| Dale Jarrett | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Jarrett in 2011 | |||||||
| Born | Dale Arnold Jarrett (1956-11-26)November 26, 1956 (age 68) Conover, North Carolina, U.S. | ||||||
| Achievements | 1999 Winston Cup Series Champion 1993,1996,2000 Daytona 500 Winner 1996, 1999Brickyard 400 Winner 1996Coca-Cola 600 Winner 1998Winston 500 Winner 1996, 2000, 2004Budweiser Shootout Winner | ||||||
| Awards | Named one ofNASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers (1998) 2004USG Person of the Year Award NASCAR Hall of Fame (2014) Named one ofNASCAR's 75 Greatest Drivers (2023) | ||||||
| NASCARCup Series career | |||||||
| 668 races run over 24 years | |||||||
| Best finish | 1st (1999) | ||||||
| First race | 1984Sovran Bank 500 (Martinsville) | ||||||
| Last race | 2008 Food City 500 (Bristol) | ||||||
| First win | 1991Champion Spark Plug 400 (Michigan) | ||||||
| Last win | 2005UAW-Ford 500 (Talladega) | ||||||
| |||||||
| NASCARXfinity Series career | |||||||
| 329 races run over 20 years | |||||||
| Best finish | 4th (1984,1986) | ||||||
| First race | 1982Goody's 300 (Daytona) | ||||||
| Last race | 2007Food City 250 (Bristol) | ||||||
| First win | 1986L.D. Swain 150 (Rougemont) | ||||||
| Last win | 1995Jiffy Lube Miami 300 (Homestead) | ||||||
| |||||||
| Statistics current as of December 20, 2012. | |||||||
Dale Arnold Jarrett (born November 26, 1956) is an American formerrace car driver and current racing commentator for NBC. He is best known for winning theDaytona 500 three times (in1993,1996, and2000) and winning theNASCAR Winston Cup Series championship in1999. He is the son of 2-time Grand National ChampionNed Jarrett, younger brother ofGlenn Jarrett, father of former driverJason Jarrett, and cousin ofTodd Jarrett. In 2007, Jarrett joined theESPN/ABC broadcasting team as an announcer in selectNationwide Series races.[1] In 2008, after retiring from driving following the2008 Food City 500, he joined ESPN permanently as the lead racing analyst replacingRusty Wallace. In 2015, Jarrett became a part of the NBC Sports Broadcasting Crew for NASCAR events.[2] He was inducted in the 2014 class of theNASCAR Hall of Fame.
Jarrett was born on November 26, 1956,[3] in Conover, North Carolina, the middle child ofNed and Martha.[4] Jarrett has an older brother,Glenn; and a younger sister, Patti.[4] Jarrett's father Ned competed in theNASCARGrand National Division between1953 and1966,[5] winning twoseries championships in1961 and1965.[6] Following retirement, Ned remained active in the racing community as manager ofHickory Motor Speedway and later established a career in broadcasting calling Cup races.[3]
Jarrett spent his childhood traveling to his father's races across theSouthern United States.[3] He was introduced togolf by age twelve;[7] he also playedfootball,basketball andbaseball while attendingNewton-Conover High School.[7] Jarrett led his high school's golf team to three conference championships, and was named the school's athlete of the year as a senior.[8] Following graduation in 1975, Jarrett worked at Hickory Motor Speedway, the track his father managed.[8] Jarrett was offered a full golf scholarship from theUniversity of South Carolina, which he declined.[9] Though he continued to play golf, Jarrett was interested in following his father's footsteps as a racing driver.[10]
In April 1977, Jarrett entered his first professional race in the Limited Sportsman Division in Hickory.[11] His vehicle, a1968Chevrolet Nova,[8] was built byAndy Petree and Jimmy Newsome.[11] Jarrett started last and finished in ninth place;[11] it was after this event when Jarrett knew that he wanted to race for a living.[11][12] Jarrett continued to compete in the Limited Sportsman Division for two years,[11] before moving up to theDash Series and then the Late Model Sportsman Division,[13] the latter in which he earned his first victory.[11]
Jarrett competed in the1982 NASCAR Budweiser Late Model Sportsman Series for car owner Horace Isenhower.[13] He earned fourteen Top 10 finishes throughout the season, with a best of third place at Hickory; and he finished sixth in the point standings.[13] During the1983 season, Jarrett earned four poles and seventeen Top 5's, finishing fifth in the point standings. For the1984 Busch Grand National Series, Jarrett received sponsorship fromEcono Lodge;Valvoline; andBudweiser. He earned six front-row starts and 19 Top 10's, finishing a career-best fourth in the point standings. Jarrett made hisWinston Cup Series debut during the1984 season. Driving the No. 02Chevrolet forEmanuel Zervakis atMartinsville Speedway, Jarrett qualified 24th and finished 14th.[14] He made two more Cup starts that season, at theFirecracker 400 forJimmy Means, and theWarner W. Hodgdon American 500. During the1986 Busch Grand National Series, Jarrett earned his first career victory atOrange County Speedway inRougemont, North Carolina;[14] piloting theNationwise Auto Parts Pontiac tovictory lane. He also earned six poles in 1986.
