LONG POND, Pa. – Dale Jarrett has a special place in his heart for Pocono International Raceway, with good reason.

“This was a great place for me in ’95,” he said. “When I really needed something good to happen, I won here.”

Jarrett, who resurrected his career with a surprising victory here two ago, won his latest duel with Jeff Gordon on Sunday in the Pennsylvania 500.

“This a great place to be when you’ve got a good car, and we had that today,” he said.

Gordon and Jarrett exchanged the lead four times, but Jarrett was able to pull away late in the race and beat Gordon by 2.99 seconds to win for the third time this season and give Ford its 11th victory in 18 races.

Maine driver Ricky Craven turned in a solid showing with an 18th-place finish. Craven qualified in 37th on Saturday after not making the cut on Friday.

Jarrett said his car’s motor was incredible.

“It’s almost unfair that the thing was that good,” he said.

In agreement was Gordon, precluded by Jarrett from sweeping the 1997 races at Pocono.

“There was only one good car,” he said. “We couldn’t compete. We were in a different class.”

But Gordon, who has all seven wins by Chevrolets, took the lead in the Winston Cup point standings.

Meanwhile, the longest drought in the career of seven-time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt reach 45 straight defeats. He ran well, but was involved in a multicar accident with 73 laps remaining.

“We were going good, then I got caught up in that little spin over there,” he said of the melee in the second turn. “It was just one of them deals.”

The 40-year-old Jarrett, considered little more than a journeyman before winning this race in 1995, led five times for 108 laps.

He assumed the lead for the final time on lap 180, 15 laps after taking four tires during the last round of pit stops. Jeff Burton, whose third-place finish was his eighth in the last 10 races, left the pits first because he put only two tires on his Ford.

“That was the key,” Jarrett said of the decision not to take just two tires. “We didn’t know what it would do, and we had too good a race car to mess it up.”

The victory was the 11th of Jarrett’s career, but the eighth since joining Robert Yates Racing in 1995. After taking the Daytona 500 for Joe Gibbs in 1993, Jarrett won just once in his next 78 starts before his first Pocono victory.

Ironically, Jarrett beat Gordon that day. Although he duplicated that effort Sunday, Jarrett struggled with a car that didn’t want to turn crisply.

“But I found a line that worked a little bit better with the tight race car,” he said. “I was running awful hard trying to get past Jecar,” he said. “I was running awful hard trying to get past Jeff Burton and get away from Jeff Gordon.

“I was probably making it push a little more than it needed to. Then I calmed down a bit and everything was OK.”

Jarrett got the Yates ride in 1995 only because current teammate Ernie Irvan was still recovering from a near-fatal head injury the previous year. The plan was for Jarrett to start his own team in 1996, but it never came to fruition, and he stayed as Yates’ so-called second driver.

The 1996 season began with Jarrett winning his second Daytona 500. He won three more races and had a shot at a $1 million bonus before a few cents worth of oil sent him into the wall in the Southern 500.

The winner that day was Gordon, who has a chance for that same bonus at Darlington on Labor Day weekend. Among those he must beat is Jarrett, who spoiled his chance to become the only driver to win four straight races at troublesome Darlington with a victory four months ago in the TranSouth 400.

Last month, when Jarrett slowed approaching an accident at Dover, a closely pursuing Gordon rammed him. The mishap took both cars from contention.

Jarrett, who collected $104,570 from a purse of $1.4 million, gave Yates his 31st victory by averaging 142.068 mph in a race slowed four times by 18 laps of caution. There were 23 lead changes among 14 drivers.

Burton’s teammates, Ted Musgrave and Mark Martin, gave Jack Roush Racing a 3-4-5 finish. Fords have finished among the top five 15 times in the last four races at the 2 1/2-mile track. Chevys have three – all by Gordon – and Pontiacs two.

Auto Racing

Pennsylvania 500

LONG POND, Pa. (AP) – The order of finish Sunday in the Pennsylvania 500 NASCAR Winston Cup race at Pocono International Raceway, with starting position in parentheses, driver, hometown, type of car, laps completed, reason out if any and money won:

