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The Robert Yates powered cars of Dale Jarrett and Ernie Irvan took the front early, and battled for the lead a little. After squeezing by Jarrett, Irvan decided that his car was faster in second, and he fell back in line. However, on lap 190, Jarrett's Ford slowed unexpectedly. He was again passed by Irvan before he could switch ignition boxes. A bad coil had caused the ignition to go out, the car misfired before shutting off. Once Jarrett switched to the new ignition, he was able to drive back to the front to resume his commanding lead. Jarrett had another close call when Ricky Rudd hit Ken Schrader coming out of turn four. Schrader's back end hit the wall, and he slid sideways down the front straight-away. Jarrett was right behind the incident, with a car to his inside. He was barely able to swerve around the 33 car and escape the incident. After that, the only hope for all of the other teams on pit road was for something to happen to the engine of the 88 car. A red flag caused by Steve Grissom's horrifying wreck left the cars sitting patiently for 52 minutes. The race started with 38 laps remaining and Dale Jarrett again took a commanding lead and never looked back. He finished with better than a 2 second advantage over his teammate Ernie Irvan.  Jarrett and his team are relieved to finally make it to Victory Lane. Dale has led 749 of 1,121 laps in the last three races, that's 67%. His domination has fallen short in the closing laps, but Sunday, he was able to hold off the field and take the checkers. The other big news from the race is the early departure of Jeff Gordon. He retired with a blown engine after only about 70 laps. His 42nd place finish causes him to lose his points lead to Dale Jarrett. The unofficial point standings after the Primestar 500 are:
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