TALLADEGA, Ala., Oct. 2 (UPI) -- Dale Jarrett collected his first victory of the NASCAR season, edging Tony Stewart to win Sunday's UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.
Jarrett's win in his Robert Yates Racing Ford was the 32nd of his Nextel Cup career.
Sunday's race was the third in the 10-race Chase for the Nextel Cup. The fourth is at Kansas City, Kan., next week.
A crash on the 20th lap between Jimmie Johnson and Elliott Sadler set off a chain reaction that included Michael Waltrip, Mike Skinner, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kevin Lepage and championship contender Mark Martin. Martin entered the day 21 points behind the leader in fourth place, but he ended with a 41st-place finish, 139 points back of Ryan Newman.
Jarrett was able to maneuver his way off the bottom of the track to grab the lead with about five laps to go -- and just ahead of Kyle Petty's spinning across the track. The caution flag came out, giving the race to Jarrett.
Tentatively, Stewart owns a four-point edge over Newman -- 5,519-5,515 -- through the first three events of the Chase. Rusty Wallace (5,443) is third.
