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Dale Jarrett
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Dale Arnold Jarrett (born November 26, 1956 in Newton, North Carolina) is a former American race car driver. He is the 1999 NASCAR Winston Cup Champion and the son of two-time NASCAR Grand National Champion Ned Jarrett. He is the younger brother of Glenn Jarrett, a former NASCAR driver himself and pit commentator. He is also the father of former Busch Series racer Jason Jarrett. Upon graduation from Newton-Conover High School in 1975, he was offered a full golf scholarship from the University of South Carolina, which he declined.
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Encyclopedia
Dale Arnold Jarrett (born November 26, 1956 in Newton, North Carolina) is a former American race car driver. He is the 1999 NASCAR Winston Cup Champion and the son of two-time NASCAR Grand National Champion Ned Jarrett. He is the younger brother of Glenn Jarrett, a former NASCAR driver himself and pit commentator. He is also the father of former Busch Series racer Jason Jarrett. Upon graduation from Newton-Conover High School in 1975, he was offered a full golf scholarship from the University of South Carolina, which he declined. He is a cousin of Todd Jarrett, the 1996 International Practical Shooting Confederation World Shoot Champion. Beginning in 2007, Jarrett joined the ESPN/ABC broadcasting team as an announcer in select Busch Series (now Nationwide Series) races. In 2008, after retiring from driving in racing events following the 2008 Food City 500, Jarrett joined ESPN permanently as the lead racing analyst replacing Rusty Wallace.
Early career
Jarrett began racing in 1977 at Hickory Motor Speedway, a track his father owned and operated. In his first race, he started in last place but finished in the ninth position. He competed in the Limited Sportsman Division at Hickory, before moving up to the NASCAR Busch Series.
Busch Series
Jarrett began racing in 1982 in the #24 Ford for Horace Isenhower. His best finish was a third at Hickory and he finished sixth in points that season, finishing in the top-ten fourteen times over the course of the season. He did not win a race in 1983, but won four poles and had seventeen top-fives moving into fifth in the standings. In 1984, the team received sponsorship from Econo Lodge, Valvoline, and Budweiser and had six front row starts and nineteen top-10's, finishing a career-best fourth in the final standings.
That same year, Jarrett made his Cup debut. Driving the #02 Chevrolet for Emanuel Zervakis at Martinsville Speedway, he qualified 24th and finished fourteenth. He made two more Cup starts that season, at the Firecracker 400 for Jimmy Means, and the Warner W. Hodgdon American 500. In 1986, Jarrett won six poles and his first career Busch race at Orange County Speedway in the Nationwise Auto Parts. He won his second career race at Hickory the next year, his final full-time season in Busch.
1987-1991
In 1987, Jarrett replaced Tommy Ellis in the #18 Chevrolet owned by Eric Freelander early in the season. Running a primarily-unsponsored car, he had two tenth-place finishes and ended the season 26th in points, second to Davey Allison for Rookie of the Year honors. He ran every race of the 1988 season, despite running with various teams. He made most of his starts in the #29 Hardee's Oldsmobile owned by Cale Yarborough, finishing eighth at Riverside International Raceway. He also ran races for Buddy Arrington and Hoss Ellington that season, finishing twenty-third in the final standings. He ran the entire season for Yarborough in 1989, posting five top-ten finishes, including two fifth-place runs.
Jarrett began 1990 without a ride before taking over the #21 Citgo Ford Thunderbird for Wood Brothers Racing at the Valleydale Meats 500, replacing the injured Neil Bonnett. He finished in the top-ten seven times during the season and finished 25th in the final standings despite missing the first five races of the season. The following season, Jarrett won his first career Winston Cup race at Michigan International Speedway, and finished a then career-best 17th in the final standings.
1992-1999
Despite the win, Jarrett left Wood Brothers to drive the #18 Interstate Batteries Chevy for the fledging Joe Gibbs Racing team. In their first year of competition, Jarrett had two top-fives but dropped to nineteenth in points. Jarrett won the 1993 Daytona 500 over Dale Earnhardt (commonly referred to as "The Dale and Dale Show") in a race called by his father Ned. While he did not win again that season, Jarrett had a total of thirteen top-fives and finished fourth in the final standings. The next season, Jarrett won the Mello Yello 500, but chose to step down from the Gibbs organization at the end of the season.
Jarrett signed to drive for Robert Yates in 1995, piloting the #28 Texaco Ford. He won his first race for Yates at Pocono Raceway and finished 13th in the final standings. When it was announced Ernie Irvan would return to the ride after a year-long absence due to injuries, Yates had planned to help Jarrett compete in his own team with Hooters sponsorship, but that deal fell through, allowing Yates to create a second team, the #88 with sponsorship from Quality Care & Ford Credit. In 1996, Jarrett won the Daytona 500 for a second time, and finished in the top-2 in each of the first three races of the season. He also won the Coca-Cola 600 and the Brickyard 400 and finished third in the final standings behind the Hendrick Motorsports teammates Terry Labonte and Jeff Gordon. Jarrett's kissing of the bricks at Indianapolis started a tradition that has been used by every NASCAR team at the race since then, and at the Indianapolis 500 since 2003.
