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As Dale Jarrett’s career as a second generation NASCAR star progressed, he gradually gained a reputation for being at his best in the biggest events.

This was punctuated into stock car racing lore on Aug. 4, 1986, at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

As the Cup Series teams gather once again at the world’s most famous track, standing out in memory is Jarrett’s clutch pass of Ford teammate Ernie Irvan six laps from the finish to win the third running of the Brickyard 400.

A single-car crash in Turn 4 by Robert Pressley on the 159th of 160 laps cost Irvan a chance to flip-flop the 1-2 finish for the Robert Yates Racing operation of Charlotte. Under rules in effect in that era, the accident forced the final lap on the 2.5-mile track to be run under caution.

The victory in the richest-at-the-time NASCAR Winston Cup Series race was the third of that season 20 years ago for Jarrett, a strapping 6-4 native of Hickory, N.C. The son of two-time series champion and hall of famer Ned Jarrett, he earlier had taken the Daytona 500 and Charlotte's Coca-Cola 600. He also won the Daytona 500 in 1993 as his father famously called the last lap as an analyst in the booth of CBS-TV. "I watched lots of Indianapolis 500s on television when I was growing up, " said an emotional Jarrett, then 39. "To be here in Victory Lane at this place is just overwhelming.

"I don't get sentimental very often, but I did during the Victory Lap, mainly because of where we are. I will cherish this day the rest of my life."

Jarrett collected $564,035 from the purse of $4.7 million. He won in front of a crowd estimated at 300,000. Jarrett was the leader when the race restarted on Lap 130 after a fourth caution period. However, Irvan drove to the inside in Turn 4 and went ahead on Lap 139.

Irvan stayed there until Lap 154, when Jarrett charged low in Turns 1-2 to regain first place.

"My car was great all race, but it was getting a little tight the closer we got to the finish, " said Jarrett. "I saw that Ernie's car was getting tight, too.

"Ernie went into Turn 1 a little hard and that carried his car a bit high. I saw a chance to get around him and I took it."

As Jarrett spoke, the silver winner's trophy, which features a shiny brick, was passed around by his jubilant teammates, led by rookie crew chief Todd Parrott.

"It's hard to think of words to say, " Parrott said. "To win the Daytona 500 and Coca-Cola 600 in one season is something, and now the Brickyard…It’s overwhelming."

The Jarrett and Irvan teams celebrated as one on pit road.

"This 1-2 finish and that celebration shows how close we work together, " said team owner Yates.

Irvan was disappointed, but not down.

"I got into that corner too hard, " he said. "That essentially cost me the race. I have no excuses."

Pressley said his Chevy ran out of gas, slowed and was hit from behind to cause the accident that prevented Irvan from getting a chance to pass Jarrett back.

Injured Dale Earnhardt, who started the race and then turned his Chevy over to relief driver Mike Skinner on Lap 6, was credited with 15th place. Earnhardt, the defending champion at Indy, cried openly at being forced from his famed No. 3 black car.

It was the only time many veteran observers, including me, ever had seen the driver known for his uncommon toughness shed tears.

Earnhardt had been hurt in a crash the previous Sunday in the DieHard 500, an accident very violent even beyond Talladega Superspeedway’s standards.

Going into the first turn at the Alabama track, Earnhardt’s car was tagged from behind by a rival driver, sending him out of control and into the concrete wall. The impact broke his sternum. The car then began sliding on its side and was his by three following cars. One of these hits fractured Earnhardt’s shoulder.

Earnhardt remained conscious throughout the ordeal and vividly described it after arriving in Indianapolis, where he was determined to at least start the race in order to maintain his standing in the points chase toward the championship.

The ’96 race proved much more competitive than the previous two Brickyard 400s, producing 24 lead changes among 14 drivers. Expert observers credited the removal of "rumble strips" on the inner portion of the turns for making more passing possible.

However, the cars clipping the grass at the edge of the track threw dirt and small pebbles onto the racing surface. These particles possibly led to Kyle Petty crashing while leading on the 38th of the race’s 160 laps.

Petty slapped the outer wall, was hit in the driver's side by the Chevy of Sterling Marlin and then hit the inner wall. Petty was taken to Methodist Hospital, but was released and returned to the track about two hours later after treatment for bruises on his left leg and back. Elmo Langley, NASCAR’s late pace car driver, humorously offered a solution for keeping the drivers from cutting the corners: "The track has got sprinkler heads in the grassy areas, maybe if we turn them on that'll keep the drivers on the asphalt."

Jarrett led just twice for 11 laps after starting 24th in the 40-car field. He had qualified at 174.620 mph.

A wreck eliminated Jarrett early in the inaugural Brickyard 400 in 1994. He rallied from starting 26th in 1995 to finish third as Earnhardt won.

The younger Jarrett, destined to win the Brickyard 400 again in 1999, continued as a driver through 2008 in a career spanning 24 years. He retired with 32 victories in 668 starts and captured the Cup Series title in ’99, joining his dad as a champion. Both Jarretts have been inducted into the NASCAR Hall Of Fame in Charlotte, becoming the second father-son duo to make it so far. Richard and “Poppa” Lee Petty were the first.