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Racer Profile: Dale Jarrett
An Opinion




December 13, 2007
By Allen Madding

Allen Madding


















Dale Jarrett was born November 26, 1956, the son of racing legend, Ned Jarrett. Dale Jarrett grew up in Conover, NC. At Newton-Conover High School, Jarrett had been the quarterback on the football team, shortstop on the baseball team, forward on the basketball team, and played golf. Jarrett even was offered a golf scholarship to the University of South Carolina but decided to turn it down. But, Jarrett did not know what he wanted to do after completing High School. At age 18, Jarrett got married and had his first son, Jason. Jarrett took a job at Hickory Motor Speedway where his father, Ned, was the track owner. But, Jarrett was soon divorced.

"You could say I lacked direction," Jarrett said. "But every day during lunch, I'd set up my little driving range behind the racetrack and hit balls into an empty parking lot. I was really into golf before racing came along."

Racing came along at age 20 when he began helping a couple of his high school buddies, Andy Petree and Jimmy Newsome, work on their racecar. After convincing his dad to loan him money to buy an engine for the car, Dale ended up driving it. That night, Jarrett started 25th and finished ninth. He knew from that moment that he wanted to drive racecars for a career. The year was 1977 and Dale Jarrett became a regular in the Limited Sportsman Division at Hickory Motor Speedway.

He soon met Kelley and the two began a life together with Dale struggling to make a living in racing and Kelley’s income from teaching anchoring the couple. "He would work on his race car at the shop until nine or ten at night, and I just couldn't understand why he wasn't coming home for these home-cooked meals," said Kelley, who was a fifth-grade teacher back then. "Well, I realized right then we weren't going to be June and Ward Cleaver."

In 1982, Jarrett began competing in the NASCAR Busch Grand National Series. Then in 1984, Jarrett drove in his first NASCAR Winston Cup Series event. He started two more races that year in NASCAR’s premier division and one in 1986.

In 1987, Jarrett began competing in Winston Cup fulltime driving Eric Freelander's No. 18 Coats and Clark/Freelander Financial Chevrolet. That year, he logged two top tens and finished 26th in points.

Jarrett drove Hoss Ellington's No. 1 Port-a-Lube Buick, Cale Yarborough's No. 29 Oldsmobile, Ralph Ball's No. 99 Chevrolet, and Buddy Arrington's No. 65 Raven Boats Chevrolet for the 1988 NASCAR Winston Cup season. He scored an eighth place finish in the Budweiser 400 at Riverside International Raceway in California.

In 1990, Jarrett accepted an offer with the Wood Brothers to drive the No. 21 Citgo Ford beginning at the sixth event on the year’s Winston Cup schedule at Bristol. Jarrett made 24 events, charting one top-five, seven top-tens and finishing 25th in points.

In 1991, Jarrett captured his first NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory in the Champion Spark Plug 400 at Michigan Speedway beating and banging with the late Davey Allison coming to the checkered flag. Jarrett went on to record three top fives, eight top tens, and finished 17th in points.

In 1992, Jarrett left the Wood Brothers to drive to Washington Redskin’s coach, Joe Gibbs’ newly formed Joe Gibbs Racing and sponsor Interstate Batteries. Inaugural years are usually not stellar for upstart teams, but Jarrett managed to finish the season with two top-fives, eight top-tens, and 19th in points.

In 1993, Jarrett won the Daytona 500 holding off Dale Earnhardt. Jarrett ended the season with 13 top-fives, 18 top-tens and fourth in the point standings.

Jarrett scored one win in 1994, the Mello Yello 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway after starting 22nd. He recorded four top-fives and nine top-tens while suffering through seven DNFs for the year.

In 1995, Jarrett accepted an offer from Robert Yates to drive the No.28 Texaco/Havoline Ford for Robert Yates Racing replacing an injured Ernie Irvan. They started out the season with Jarrett qualifying on the pole for the Daytona 500. Jarrett won the Miller 500 at Pocono, finished second in the next week’s Diehard 500 at Talladega, and finished third the following week in the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis. At season’s end, Jarrett had accumulated one pole, one win, nine top-fives, 14 top-tens and was 13th in the points chase.

In 1996, Ernie Irvan returned to drive the No. 28 car for Yates, and Yates signed Ford sponsorship for Jarrett. Jarrett won his second Daytona 500 driving the No. 88 Ford Quality Care/Ford Credit car for Robert Yates Racing. He won the Coca Cola 600 at Charlotte, the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis, and the Goodyear 400 at Michigan. He had second places finishes in the Goodwrench 400 at Rockingham, the Pontiac Excitement 400 at Richmond, the Winston Select 500 at Talladega, the Jiffy Lube 300 at New Hampshire, the Diehard 500 at Talladega, the ACDelco 400 at Rockingham, and in the season’s final event, the Napa 500 at Atlanta. All told, Jarrett had four wins, 17 top-fives, 21 top-tens, two poles and finished third in the points.