Jarrett earned his second career victory in the Busch Grand National Series at Hickory during the1987 season.[15] In the Winston Cup Series, Jarrett replacedTommy Ellis in the No. 18 Chevrolet owned byEric Freelander early in the season. Running a primarily-unsponsored car, he had two 10th-place finishes and ended the season 26th in points, second toDavey Allison forRookie 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 No. 29Hardee's-sponsoredOldsmobile owned byCale Yarborough, finishing eighth atRiverside International Raceway. He also ran races forBuddy Arrington andHoss Ellington that season, finishing 23rd in the final standings. He ran the entire season for Yarborough in 1989, posting five Top 10 finishes, including two fifth-place runs. Jarrett enjoyed the majority of his success in the Busch Series during the 1990 and 1991 seasons.[16] Led by crew chief John Ervin[17] and engine builder Ron Hutter, Jarrett scored victories at Bristol, Charlotte, Rockingham and Darlington (twice). Jarrett began 1990 without a Cup ride before taking over the No. 21Citgo-sponsoredFord Thunderbird forWood Brothers Racing at theValleydale Meats 500, replacing the injuredNeil Bonnett. He finished in the Top 10 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 atMichigan International Speedway, and finished a then career-best 17th in the final standings.
Despite the win, Jarrett leftWood Brothers to drive the No. 18Interstate Batteries-sponsored Chevrolet for the fledglingJoe Gibbs Racing team. In their first year of competition, Jarrett had two Top 5 finishes but dropped to 19th in points. In 1993, Jarrett won theDaytona 500 after battlingDale Earnhardt (commonly referred to as"The Dale and Dale Show"). While Jarrett did not win again that season, he had a total of 13 Top 5's and finished fourth in the final standings. During the spring race at Bristol, Jarrett threw his helmet at the No. 90 car of Bobby Hillin Jr. who crashed Jarrett while he had been lapped. The next season, Jarrett won theMello Yello 500, but chose to step down from the Gibbs organization at the end of the season. Jarrett signed to drive forRobert Yates in 1995, piloting the No. 28Texaco-sponsored Ford in place of an injuredErnie Irvan at the Winston Cup level. His Busch Series team also made the switch to Ford as well. With engines provided by Yates and sponsorship fromMac Tools, Jarrett scored four Busch Series wins during the season. However, only three of the wins counted. His win atMichigan was disqualified due to an unapproved engine part.[18]
He won his first Cup race for Yates atPocono Raceway and finished 13th in the final standings. When it was announced Irvan (who had returned toward the end of the year in a Texaco Havoline-sponsored Yates car numbered 88) would return to the 28 after a year-long absence due to injuries, Yates had planned to help Jarrett compete in his own team with aHooters sponsorship. The deal fell through, however, and Yates promoted the 88 car to full-time in the Winston Cup Series with Ford assuming the sponsorship through its Quality Care Service andFord Credit divisions. In 1996, Jarrett won theDaytona 500 for a second time, and finished in the Top 2 in each of the first three races of the season. He also won theCoca-Cola 600,Brickyard 400, and the second Michigan race. Jarrett finished third in the final point standings behindHendrick Motorsports teammatesTerry Labonte andJeff 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 in theIndianapolis 500 since2003.
