Monday, Nov. 8, 1999 | 10:46 a.m.
PHOENIX -- Dale Jarrett's hopes of winning Sunday's Dura Lube 500 were ended by the pull-tab from an aluminum beer or soda can.
Jarrett was leading the race on the 148th lap when his right front tire began losing pressure. The tire eventually went flat and Jarrett was forced to make a green-flag pit stop.
Sterling Marlin had radioed to his crew that he saw Jarrett run over something "metallic" on the track just before Jarrett's tire began losing air.
Jarrett's crew and officials from Goodyear Tires examined the tire after Jarrett's pit stop and reportedly said the measurement of the cut was the exact size of the pull-tab from an aluminum can.
Jarrett said he believed he ran over something on the track, but was unsure what it was.
"I just know everything was fine and I went off into turn one and it wouldn't turn," Jarrett said. "I tried to make a couple laps to make sure of what it was and it was a right front (tire), so I guess I ran over something.
"It's just one of those breaks that you have but, like this team has done all year, they kept fighting back."
Jarrett lost a lap as a result of the green-flag stop, but got back on the lead lap seven laps later.
* OLD HAT: Although Sunday's win was Tony Stewart's first at Phoenix International Raceway in the Winston Cup Series, it was not his first trip to Victory Circle here.
During his sprint-car days, Stewart chalked up two win in Midget cars and a victory in the USAC Silver Crown Series during past Copper World Classic events at PIR.
"I know this place from the inside wall to the outside wall because I've run somewhere along that line in every type of car that I've been," Stewart said. "This is a neat little race track -- if your car is tight, you can free it up and if it's loose, you can tighten it up.
"We just knew where the sweet spots were and just went from there."
Stewart also made three Indy Racing League starts at PIR from 1996 to 1998 and finished 11th, second and second, respectively.
* ROUGH WEEKEND: Pole-sitter John Andretti had dedicated Sunday's race to the memory of his grandfather, Alvise Andretti, who died Tuesday at the age of 90 of cancer.
"It has been a tough weekend but, fortunately, I made it through it," said Andretti, who had to miss the funeral because of his racing commitments.
Alvise Andretti was the father of legendary racer Mario Andretti. Mario's twin brother, Aldo, is John Andretti's father.
Andretti led the first 86 laps of the race, but the handling on his No. 43 STP Pontiac went away when the sun slipped behind some clouds a third of the way through the race and changed the racing surface.
"We had the car (set up) pretty good," Andretti said. "But the track got slicker and changed and I just didn't keep up with it well enough. We were good, but we couldn't get through the middle of the corner (and) that's where they beat us the rest of the race."
* FINALLY: Bobby Labonte scored his best finish in seven career starts at PIR with his third-place showing Sunday.
"I just don't run good here," Labonte said. "I never finished in the top five here (before). I guess I just don't know enough about this track."
Labonte's best previous finish at PIR was an eighth-place showing in his first visit to Phoenix in 1993.
* GOOD PLAN: PIR officials instituted a new traffic plan for this year's Winston Cup race weekend, and it was clear they hit on a winning formula.
PIR officials said that "99.9 percent" of the estimated 100,000 fans were parked an hour and a half before the start of the race. There were few, if any, traffic jams either prior to or after the race.
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