Jarrett is the Lone Star of Texas

Benson, who had taken the lead when his team decided to leave him out of the pits during the final pit stop, couldn't hold off Jarrett's faster Ford because his Pontiac had older tyres.

Jarrett, driving the same race car the won at Darlington two weeks ago, defeated Steve Park by 1.039s to score his second win of the season, his first at Texas Motor Speedway and the 26th of his career. Jarrett also became the first multiple winner in the last 10 NASCAR Winston Cup races.

"These guys did an awesome job," said Jarrett of his pit crew. "What a great day, this pit crew is incredible and so is this whole team. This is really special to win here at a great race track."

Benson was third followed by rookie Kurt Busch and Jeff Gordon. Jarrett now leads Gordon by 75 points in the Winston Cup point standings.

"I drove my heart out in those final laps, we're just getting tired of following that 88 car [Jarrett] around," said Park. "I'm getting to know the rear of his race car real well."

Dale Earnhardt Jr started on the pole for the third time in his career and led the 43-car field to a safe start at the green flag. That didn't last long, however, as Michael Waltrip's Chevrolet crashed into the frontstretch wall after Andy Houston made slight contact into the back of him. Waltrip's car slid across front stretch, Kurt Busch slides across tri-oval. Jimmy Spencer was also involved in the accident.

"The car was tight, I tried to turn it and I just messed up," Waltrip said.

The race was restarted on the 11th lap with Earnhardt still in front. By the 18th lap, Kevin Harvick - driving for the late Dale Earnhardt - started in 33rd place and had already passed 17 cars. Further up the field, young Earnhardt was running away with the lead, which was 2secs over the second place car driven by Bobby Labonte.

But Earnhardt's car became loose and that allowed Jarrett to pass him for the lead on the 20th lap. Jarrett is the only Winston Cup driver to lead all five races at Texas Motor Speedway.

The second caution flag of the race waved on lap 34 when Jerry Nadeau and Robert Pressley crashed on the backstretch coming off the second turn. Tony Stewart ran into the back of Pressley's spinning car during the crash. Stewart's crew taped up the nose of the car and he returned to the race in 26th place.

The leaders pitted during the caution period and Benson was able to assume the lead. Rusty Wallace's team, working without crew chief Robin Pemberton who is sitting out the race because of stress-related problems, came in 19th and changed two tyres on the pit stop to come out in third place.

The green flag waved to restart the race on the 40th lap and Earnhardt was able to regain the lead out of the second turn. Dale Jr then opened a wide lead as the field began to spread out. But, once again, Jarrett was able to chase down Earnhardt in a hurry. When he caught him in one lap and took the lead on lap 64, it showed that Earnhardt's car was best on the short runs but the tires began to slow down after 24 laps.

Jarrett opened up a 1sec lead over Earnhardt as the Ford driver moved away from the field. The second round of pit stops came under green flag conditions and Bobby Labonte stayed out to gain five extra bonus points as the leader.

Another caution for debris on lap 136 allowed the field to pit. Both Jarrett and Earnhardt were in and out of the pits in 14.7secs. Jarrett was the leader on the restart but Steve Park was able to take the lead by the end of the lap.

With 225 miles completed, Bobby Labonte's Pontiac broke a rod in the engine as he coasted around the track to get back to the pits.

"Something broke in the motor, I hate to leave here early, but it looks pretty terminal," said the defending NASCAR Winston Cup champion after suffering his third DNF of the season.

Another caution flag waved on lap 187 when a gas catch-can from Houston's car was dragged on to the race track, which allowed the leaders to make another pit stop. Earnhardt pitted in 15.2 seconds to take the lead on lap 189.

Earnhardt sped away from the field on the restart as his car continued to excel on short runs. But 14 laps later, a multi-car crash on the backstretch began when Joe Nemechek ran into the back of Casey Atwood loose Dodge. Ward Burton slowed down and Jeremy Mayfield ran into the back of his Dodge to send him spinning down the backstretch.

"I've been in quite a few races now and this is my first wreck in Winston Cup," Atwood said. "We had been tight all day and loose is about the last thing I thought was going to happen. We thought we were going to get a top 20, but it's not going to happen today."

The leaders pitted one more time on the 208th lap during the caution with Earnhardt's crew changing four tyres while others elected to change just two.

The green flag waved on lap 213 with Sterling Marlin the leader followed by Jarrett and Jeff Gordon. But the field couldn't complete one lap without another crash when Houston slid down the backstretch. Jarrett was in the lead when the green flag waved on lap 218 followed by Park and Jeff Gordon.

Earnhardt passed Gordon for the lead a few laps later and began to chase down Park and Jarrett. With 100 laps remaining, Park passed Jarrett on the outside coming out of the fourth turn.

Jimmy Spencer crashed on lap 265 when he slammed hard into the outside of the second turn wall for another caution period, so the leaders were able to pit one more time. Jarrett was first out of the pits followed by Park and Earnhardt.

The green flag waved to restart the race on lap 273 with Jarrett ahead of Park, Earnhardt, Gordon and Kevin Harvick. Matt Kenseth spun out and crashed in the second turn two laps later for the eighth caution period of the race.

Several drivers made splash and go pit stops, but Earnhardt faked like he was going into the pits and swerved back onto the track to take the lead, and so was in front when the green flag waved. Once again, the field couldn't make it a full lap before another crash, this time when Sterling Marlin slammed into the wall in the third turn.

The green flag waved on lap 285 with Earnhardt in front. With the two caution periods coming so close together, it helped ease the concern that the Chevrolet driver could go the distance on the fuel that remained in his gas tank.

Sadler, who was running in fourth place at the time, crashed with 22 laps to go to bring out one more caution flag, which erased Earnhardt's advantage and forced him to pit for fresh tyres. But a poor pit stop dropped him to ninth in the field, as Gordon was the first off pit road followed by Jarrett. Benson was now in the lead as he did not pit.

The green flag waved with 18 laps remaining and Benson in the lead followed by Gordon and Kurt Busch. Back in the field, Earnhardt began to make his charge through the closing laps.

Gordon caught Benson with 12 laps remaining with Busch and Dave Blaney charging up behind Gordon's Chevrolet. With 10 laps to go, Busch passed Gordon before Gordon was able to regain the spot entering the first turn as the race entered its dramatic closing laps.

Click here for the race result.