Racebeat
by Rich Romer

NASCAR Winston Cup:Dale Jarrett spun his fortunes around with a patient run to the front. Jarrett rebounded from a spin on the 12th lap and passed Jeff Burton with five laps to go to win the Pepsi 400 at Michigan International Speedway. Burton stretched his fuel for the final 53 laps, but it was an overheating engine that was a bigger concern. With two laps to go in the 200-lap race, Burton's car began spewing water and trailing smoke, but he held on to finish fourth. Tony Stewart finished second in a Pontiac, about two seconds back, and Kevin Harvick was third in a Chevrolet. Mark Martin trailed Burton to the line, with points leader Sterling Marlin sixth. Jarrett's team decided to take four tires during the sixth caution with on lap 164, while the rest of the front-runners -- except Burton -- took just two. The decision put Jarrett back to 17th on the restart, but he steadily made progress through the field. He took fifth from Bobby Labonte with 20 to go, then passed Kevin Harvick for fourth three laps later. A final caution for Derrike Cope's crash on lap 186 set up a final dash for the checkered flag, with Burton leading Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jarrett.

Earnhardt got by Stewart with 10 laps left, but neither could hold off Jarrett. He moved past both to second on lap 192, then closed in on Burton. With five to go, Jarrett drove to the inside in Turn 4 and pulled easily into the lead, leaving Burton to race with the others. Rookie Jimmie Johnson finished seventh, followed by Johnny Benson, Jeff Green and Earnhardt, who fought an ill-handling car over the final laps. Jarrett's spin came after he had just passed Steve Park for 12th. Coming off Turn 4, Jarrett pulled in front of Park but immediately got sideways, sliding down through the infield grass but not damaging the car. He rumbled his fender a bit when he pulled away, but crew chief Todd Parrott and the team were able to fix the problem under the caution. Jarrett fell back to 43rd before making his run to the front.

NASCAR Busch Grand National Series: Michael Waltrip held off a strong challenge from Todd Bodine before pulling away to win the NASCAR Busch series race at Michigan International Speedway. Jeff Burton finished second, nearly four seconds back, and Jeff Green edged Bodine for third to give Winston Cup drivers a sweep of the top four spots. Bodine, in a Chevrolet, appeared to have the fastest car for most of 125-lap race but dropped to 10th after a four-tire pit stop on lap 79 during the fourth caution. Waltrip, who changed just two tires on his Chevy during that caution, took the lead from Joe Nemechek with 38 laps to go and began pulling away. But Bodine charged through the field and caught Waltrip, pulling beside the leader on several occasions. The cars touched in Turn 2 on lap 103, and when they got to the front stretch later during that lap, Waltrip pulled down and slammed into Bodine. The contact damaged Bodine's right-front fender and kept him from challenging again. Bobby Hamilton Jr. finished fifth, followed by Scott Riggs, Scott Wimmer, Stacy Compton, Jimmy Spencer and Kasey Kahne. Points leader Greg Biffle left the race with a blown engine on lap 18 and finished 42nd. His closest pursuer in the title chase, Jason Keller, led 23 laps and looked as if he might take over the point leads, but an engine problem dropped him to 35th. Biffle now leads Keller by 56 points.