Dale and Dale Battle it out Again: Earnhardt Wins

02/27/96

ESPNNET reported the most recent race to the finish between Dale Earnhardt and Dale Jarrett. NASCAR's Winston Cup Series Goodwrench Service 400 last Sunday found the duo competing against each other for victory just as they had the weekend before at the Daytona 500. This time, however, victory fell to Earnhardt. The win put him in a tie with Jarrett in the Winston Cup Series point standings.

Earnhardt and Jarrett traded the lead near the end of the race, but Earnhardt was able to drive his car underneath Jarrett's with just 15 laps to go. Earnhardt got the checkered flag during a caution period. The yellow flag flew with just two laps left when Bobby Hillin Jr. hit a wall.

The race was Earnhardt's third victory at Rockingham. Ricky Craven placed third behind Earnhardt and Jarrett with a career-best. Ricky Rudd and Steve Grissom followed Craven.

On lap 235, Earnhardt took the lead from pole driver Terry Labonte who led for 198 laps, total. Labonte was forced out of the race when his engine overheated. Earnhardt also dueled with Jimmy Spencer, who led for 53 laps, until he also had to leave the track because of engine trouble. Earnhardt also had to contend with Bobby Hamilton who led during the race. Hamilton and Earnhardt went into turn four together, but Earnhardt nudged Hamilton's bumper and Hamilton hit the wall, sustaining structural damage to his car which put him out of the race.

There was one bad wreck during the day. Loy Allen crashed on lap 173 and the red flag came out and stopped the race on lap 179 for 9 minutes. Allen lost consciousness after the crash, but regained it when emergency workers reached his car. Allen suffered a broken right shoulder. Emergency workers removed his windshield and cut off his roof in order to get him out of the car. He was flown to the Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte for X-rays.

Check out the unofficial results of the Goodwrench Service 400

Paul Dever -- The Auto Channel