WINCHESTER - Just as baseball players endure hitting slumps, race car drivers are left with situations they have to overcome.

For 25-year-old ML Motorsports driver Jason Jarrett, that came Sunday in a 250-lap race at Winchester Speedway.

Early in yesterday's 125-mile ARCA RE/MAX Series event, the third-generation driver was involved in an accident in turns one and two when a pair of cars tangled with each other just ahead of him. Jarrett was left with no place to go on the track, and the front end of his No. 67 Mary Louise Miller-owned Monte Carlo sustained heavy damage.

"It's one of those things that just happens, that's to be expected at a place like this," Jarrett said. "I don't know what happened in front of me. The brakes are good, but not that good. There's a lot wrong with the car, but there's nothing wrong with the finish."

Despite the accident, Jarrett drove the ML Motorsports entry to a 12th-place finish.

"Every team has days like that, you just have to go back out and do the best you can," crew chief Scott Eldridge said. "We could've just as easily been 30th. You just have to overcome those things. When you're running for a championship, you have to stay out there and race."

Michigan driver Tim Steele took the checkered flag, his fourth in just seven races at the half-mile track. Jeff Finley, Andy Belmont, second-generation driver Billy Venturini and Vern Slagh rounded out the top five.

If the old saying "rubbing is racing" is true, fans at Winchester Speedway Sunday got their money's worth.

Thirty cars started the race, and thirty cars left the track damaged.

Eleven caution flags slowed the field for a total of 64 laps, with just the first four cars finishing on the lead lap. Series veteran Frank Kimmel of Jeffersonville finished 11th, but was 10 laps behind the leader. Jarrett, who qualified fifth, finished the race 14 laps behind Steele's red No. 16 Ford.

Kimmel, who entered the event with a sizeable points lead on the rest of the field, started from the pole and led 123 laps, but cut a right front tire with less than 50 laps remaining and made heavy contact with the turn one wall.

Jarrett made numerous pit stops to repair his battered machine, with his crew using large amounts of tape and a saw to repair the right-side damage. On the radio, Jarrett complained of a vibration, but continued to run to pick up valuable points.

Jarrett entered the race fourth in the overall points standings and leading the race for Rookie of the Year. One rookie, Todd Bowsher, who qualified 15th and finished ninth, was ahead of Jarrett.

"Something broke in the front end of the car," Jarrett said. "Something was wrong with the suspension, it was a pretty solid hit, but you can't just quit. I never thought at all about coming in and not finishing."

Jarrett and the ML Motorsports team will be in action again Sunday at Salem Speedway. [[In-content Ad]]