The following season, he won a career-best seven races and lost the championship to Jeff Gordon by fourteen points.
In 1998, Jarrett won three races, and finished second in the last two races of the year, ending up third in the final standings to Jeff Gordon, despite suffering gallbladder problems. After an offseason surgery, Jarrett returned in 1999 and took the points lead after his first win of the season at the Pontiac Excitement 400, and held it for the rest of the season, when he won his first career Winston Cup title by 201 points over Bobby Labonte. He also retired from the Busch Series to become a part-time owner, partnering with NFL quarterback Brett Favre to field the #11 Rayovac Ford for his son Jason, Yates teammate Kenny Irwin, Jr., and Steve Grissom.
2000-2005
Following his title in 1999, Jarrett won the Daytona 500 for the third time in 2000, but after only winning one other race and dropping to fourth in the standings, Ford Credit departed the team at the end of the season, and was replaced by the United Parcel Service. UPS began a promotional campaign involving the company trying to convince him to drive their trademark "Big Brown Truck", a campaign that would continue to the end of his career.
In 2001, he won three of the first eight races of the season and resumed the points lead (trading it with Jeff Gordon, with the two of them having the same point totals for a few different weeks), but won only one more time over the course of the year and faded back to fifth in the standings. After that season, Jarrett's long-time crew chief Todd Parrott departed and was replaced by Jimmy Elledge. After seven races of the 2002 season, Parrott rejoined Jarrett, who clinched two victories and rebounded to ninth in the final standings. 2001 was a good year and bad year for Jarrett as he won four races in the spring at Texas, then at Martinsville, Pocono, and New Hampshire in the fall. The bad was a hard crash he suffered at the new Kansas Speedway where Jarrett suffered a minor concussion. Jarrett said in an interview that he does not remember being in the Protection One 400, he only remembers getting on the plane to go to the racetrack.
In 2003, Jarrett began the season by winning at North Carolina Speedway, but only posted five more top-ten finishes, relegating him to 26th in the final standings. He rebounded in 2004 to finish 15th in points, despite not winning a race. In 2005, Jarrett got his last career win at Talladega Superspeedway, agin finishing 15th in the standings.
2006 - 2008
During the 2006 season, Jarrett had four top-ten finishes, with a best finish of fourth at Kansas. His best starting position was second and he finished 23rd in points.
For the 2007 season, Dale Jarrett and his sponsor UPS left Robert Yates Racing and joined the newly formed team of Michael Waltrip Racing. Jarrett started the 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup season on a high note as he drew pole position for the annual exhibition race, the Budweiser Shootout, at the Daytona International Speedway. He finished 18th out of 21 cars. Jarrett qualified for the 2007 Daytona 500 in 50th position but received a past champion's provisional and started 43rd. He finished 22nd in the race. Dale used his last champion's provisional at the Spring Talladega race, Aaron's 499. For the rest of 2007, Jarrett had to get into that weekend's race on time. Jarrett missed eleven races in 2007 as a result.
During an interview on Speed, Dale said after his contract is up with MWR (which was expected to be in the 2009 season), he would retire, but the timetable was pushed up in October 2007 prior to the 2007 Bank of America 500. Jarrett retired from points racing after the 2008 Food City 500, turning the #44 Toyota ride to David Reutimann. His final race was the All-Star race in May, 2008 after which he will go into the announcer's booth for ESPN ON ABC's NASCAR coverage full-time.
Jarrett started off 2008 with a 16th place finish at Daytona. Jarrett retired from points racing after the 2008 Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. At the weekend's pre-race driver's meeting, he spoke to the other drivers, saying "Enjoy this. We all have our time in this, and mine has been fantastic. To me, it has been an honor and a privilege to be able to race in this series and say I raced with and against and sometimes beat the best in the world. Thanks for allowing me to do that. Enjoy it. It's a great sport, and you guys make it what it is."
Primary Car Sponsors
Personal
- Jarrett is an avid golfer and has a 17 handicap in golf and in 2003 was once featured in a commercial with Phil Mickelson, Michael Jordan and Wayne Gretzky.
- Jarrett is featured in commercials where he is persuaded to race the UPS Truck, in recent commercials he is featured with father Ned, in one commercial and in others he is trying out the features of the truck.
- In NASCAR 2006: Total Team Control, the Big Brown Truck is unlockable as a paintjob for Jarrett.
- Dale Jarrett was a member of the Coca-Cola Racing Family of Drivers when he raced.
- Dale Jarrett and Hall-of-Fame quarterback Terry Bradshaw are co-owners of the fantasy sports site http://www.PayTheFan.com
- Dale Jarrett was featured in a commercial with Jackie Stewart as Jarrett's "mentor".
- Dale Jarrett is the first cousin of USPSA/IPSC Champion Handgun Shooter, Todd Jarrett.
External links
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