Dale Jarrett
Dale Jarrett
Dale Arnold Jarrettis a former American race car driver and current sports commentator known for winning the Daytona 500 three timesand winning the NASCAR Winston Cup Series championship in 1999. He is the son of 2-time Grand National Champion Ned Jarrett, younger brother of Glenn Jarrett, father of former driver Jason Jarrett, and cousin of Todd Jarrett. In 2007, Jarrett joined the ESPN/ABC broadcasting team as an announcer in select Nationwide Series races. In 2008, after retiring from driving following...
ProfessionRace Car Driver
Date of Birth26 November 1956
CityConover, NC
It accelerated everything a hundred-fold. There are things that we have put into place today that we'd still just be considering, but that made us realize that we couldn't afford to have that happen again.
There are so many smart people in this business. Not that the people before weren't smart, but these people are smart in a different way and have a much better handle on what they're trying to accomplish, instead of just trial and error as we were before.
I think our relationship - mine and Dale's - as far as I'm concerned is as good, if not better than ever. When I came back in 2003, we talked about our differences and our problems, and I think they've been great since then.
I think he took it like he did everything else. He was the man in charge.
I think more than anything, this is our first opportunity to see how our cars are going to handle in the draft in actual race conditions. We have been to the test, but it's not an actual race and this is, so that's probably the biggest advantage.
I wasn't a lap down and, as we've seen, a lot of these races end under 'green-white-checkered,' and there's no free pass in the last 10 laps. I've got to try to stay in front of the leader to try to make sure I give myself a chance to earn as many points as I possibly can.
You like to think every time you come here you have that opportunity at least, but you look at it and we've had kind of a dry spell as far as running well here. We've won some poles and things, but that's not really what we're after.
You know, driver-crew chief relationships, if you get six good years, that is longer than a lot of marriages, ... We do have a huge amount of respect for each other, and Todd has brought back a leadership that we haven't seen since he left, really.
We have a lot of work to do. We just can't find anything that helps these cars in the front. Elliott (Sadler, his teammate) and I have been having the same problems each week. We really have our work cut out for us.
We have two crew chiefs who are willing to work with that engineering staff. Before, we haven't exactly had that combination working. Now we feel like because everyone who has come here has been talked to about the same ideas, everyone is on the same page. We're going to be a much better organization than we have in quite a few years.
We were so used to winning in those days, I didn't see any reason we wouldn't just continue right on doing that at least a couple of times each year, ... But over the past couple of years ... we haven't been in position to do that as much. I think we've got some more victories to go, but in case that doesn't happen we'll make sure we enjoy this one.
I think Dale would at least be pleased from that to know that we moved forward in that. He and I had a discussion the week of the Daytona 500 about the HANS because he was questioning me why I was wearing it. But certainly, there were a lot more put into use the weeks following that Daytona 500.
I think Earnhardt took that role, just like he did everything else. He was in charge of everything, and he'd put himself in that position. Not that anybody could have taken that position away, but we all had a huge respect for him.
Today is about guys back in the fab shop and the cars they gave us, ... It's a brand new race car. (It's about) the adjustments Todd (Parrott) and these guys did to get me ready to make two laps today. So, my job really starts tomorrow - getting it ready for the race. I'm looking forward to that. I think we've got a good car for Sunday so it should be fun.