ESPN Sprint Cup

CONCORD, N.C. – The relationship between Dale Jarrett and Todd Parrott clicked from the moment Parrott climbed on top of the pit box. Working their first race together, the duo blazed to victory in the 1996 Daytona 500.

They went on to win 26 races, including another Daytona 500 title and the 1999 NASCAR championship.

"It was magic and it started on day one," said Parrott, who spent almost seven seasons as Jarrett's crew chief. "It's really rare when a driver and a crew chief click like that."

So rare that Jarrett has been on a constant search to find it again: He's changed crew chiefs seven times since Parrott left at the end of 2002. His most recent switch came last week, when Mike Ford quit 11 races into his second season as crew chief of the No. 88 Ford.

Billy Wilburn now is running the show, but car owner Robert Yates has given him an interim tag. That's only fitting for a team that has had a revolving door for crew chiefs since Parrott's departure.

Ford's tenure was the longest after Parrott. The shortest was Jimmy Elledge, who lasted just six races into the 2002 season. Parrott came back to finish that year, then stepped aside so his brother, Brad, could be crew chief in 2003.

Brad Parrott helped Jarrett to a win at North Carolina Speedway in their second race together, but that did little to help his job security – he was gone six races later.

Since then, the combination of Garth Finley and Richard Buck tried to lead Jarrett's team, followed by Shawn Parker and then Ford.

Amid all that shuffling, it should come as no surprise that Jarrett has an 81-race winless streak dating back to his 2003 Rockingham victory.

Asked if he was struggling to find the same chemistry he had with Todd Parrott, Jarrett didn't hesitate in answering.

"You could say that, yeah, we haven't had a lot of success," Jarrett said. "Todd and I had a lot of success and maybe we haven't hit on the person that has been compatible with everything that we have at Robert Yates Racing."

Things seemed to be going well on the outside with Ford, who spent two seasons as crew chief for Bill Elliott before Elliott retired. Although Jarrett got off to a shaky start last season, he rebounded and contended for a spot in the Chase for the Championship all the way up until the cutoff race.

He missed the cut and finished 15th in the standings with 14 top-10 finishes.

Then he opened this year by winning the pole for the Daytona 500. He climbed as high as seventh in the point standings in April, but faltered the past two races and heads into Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 ranked 14th.

And Jarrett just has to look across the Yates Racing shop at teammate Elliott Sadler, who won two races last season and made the Chase for the Championship. Sadler is currently fourth in the standings and coming off a second-place finish in last weekend's All-Star race.

And guess who runs Sadler's team? Todd Parrott.

"I think the biggest thing I can say about the whole thing is our two race teams were moving in totally opposite directions," Jarrett said. "Elliott and his team, Todd Parrott and those guys were headed to the North Pole and we were headed to the South Pole. That's how far we were getting away and that's not a good scenario."

Some might say the quick fix would be to move Todd Parrott back to Jarrett's team for a third time. But Parrott said that wouldn't be the ideal solution.

"I feel badly for Dale, I really do," Parrott said. "I owe so much of my career to him. But why would we tear down what we have worked to build here on [Sadler's team] just to go fix that team? Elliott and I are slowly building that chemistry that me and Dale had, and it makes no sense to wreck it now."

There are whispers in the garage that the problem is Jarrett, that he's difficult to work with or, at 48, has lost his edge.

Parrott discounts them.

"Absolutely he can still do it," Parrott said. "He may have to have the car a little bit more perfect than what it was in the past, but he can still win races."

So now Wilburn will be the latest crew chief to give it a go. He's got experience with veteran drivers – he spent several seasons with Rusty Wallace – and goes into this job knowing exactly what is expected of him.

"I think the biggest thing they want to do is pull this team together and get in line with what [Sadler's team] is doing so we can compare apples to apples," Wilburn said. "I am not a rookie, this team is not a rookie and it's not out of expectations to be in the top 10. That's our goal."

Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press