Jarrett Falls Behind Gordon

Dale Jarrett is no longer king of the hill.

After nearly three months leading the Winston Cup standings, beginning with his victory in Darlington on March 18, the 1999 series champion is chasing new leader Jeff Gordon.

Gordon leads by 26 points after a victory last Sunday in Michigan.

Heading into the Pocono 500 on Sunday, Jarrett is also still dealing with the pain of rib injuries from a crash on May 26 in Charlotte. But at least he’s at a track where he’s had plenty of success.

A two-time winner on Pocono’s 2 1/2-mile tri-oval, Jarrett has nine consecutive top-five finishes there.

“I don’t expect this weekend to be easy, by any means,� he said. “I just need to try and put the pain out of my mind as much as possible. We’ve tried to get the pain where it’s 50 percent or under and not 100 percent. And that’s what we’ll hopefully do again this weekend at Pocono. I can deal with that.�

TO THE FRONT: Ricky Rudd’s struggles to win his first race for Robert Yates Racing have come up short, so far.

Rudd, who has 25 career victories, finished second to Gordon last Sunday in Michigan and has now gone 48 races in his nearly 1 1/2 seasons with Yates without taking the checkered flag.

Although failing to win has been frustrating for Rudd, he said it might be working to his advantage in some ways.

“Our guys are working as hard as anyone in the garage area,� Rudd said. “I think the struggle to get to victory lane has really caused them all to step up.

“I don’t want to say our guys are working harder than everyone else, because there are a lot of hardworking people in this business. However, our team just keeps getting stronger and stronger.�

The runner-up finish last weekend left Rudd fourth in the standings, just three points behind Sterling Marlin. Rudd is going into Pocono with momentum and confidence.

“When I look back at last year, I think we had a car capable of winning both races at Pocono,� he said. “In the June race we got caught up in a wreck and had the front torn off the car. And even with the damage, we were awful good and raced back to a third-place finish.

“In July we were even better until I hit some debris, cut a tire down and wrecked.�

Rudd, whose last victory came in Martinsville, Va., in 1998 while driving for his own team, said: “I really can’t think of a better track for us to be going to than Pocono. With the points race so close, we’re hungrier than ever.�

PULLING AWAY: Kevin Harvick is on the way to making a runaway out of the Rookie of the Year race.

Harvick, who took over Dale Earnhardt’s Chevrolet after The Intimidator was killed in the season-opening Daytona 500, has been the highest-finishing rookie in the last three races and now leads Kurt Busch in the rookie standings by 24 points after 14 of 36 races.

Now ninth in the season points, Harvick was the only first-year driver to finish on the lead lap last Sunday in Michigan. The Richard Childress Racing driver is the only competitor among the top 29 in the points who has not run in every race this season.

Harvick has been the highest finishing rookie in seven races and has just 25.06 unfinished miles out of a possible 5,931.50 in his 13 starts.

BIG NUMBER: FX officials said the telecast of the Michigan 400 last Sunday was the highest-rated, most-watched program in the network’s seven-year history.

The broadcast recorded a 4.8 household rating, reaching 3.2 million homes and 4.9 million viewers. In the final 15 minutes, with Gordon and Rudd staging a dramatic finish, the numbers peaked with a 5.8 household rating, 3.9 million homes and 6.3 million viewers.

The previous FX record was held by the broadcast of the movie “Terminator 2� on Feb. 1, 1998. That drew a 4.2 rating and reached 34 million homes and 4.5 million viewers.

STAT OF THE WEEK: Jeff Gordon has finished third or better in eight of the last 11 Winston Cup races at Pocono Raceway. His other finishes were seventh in July 1996, 32nd in July 1999 and eighth last June.