my corner panel, but Jeff being the professional that he is, he raced me clean when he could have turned me around." Runnerup Gordon, who was searching for his second victory the season, mounted a final last corner attempt at the lead, but fell just short. "That was a lot of fun," said Gordon. "We were racing for the win, I have to take my hat off to Dale Jarrett, he drove a great race and he had a real strong race car. I think we showed today what kind of team we have, I don't know if we've been showing that much lately. It's nice to get back where we belong battling for the win." Jarrett, who averaged 127.962 mph in victory, won $110,035. 1998 TranSouth Financial 400 Results UNOFFICIAL RESULTS TRANSOUTH FINANCIAL 400 March 22, 1998 Darlington Raceway Fin.Str.Car Reason Pos.Pos.No. Driver Sponsor/Car Laps Out 1 3 88 Dale Jarrett Quality Care/Ford Credit Fo 293 Running 2 24 24 Jeff Gordon DuPont Refinishes Chevrolet 293 Running 3 14 2 Rusty Wallace Miller Lite Ford 293 Running 4 37 12 Jeremy MayfieldMobil 1 Ford 293 Running 5 2 99 Jeff Burton Exide Batteries Ford 293 Running 6 33 5 Terry Labonte Kellogg's Chevrolet 293 Running 7 1 6 Mark Martin Valvoline/Cummins Ford 293 Running 8 21 26 Johnny Benson Cheerios Ford 293 Running 9 26 81 Kenny Wallace Square D Ford 293 Running 10 20 16 Ted Musgrave Primestar Ford 292 Running 11 9 22 Ward Burton MBNA America Pontiac 292 Running 12 27 3 Dale Earnhardt GM Goodwrench Service Plus 292 Running 13 16 43 John Andretti STP Pontiac 292 Running 14 8 40 Sterling MarlinCoors Light Chevrolet 291 Running 15 30 94 Bill Elliott McDonald's Ford 291 Running 16 7 21 Michael WaltripCitgo Ford 291 Running 17 29 97 Chad Little John Deere Ford 291 Running 18 32 33 Ken Schrader Skoal Bandit Chevrolet 291 Running 19 36 41 Steve Grissom Kodiak Chevrolet 291 Running 20 17 77 Robert PressleyJasper Engines Ford 291 Running 21 35 23 Jimmy Spencer Winston/No Bull Ford 290 Running 22 22 11 Brett Bodine Paychex Ford 290 Running 23 6 18 Bobby Labonte Interstate Batteries Pontia 290 Running 24 4 90 Dick Trickle Heilig-Meyers Ford 290 Running 25 34 9 Lake Speed Cartoon Network Ford 290 Running 26 13 96 David Green Caterpillar Chevrolet 290 Running 27 41 35 Todd Bodine Tabasco Pontiac 290 Running 28 19 31 Mike Skinner Lowe's Chevrolet 289 Running 29 40 44 Kyle Petty Hot Wheels Pontiac 288 Running 30 43 17 Darrell WaltripTim Flock Special Chevrolet 288 Running 31 25 13 *Jerry Nadeau FirstPlus Financial Ford 288 Running 32 42 29 Jeff Green Team Monte Carlo Chevrolet 288 Running 33 18 10 Ricky Rudd Tide Ford 288 Running 34 10 91 *Kevin LePage Little Joe's Auto Chevrolet 287 Running 35 38 4 Bobby Hamilton Kodak Film Chervrolet 286 Running 36 39 36 Ernie Irvan Skittles Pontiac 285 Running 37 28 42 Joe Nemechek BellSouth Chevrolet 285 Running 38 23 50 Randy LaJoie Budweiser Chevrolet 284 Running 39 5 28 *Kenny Irwin Texaco Havoline Ford 270 Running 40 31 30 Derrike Cope Gumout Pontiac 231 Engine 41 11 7 Geoff Bodine Philips Consumer Comm. Ford 144 Accident 42 12 98 Greg Sacks Thorn Apple Valley Ford 142 Accident 43 15 75 Rick Mast Remington Arms Ford 26 Engine * 1998 Raybestos NASCAR Winston Cup Series Rookie of the Year Candidate Average Speed: 127.962 mph Time of Race: 3 Hrs., 7 Min., 56 Sec. Margin of Victo .228 Seconds Lead Changes: 18 Lead Changes Among 6 Drivers Caution Flags: 5 Cautions for 31 Laps