NASCAR Cup

Talladega race story

SOURCE: DIS Dale Jarrett Captures Winston 500 at Talladega TALLADEGA, Ala. (October 11, 1998) -- Dale Jarrett captured the Winston 500 NASCAR Winston Cup Series event at Talladega Superspeedway Sunday beating Hendrick teammates Jeff Gordon and ...

Edited: May 8, 2001, 12:19 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

SOURCE: DIS

Dale Jarrett Captures Winston 500 at Talladega

TALLADEGA, Ala. (October 11, 1998) -- Dale Jarrett captured the Winston 500 NASCAR Winston Cup Series event at Talladega Superspeedway Sunday beating Hendrick teammates Jeff Gordon and Terry Labonte to the finish line after a typical thrilling Talladega finish.

Jarrett, who collected a million dollar bonus from the Winston No Bull promotion, won his first NASCAR Winston Cup Series race of his career at Talladega Superspeedway. It was the 18th NASCAR Winston Cup victory of his career. The race came down to a last lap shootout among a tight draft of nine cars. Jarrett, who grabbed the lead from defending race champion Terry Labonte on lap 176, was able to hold on over the last few laps to win by a mere 1.40 seconds.

Talladega Superspeedway lived up to its tradition of being NASCAR's most competitive superpeedway as the race saw no less than 20 lead changes among 12 drivers.

"I didn't know if I was going to be able to hold those guys off," said Jarrett. "I saw Bobby (Labonte) coming and had to cut him off, then I had to do the same to Terry (Labonte), and then I saw Jeff (Gordon) coming. I said to myself that this just doesn't end.

"I hoped we get to the checkered flag first. Everyone got side-by-side behind us and I believe that was the difference in us winning. Even though Jeff got a run, I knew if we beat him into turn three, I would be okay. This car was the difference. It's the best restrictor-plate car we've had in a long time."

An incident on lap 136 involving 10 cars eliminated many of the race's top contenders including Mark Martin, who entered the race second in NASCAR Winston Cup points. Others involved were Ward Burton, Wally Dallenbach, Michael Waltrip, Sterling Marlin and Bobby Hamilton. Seven-time NASCAR Winston Cup Series champion Dale Earnhardt suffered minor sheet metal damage in the incident. He was able to continue only to retire on lap 175 because of broken rear end.

"We had to work hard for everything we got today," said runnerup Gordon. "We were real fast and able to lead a bunch of laps, but fuel mileage became an issue for awhile and put us behind the eight ball. We were fortunate to be able to get back on the lead lap. Terry Labonte and myself were able to work together real well to make it happen. We were cooking at the end and I thought we had a chance to win. I would like to congratulate Dale Jarrett. He did a great job and I am happy to come home with second to keep our top-five streak alive."

Jeff Gordon stretched his point lead to 288 Martin. Martin finished 34th. Jarrett earned $110,125 in race earnings for the victory.

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Talladega Friday Qualifying Notes

Next article Daytona Pepsi Ford Priview

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

NASCAR issues penalties to Carson Hocevar and Josh Berry for Martinsville brake-checks

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Martinsville II

1 h

NASCAR issues penalties to Carson Hocevar and Josh Berry for Martinsville brake-checks

NASCAR making progress with short track show but drivers still want more

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Martinsville II

1 h

NASCAR making progress with short track show but drivers still want more

Rafa Camara to debut in F1 Brazil GP as Esteban Ocon out at Haas

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Mexican GP

2 h

Rafa Camara to debut in F1 Brazil GP as Esteban Ocon out at Haas

The biggest controversies of Carson Hocevar's chaotic 2026 NASCAR Cup season

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup 2 h

The biggest controversies of Carson Hocevar's chaotic 2026 NASCAR Cup season

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts