Trouble in Turn2

Dale Jarrett didn’t make his Cup debut until age 27, much later than contemporaries like Mark Martin, Ricky Rudd, Bill Elliott and Terry Labonte. This is somewhat surprising considering his family’s ties to the sport. With a late start it’s even more impressive what Jarrett accomplished in his NASCAR Cup career. Jarrett won 3 Daytona 500’s, 2 Brickyard 400’s and scored 32 career wins. His 32 wins are tied for 20th all-time. He is also 18th in top 5’s (163) and top 10’s (260).

Jarrett made his debut at Martinsville in 1984 driving the #02 car for NASCAR legend Emanuel Zervakis. In fact Jarrett was the last person to drive a Cup car for Zervakis. Jarrett finished a respectable 14th in his debut race and took home a check for $1,515 for his efforts.

Jarrett spent the mid 1980’s bouncing around at the Cup level, driving for Eric Freedlander, Hoss Ellington, and Cale Yarborough among others. His big breakthrough came in 1990 when he was signed to drive the Wood Brothers famous #21 car. He scored his first win in the Champion Spark Plug 400 at Michigan in 1991. It was his 129th Cup start. In today’s Cup world a driver that took 129 starts to score his first win would probably not still have a top ride. On the strength of his win and 8 top tens he finished 17th in the final point standings, his best to date.

His breakthrough season didn’t come until he joined an upstart Joe Gibbs Racing team to drive the #18 Interstate Batteries car. 1992 was a transition year for Jarrett and the brand new Gibbs organization., but a 3rd place finish at the Pepsi 400 hinted at Jarrett’s future Daytona success. The following year saw Jarrett win his first Daytona 500 with father Ned calling the race on television. It is still one of the most famous calls in Daytona 500 history. The win was part of a strong season ending in a fourth place points result.

After three seasons with Gibbs, Jarrett joined Robert Yates Racing to replace an injured Ernie Irvan in the famous #28 car. After Irvan returned Yates started a second team to keep Jarrett. This team became the #88 that Jarrett enjoyed some of his best performances. For a six year stretch from 1996 to 2001 he was one of the elite drivers, compiling 24 wins, 107 top 5’s and 138 top 10’s.

The ultimate payoff finally came in 1999 when Jarrett and Yates won their first, and only Cup championship beating Bobby Labonte and the #18 car by 201 points. Jarrett won 4 races, and had an incredible 24 top 5’s in 34 races. His average finish was also a video game-like 6.8. It was the peak of Jarrett’s career and came in the middle of a dominant period where he finished in the top five in points for six straight seasons.

Jarrett didn’t win as much in the twilight of his career, but he still had a huge following.To newer NASCAR fans Jarrett is also known for his strong connection with sponsor UPS. Their long running ad campaign featuring Jarrett considering racing a UPS truck is always one of the most popular. His calm demeanor and good sense of humor made for some memorable ads. Although Jarrett was usually mellow, he was also competitive and would let people know it when needed, especially at Bristol. His final win came at Talladega in October of 2005. A fitting finish for one of the best restrictor plate drivers ever.

His final stop in his career was a challenge of a different kind. He signed with Michael Waltrip Racing to assist in Toyota’s Cup debut in 2007. Although last year was a disaster having little to do with Jarrett, he been more competitive in 2008. Jarrett deserves a good deal of credit for getting MWR established as a company.

Dale Jarrett is expected to make his final Cup start this Sunday at Bristol. After getting a late start on his racing career, he made sure to pack in the excitement. He will still be around thanks to his seamless transition to television, but fans will definitely remember his on track performances.