1. (4) Dale Jarrett, Hickory, N.C., Ford, 200, $104,570; 2. (6) Jeff Gordon, Pittsboro, Ind., Chevrolet, 200, $56,745; 3. (20) Jeff Burton, South Boston, Va., Ford, 200, $44,195; 4. (22) Ted Musgrave, Franklin, Wis., Ford, 200, $39,070; 5. (9) Mark Martin, Batesville, Ark., Ford, 200, $36,040; 6. (11) Mike Skinner, Susanville, Calif., Chevrolet, 200, $21,690; 7. (14) Jimmy Spencer, Berwick, Pa., Ford, 200, $30,890; 8. (34) Kyle Petty, Randleman, N.C., Pontiac, 200, $19,090; 9. (17) Jeremy Mayfield, Owensboro, Ky., Ford, 200, $18,490; 10. (15) Bill Elliott, Dawsonville, Ga., Ford, 200, $28,240; 11. (10) Bobby Labonte, Corpus Christi, Texas, Pontiac, 200, $28,340; 12. (5) Dale Earnhardt, Kannapolis, N.C., Chevrolet, 200, $29,490; 13. (40) Johnny Benson, Grand Rapids, Mich., Pontiac, 200, $25,990; 14. (7) Ken Schrader, Fenton, Mo., Chevrolet, 200, $23,690; 15. (32) Ward Burton, South Boston, Va., Pontiac, 200, $24,490; 16. (29) Derrike Cope, Spanaway, Wash., Pontiac, 200, $16,090; 17. (38) Geoff Bodine, Chemung, N.Y., Ford, 200, $22,890; 18. (37) Ricky Craven, Newburgh, Maine, Chevrolet, 200, $22,690; 19. (27) Dick Trickle, Wisconsin Rapids, Wis., Ford, 199, $15,440; 20. (23) Sterling Marlin, Columbia, Tenn., Chevrolet, 199, $29,765; 21. (1) Joe Nemechek, Lakeland, Fla., Chevrolet, 199, $22,715; 22. (25) Michael Waltrip, Owensboro, Ky., Ford, 199, $21,790; 23. (24) Hut Stricklin, Calera, Ala., Ford, 199, $21,565; 24. (13) John AIndianapolis, Ford, 199, $21,415; 25. (26) Rick Mast, Lexington, Va., Ford, 199, $21,840; 26. (16) Darrell Waltrip, Franklin, Tenn., Chevrolet, 199, $20,790; 27. (33) Morgan Shepherd, Conover, N.C., Ford, 199, $11,240; 28. (36) Chad Little, Spokane, Wash., Pontiac, 199, $11,190; 29. (31) Brett Bodine, Chemung, N.Y., Ford, 198, $18,115; 30. (12) Steve Grissom, Gadsden, Ala., Chevrolet, 198, $18,065; 31. (8) Jeff Green, Owensboro, Ky., Chevrolet, 197, $11,015; 32. (28) Bobby Hamilton, Nashville, Tenn., Pontiac, 197, $25,965; 33. (35) Jerry Nadeau, Danbury, Conn., Pontiac, 197, $17,865; 34. (18) Kenny Wallace, St. Louis, Mo., Ford, 195, $17,790; 35. (21) Terry Labonte, Corpus Christi, Texas, Chevrolet, 193, $33,815; 36. (19) Ricky Rudd, Chesapeake, Va., Ford, 192, engine failure, $25,640; 37. (39) Rusty Wallace, St. Louis, Mo., Ford, 174, engine failure, $27,575; 38. (3) Wally Dallenbach, Basalt, Colo., Chevrolet, 158, engine failure, $10,450; 39. (42) David Green, Owensboro, Ky., Chevrolet, 157, engine failure, $10,450; 40. (2) Ernie Irvan, Salinas, Calif., Ford, 136, crash, $25,450; 41. (41) Dave Marcis, Wausau, Wis., Chevrolet, 35, engine failure, $10,450; 42. (30) Robby Gordon, Cerritos, Calif., 0, engine failure, $17,450; Race Statistics

Winner’s average speed: 142.068; Time of race: 3 hours, 31 minutes, 10 seconds; Margin of victory: 2.99 seconds; Caution flags: 4 for 18 laps; Lead changes: 23 among 14 drivers; Lap leaders: Nemechek 1-11, J. Gordon 12-36, Irvan 37, Spencer 38, G. Bodine 39-40, Gordon 41-54, Jarrett 55-72, Musgrave 73-75, Irvan 76-77, Gordon 78-83, Jarrett, 84-111, Musgrave 112-116, Jarrett 117-126, Gordon 127-133, Jarrett 134-164, Gordon 165, Martin 166, Benson 167, Petty 168-171, Elliott 172-173, Cope 174-175, Earnhardt 176-177, J. Burton 178-179, Jarrett 180-200; Series points leaders: J. Gordon 2,669, Martin 2,605, T. Labonte 2,555, Jarrett 2,517, J. Burton 2,468, Earnhardt 2,415, B. Labonte 2,241, Rudd 2,129, Mayfield 2,100, Musgrave 2,095