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Jarrett Wins 1996 Busch Clash

Daytona Beach, Fl

1996 Busch Clash Results
Past Winners of the Busch Clash (1979-1996)

Dale Jarrett has shown his competitors and fans that Ford teams just might not be dead yet. Jarrett's Quality Care Thunderbird finished won the second segment 10 lap of the Clash as well as finishing second in the first 10 lap segment in his first Busch Clash. Combine this with the strong qualifying efforts of teammate Ernie Irvan (2nd) and his own (3rd) the Ford teams will have to be contended with next Sunday in the 38th Annual Daytona 500.

But Jarrett may not be convinced. "Next Sunday's a whole different story, and even Thursday in the Twin 125-milers is a whole different story. I don't want to sit here and complain after winning a race, but there's still a disadvantage on the Ford side of downforce. If we could get those Chevrolets back to fit that stock template in the back where there not five or six inches wider and gain all that downforce, then things would be a lot better. But that's not the way it is, so we're going to have to work on our cars a little bit harder to keep tires on it after 30 laps. That's when it it seemed last year we were getting beat. We've got some ideas about that. We are very excited about next Sunday and next Thursday. We feel like Ernie and I have great cars and opportunities to win the race."

Jarrett held off the challenges from the Chevrolet contingent - led my two-time defending Daytona 500 champion Sterling Marlin. Marlin made a number of attempts to pass Jarrett over the last two laps - but Jarrett's aggresive moves held him at bay. Jarrett collect a cool $62,500 for 20 laps of work.

Jarrett attributed part of his win to the Chevrolets drivers who battled for position behind him, "The help in the second segment came from those Chevrolets racing each other instead of trying to draft by me. I was glad to see it everytime they started racing side-by-side."

The first 10 lap segment was dominated by Sterling Marlin once he took over the lead from pole-sitter Rick Mast. Marlin enjoyed his afternoon, "That was fun! It was some good racing. We just ran out of time there at the end. Dale (Jarrett) ran awful good. Our car seems to draft well. We feel like our 500 car is a little better than the one we used today."

The much anticipated charge to the front by 6-time Clash winner Dale Earnhardt never materialized. Earnhardt's Goodwrench Monte Carlo suffered from a horsepower shortage and he wallowed at the back of the during the first segment. Earnhardt's, the 1995 Busch Clash winner - has never been able to win consecutive Clashs. "We ran the engine we qualified with yesterday and we felt like it hurt it. It ran the first part like it had a dead cylinder. We changed the ignition during the break and it ran a little better, but we were up in the draft better," Earnhardt said.