With quick stops for both cars, the Jaguars emerged from the pits in excellent shape. Robinson, who relieved starter Bob Tullius in the No.44 car, lay third and Haywood, now in the 04 car, was 13 seconds from Dallenbach in the leading Corvette. After a long stop of 52 seconds, Andretti was 44 seconds from the leader.  Winter and Dyson clearly were not as quick as their cockpit predecessors and began to fade in fifth and sixth. Headed in the opposite direction and charging up from its one- lap deficit in seventh, meanwhile, was the Bimmer of Hobbs!

The Englishman used some quick work to move up to fifth place, turning some of the fastest laps on the track in the BMW. But Haywood and Robinson were both on the move as well. The Jags lost only a tad to the Corvette on the banking and were quicker through the hot, slippery asphalt of the infield. Hurley pulled to within 10 seconds of the leader and Robinson within 38 seconds before Dallenbach pitted for fuel and tires, staying in. Hobbs also pitted at the same time — midway in the race — with Watson going in. A few laps later, Andretti pitted from third for Jones, who did not help the cause when he hit the guardrail on ph road, blowing his right-rear tire, bringing on a second stop. (The ‘‘junior’’ team eventually would be put out of the chase for good with a faulty throttle spring.)

In Fine Fettle
This left the two Jaguars in very fine fettle in first and second, with all teams needing one more pit stop to finish. Haywood had 22 seconds from Robinson, who in turn was 36 seconds from the Corvette of Dallenbach. Still just over a lap down was the BMW of Watson and well over a lap down was Dyson and the Joest Porsche, which made an early pit stop for Barilla to relieve “Winter,” adding one stop to its agenda.
When the Corvette pitted when broken exhaust headers, it meant the Jaguars could each make its final stop and retain the lead. The 04 car, using a Salisbury differential instead of a spool like its sister car, handled the slippery surface better, but temporarily lost the lead when Hay- wood pitted, Redman back up. Alas, the “fun” began when Chip Robinson spun in the leading car at Turn One on lap 69, losing precious seconds because a right- rear tire was worn out from the loose handling of the 44 car’s chassis. Robinson immediately pitted for Tullius.

Although the lags retained first and second, Redman leading, the spin enabled Watson, who had made a gas-and-go stop, to close from third place. With 40 minutes remaining, near-disaster struck Tullius. His throttle stuck at the Turn Four kink in the infield, sending him sliding across the grass like a billiard ball. “I thought it was all over,” said Tullius later. “You can take that corner flat out, but the throttle sticking caught me off guard.” By the time he rejoined, Tullius had skipped the Turn Five West Horseshoe turn altogether. By the time he had new tires and nose from his pit crew, the BMW had taken second place.

Then what truly seemed like a disaster struck the Jaguar team when Redman’s mount limped into the pits with a broken engine 37 minutes from the end, sending the persistent Watson into the lead. “There is no justice,” said a rueful Redman. Watson’s advantage over Tullius was 25 seconds and growing, but one more ph stop remained for the guzzling BMW four-cylinder, which had a malfunction in its fuel system that gave h six fewer laps per tank than the sister No. 18 car. With 23 minutes to go, the BMW, running consistently in the 1:43 range, had a 36-second lead. Alas, the team allowed the same problem that initially put it a lap down to occur once again. Watson’s car sputtered at the entrance to the West banking and slowly crawled the 31-degree asphalt hill. The car died on the back straight.
 

John Morton and Darren Brassfield went the distance on just two fuel stops and earned a third-place finish.