By Bruce Martin SportsTicker Contributing Editor

DAYTONA BEACH, Florida (Ticker) -- What had been a dull race ended furiously and sometimes curiously today as Dale Jarrett won the Daytona 500 for the third time, crossing the finish line under caution.

Jeff Burton was second, followed by Bill Elliott, Rusty Wallace and Mark Martin.

"Guys, that was one awesome job on this race car," Jarrett told his crew after the suspension of his race car had to be rebuilt early this morning following a crash in Saturday's final practice session.

The race ended under caution after Jimmy Spencer hit the wall coming off the fourth turn as the field completed the 197th lap of the 200-lap event. Jarrett stayed on the throttle as he had to make a complete lap back to the yellow and white flags. That meant the race virtually was over because racers are not allowed to pass under caution.

"This is just incredible," Jarrett said. "This team had limited time and limited resources to get done what we needed to do to repair the car for me. The fabricators did a great job. Thanks to Jeff Burton for a little push there. That is what got us out front.

"When I got into this sport, I would have never dreamed I could win three of these Daytona 500s."

Jarrett's previous wins came in 1993 and 1996. Today's victory came with an average speed of 155.669 miles per hour.

The defending NASCAR Winston Cup champion, Jarrett and Mark Martin led for long stretches before unheralded Johnny Benson Jr. took the lead on a restart with 24 laps remaining. He was followed by Elliott, Martin, Dale Earnhardt, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jarrett.

With Benson in front, none of the cars behind him could make a pass -- a problem that had been evident all day. Once out front, it was nearly impossible to pass the leader.

Martin was third when he attempted to make a pass for second place but fell out of the draft and dropped to sixth. That allowed Jarrett to get back to second, but he was unable to pass Benson.

Things got crazy as Jimmy Spencer triggered a multi-car crash on the 193rd lap that involved Michael Waltrip, who flipped upside-down and barrel-rolled in Saturday's NAPA Auto Parts 300 Busch Series race.

Other cars involved in the crash on lap 193 were Elliott Sadler, Earnhardt, Kenny Wallace and Earnhardt Jr.

That set up a four-lap dash to the checkered flag with Benson in the lead ahead of Jarrett. Before the field got out of turn 2, however, Jarrett went low and Benson tried to block, but it wasn't enough to keep Jarrett from making the pass for the win.

When Spencer hit the wall in the fourth turn, the race was over.

"If (crew chief) Todd Parrott puts the car out there, I have confidence in it," Jarrett said. "When he told me yesterday afternoon he could fix this car, I believed it. We brought our fabricators in from Charlotte overnight and we were able to fix the entire suspension.

"Once we got into it, I knew the car was just as good as it had been. Johnny Benson did a great job, we just had that horsepower. I couldn't have done it without a real push from Jeff Burton. This crew is just incredible. I knew Johnny was going to block me wherever he went. He knew it was a critical time and he would do whatever he had to do to. I made just enough of a move to fake him out. It worked to our advantage. It's a great race car, I'm just the fortunate one to sit in the driver's seat."

Benson and Earnhardt Jr., a Winston Cup rookie, were at the front of the field at the 400-mile mark, but a pit crewman for Tony Stewart was injured when the driver left pit road and ran into his front tire changer.

Mike Lingerfelt, who delivers the tires to the pit crewman during pit stops, was hit by Stewart's Pontiac as it was leaving pit road on the 158th lap. The caution flag came two laps earlier after Kyle Petty brushed the wall with Martin leading Jarrett, Burton, Rusty Wallace and Ward Burton.

The leaders all pitted on the 158th lap, creating a traffic jam in pit lane. Benson and Earnhardt were able to get out of the pits first, followed by Elliott, Martin and Jarrett.

But the traffic may have led to Stewart's inability to make a clean escape. The injured crew member was tended to by the medical staff along pit road and taken to the infield care center for treatment of possible leg injuries. Lingerfelt, 23, of Marietta, Georgia, was transferred to Halifax Medical Center with a fracture left femur. He is undergoing surgery.

Martin was the leader at the 300-mile mark. He moved in front after the leaders made their first green flag pits stops beginning on lap 88. Martin had pitted on lap 81 after suffering a problem with one of his tires.

Jarrett was in the lead when he pitted on lap 91 along with Jeff Burton, Bobby Labonte and Stewart. By the time the pit stop sequence was complete, Martin was in the lead at the 100th lap. But he was being closely pursued by Jarrett, who had dominated the race.

Wallace was third, followed by Labonte and Earnhardt.

Ricky Rudd jumped to the lead at the start of the race, passing teammate and pole-sitter Jarrett going into the first turn. Rudd and Mike Skinner swapped the lead in the opening laps before Jarrett took the lead when he went low into turn 1 to make it three wide and take it away from Skinner on the fifth lap.

Jarrett stayed in front through the first caution of the race, which came as a result of Jeff Gordon's engine blowing oil on the race track. The Chevrolet began to blow smoke on lap 32 and NASCAR issued a black flag. Gordon pitted one lap later and his crew took the car behind the pit wall to make necessary repairs.

The caution flag came out on lap 34 and the leaders pitted one lap later. Jarrett was first out of the pits, followed by Martin, Ward Burton, Earnhardt, Skinner and Elliott.

The green flag waved on lap 37 with Jarrett in front. Gordon returned four laps down.

There was high drama and plenty of anxiety in the garage area at Daytona in the pre-dawn darkness as Jarrett's team worked feverishly to repair the damage from Saturday's spin in the final practice session. The right rear of his car was pushed in, but his team also replaced key suspension pieces, which were damaged when the car came off the banking onto the flat apron of the track.

Jarrett's team had the necessary changes made by 10:30 p.m. EST and quickly hustled the car through NASCAR inspection.

However, Earnhardt's Chevrolet Monte Carlo did not fit the rear template and failed inspection. His crew took the car back to the garage area and pounded out the areas in question with a sledgehammer to get it to fit NASCAR specifications.

Both Jarrett and Earnhardt were able to make the necessary changes in time and started in their respective positions on the grid.

A cold front moved through central Florida just after daybreak with temperatures dropping into the 50s and a stiff wind blowing to the west. With temperatures in the high 80s and high humidity for most of the week leading up to the race, the teams had prepared the chassis of their cars for those conditions. That put a lot of guesswork into the setups for the cooler, clearer conditions.

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