4 tires the right choice for Jarrett at TMS.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

FORT WORTH, Texas _ This time, the magic number was four.

For the second-straight week, a call on tire strategy proved to be decisive as four new tires helped Dale Jarrett win the Harrah's 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

Last week at Bristol, Elliott Sadler ran the final 162 laps on one set of tires and held off challengers who had put on newer ones.

Johnny Benson tried the same strategy on Sunday, staying out on the race track on the final yellow flag to take the lead into what turned out to be an 18-lap run for the checkered flag.

Four other drivers - Jeff Gordon, Kurt Busch, Mark Martin and Dave Blaney - changed two tires and lined up behind Benson on the restart. Jarrett took four tires and got out first among those who followed suit, and this time that proved to be the proper strategy.

"I think it's great that Goodyear has got such a good tire that it's making the racing at the end of these races this interesting as to what you should do," Jarrett said after winning $444,527 in front of a crowd estimated by track officials at 211,000. "It has really thrown a lot into it - taking a gamble. It does work at some places and at others it may not."

Todd Parrott, Jarrett's crew chief, suspected four tires would be the way to win, partly because he watched Saturday's Grand National race and watched Joe Nemechek pick up positions after a late-race four-tire stop.