Jarrett's best all-star runs punctuated by near misses

Dale Jarrett's 21-race All-Star career can be summed up as a pair of near-misses surrounded by a number of early exits. Jarrett finished second to Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the 2000 The Winston and was runner-up to Jeff Gordon the following season.

However, crashes eliminated the Hickory, N.C., native on five different occasions, including three of the first four times he competed in The Winston.

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Jarrett made his Winston Open debut in 1987, finishing seventh in the No. 18 Chevrolet for Eric Freedlander, who ran a family-owned mortgage company which filed for bankruptcy before the next season. Freedlander wound up facing a nine-year prison term for almost 80 counts of fradulent sale and servicing of mortgages.

He went on to run five Winston Opens, with a best of third for Cale Yarborough's team in the 1989 edition.

With his win at Michigan in 1991, Jarrett was eligible for The Winston for the first time in 1992, and unfortunately, his night came to an early end when he crashed 11 laps in. Things weren't much better the following year, when Jarrett wound up 19th following an incident after 31 laps.

But switching to the Robert Yates Ford team seemed to be the move that began to end Jarrett's The Winston jinx. Beginning with the 1996 Winston, Jarrett finished ninth, seventh and third over the next three exhibitions. And despite another wreck in 1999, Jarrett seemed poised to finally break his winless streak in the 2000 Winston.

In the final 10-lap shootout segment, Jarrett took the lead from Bill Elliott on the first lap and appeared to be pulling away from the field. However, Steve Park and Joe Nemechek collided, bringing out the caution flag -- and while the rest of the field stayed out, rookie Earnhardt Jr. made the decision to get four fresh tires.

That proved to be the right call. While Jarrett was holding off Junior's father, the younger Earnhardt was flying through the field, finally catching and passing the No. 88 with one lap to go. It was Little E holding the trophy and the $515,000 winner's check at the end of the night.

''I was running real good, but we were tight and I told [crew chief Tony Eury] I needed four tires,'' Earnhardt Jr. said. ''We sat there and thought about it and thought about it and finally said, 'We didn't come here to run second or third, let's take the tires.' ''

Jarrett had another strong car in the 2001 Winston, but Gordon dominated to win, even though he was forced to run his backup car.

After a two-hour rain delay, NASCAR officials decided to go ahead and start the race. Unfortunately, the track was still slippery in spots, causing a multi-car accident just after the field took the green flag. Kevin Harvick lost control and hit the wall, while Gordon couldn't avoid running into the back of Jeff Burton, then getting hit by Michael Waltrip.

In accordance with the rules at the time, all those involved were allowed to pull out their backups and start from the tail end of the field. It just happened that Gordon's spare car was better than anyone else's primary.

Gordon was fourth at the end of the first 30-lap segment, trailed Tony Stewart at the end of the second -- and blew by Ward Burton in the final 10-lap shootout to win going away, as Jarrett was unable to keep pace.

"It's nice to finish second, but this race is not about second, it's about winning," Jarrett said. "I thought we had a shot at it but I couldn't get a run on Jeff on the re-start. It was a good run for us, but we'd really love to win this thing."

It wasn't meant to be, as Jarrett would be involved in a multi-car crash with Rusty Wallace, Bobby Hamilton and Sterling Marlin in 2002 -- and never finish better than sixth in his next five exhibition starts.

In 2007, Jarrett was the best finishing Toyota, winding up 12th behind eventual winner Kevin Harvick.

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