1997 was even a better year for Jarrett and the RYR team. Jarrett scored wins at Atlanta, Darlington, Pocono, Bristol, Richmond, Charlotte, and Phoenix. He qualified on the pole at Darlington, Texas, and Michigan. At the end of the season, he had seven wins, 20 top-fives, 23 top-tens and three poles. He finished a heart-breaking second in the points championship.

Jarrett continued his winning ways in 1998. He qualified on the pole for the Las Vegas 400 and for the Pepsi Southern 500 at Darlington. He scored wins in the TranSouth Financial 400 at Darlington, the MBNA Platinum 400 at Dover, and the Winston 500 at Talladega. He closed the year with two poles, three wins, 19 top-fives, 22 top-tens, and third place in the Winston Cup Series points.

In 1999, Jarrett racked up four victories, Richmond, Michigan, Daytona, and Indianapolis. He had 24 top-fives and 29 top-tens winning the NASCAR Winston Cup Series championship.

In 2000, Jarrett qualified on the pole and then won the Daytona 500 for the third time in his career. He also qualified on the pole for the Cracker Barrel 500 at Atlanta and for the Pepsi 400 at Daytona. And, he won the Pop Secret Microwave Popcorn 400 at Rockingham. For the year, Jarrett had two wins, 15 top-fives, 24 top-tens and three poles to finish fourth in the points.

In 2001, UPS came on board to sponsor the No. 88 of Robert Yates Racing and Dale Jarrett and Jarrett started having to answer the question “When are you going to race the big brown truck?” He qualified on the pole for the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 at Las Vegas and finished second. The following week he again sat on the pole, this time for the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store 500 at Atlanta where he finished fourth. He then scored wins in the Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 at Darlington, the Harrah’s 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, the Virginia 500 at Martinsville. He sat on the pole for the MBNA Platinum 400 at Dover recording a fifth place finish. A third place finish followed in the Pocono 500 and a fourth in the Tropicana 400 at Chicago. Another win followed at the New England 300 at Loudon. Two more poles came in the Global Crossing at Watkins Glen and the MBNA Cal Ripken, Jr. 400 at Dover. Jarrett completed the season fifth in the points after charting four wins, 12 top-fives, 19 top-tens and five poles.

In 2002, Jarrett won the Pocono 500. The following week, he qualified on the pole for the Sirius Satellite Radio 400 and finished second. He won again in the Pepsi 400 at Michigan. He finished ninth in the points with two wins, ten top-fives, 18 top-tens, and one pole.

In 2003, Jarrett won the Subway 400 at Rockingham and then suffered through nine DNFs. He dropped to a 26th place finish in the points, scoring one win, one top-five, and seven top-tens.

In 2004, Jarrett recorded a second place finish in the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis, third place finishes in the DHL 400 and in the GFL Marketplace 400 at Michigan and in the EA Sports 500 at Talladega, and a fourth place finish in the MBNA America 400 at Dover. He ended the year with six top-fives and 14 top-tens.

Jarrett qualified on the pole for the 2005 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Daytona 500 and finished 15th. He scored a win in the UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega. He closed out the season with one pole, one win, four top-fives, and seven top-tens.

In 2006, Jarrett suffered through a bleak season recording one top-five and four top-tens. Jarrett believed that Robert Yates Racing was not building machines capable of winning. At the end of the season when Michael Waltrip announced he would be starting his own Cup Series team with Toyota, Jarrett accepted an offer to drive for Waltrip in 2007.

All of the dreams that Jarrett and Waltrip had for a competitive year in 2007, were bashed early in the going. Neither Waltrip nor Jarrett’s cars were fast enough to qualify for the Daytona 500. Jarrett was forced to fall back to a past champion’s provisional to make the race and he finished 22nd. Jarrett struggled through the year failing to record a single top ten finish. He announced at the end of the season that he would be retiring from the sport.


Career at a Glance:

  • 1999 NASCAR Winston Cup Series Championship
  • 663 starts, 16 poles, 32 wins, 163 top-fives, 260 top-tens

    Discuss this and other racing matters in the Prodigys@Speed Forum


    You can contact Allen Madding at .. Insider Racing News


    The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.



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