The following season, he won a career-best seven races but lost the championship toJeff Gordon by 14 points, who by Jarrett's own admission on August 25, 2012, was "eleven hundred times the driver I ever dreamed of being". In 1998, Jarrett won three races, and finished second in the last two races of the year, ending up third in the final point standings to Jeff Gordon, despite suffering gallbladder problems, which made him miss the exhibition race in Japan. After an offseason surgery, Jarrett returned in 1999 and took the points lead after his first win of the season at thePontiac Excitement 400 and held it for the rest of the season, when he won The Winston Cup title by 201 points overBobby Labonte with four wins (Richmond, Michigan, Daytona, and Indianapolis), 24 Top 5's, a then Modern Era record 29 Top 10's, and an average 6.76 finish. He also retired from the Busch Series to become a part-time owner, partnering withNational Football League quarterbackBrett Favre to field the No. 11Rayovac-sponsoredFord for his son Jason, Yates teammateKenny Irwin Jr., andSteve Grissom.[19] He had 11 wins in the Busch Series when he retired.
Following his title in 1999, Jarrett won the Daytona 500 for the third time in2000; however, after only winning one other race and dropping to fourth in the standings, Ford elected to withdraw as the primary sponsor (although Ford Credit remained as the secondary).United Parcel Service (UPS) was signed as the primary sponsor for Jarrett and shortly thereafter, UPS began a multi-year promotional campaign involving the company trying to convince him to drive their trademark "Big Brown Truck" in a race.
In 2001, he won three of the first eight races of the season (Darlington, Texas, and Martinsville) and traded the points lead withJeff Gordon, with the two of them having the same point totals for a few different weeks, but won only once more at New Hampshire in July and faded back to fifth in the standings. In addition, Jarrett suffered a concussion from a hard crash at the newKansas Speedway. In an interview, Jarrett said that he did remember not being in theProtection One 400 but only getting on the plane to go to the racetrack. After that season, Jarrett's long-time crew chiefTodd Parrott departed andJimmy Elledge took over the role as a replacement. After seven races of the 2002 season, Jarrett and Parrott reunited, and Jarrett went on to clinch two victories (Pocono and Michigan) and rebounded to ninth in the final standings after the poor start to the year.
Jarrett began the 2003 season by winning atNorth Carolina Speedway but only posted five more Top 10 finishes, relegating him to 26th in the final standings. He rebounded in 2004 to finish 15th in points, despite not winning a race for the first time since 1992. In 2005, Jarrett had an up-and-down year in 2005. In the Busch Series Bristol race, he was involved in a crash withShane Hmiel. When Jarrett confronted him under a red flag, Hmielflipped him off drawing a fine from NASCAR. Jarrett was not penalized for any part he had in the wreck. Later, Jarrett got his last career Cup series win atTalladega Superspeedway, again finishing 15th in the standings.
During the 2006 season, Jarrett had four Top 10 finishes, with a best finish of 4th atKansas. His best starting position was 2nd and he finished 23rd in points. It was his last year racing for Yates, as he and his sponsor UPS left forMichael Waltrip Racing's new No. 44 Toyota team.
Jarrett started the2007 Nextel Cup season on a high note as he drew pole position for the annual exhibition race, theBudweiser Shootout, atDaytona. He finished 18th out of 21 cars. Since Jarrett's team was a brand new team and had no owner points, and due to a rule change, he was eligible to use the Past Champion's Provisional five times as his 1999 championship was the most recent among past champions who were driving for teams not in the top 35 in owner points; prior to the rule change the use of a Past Champion's Provisional was not limited.
Jarrett was forced to use all six of his provisionals at the start of the season, starting at Daytona mainly because Michael Waltrip Racing was penalized by NASCAR foran illegal fuel additive during Speedweeks and the penalties knocked Jarrett, Waltrip and Reutimann out of the Top 35 in owner points-the safety net for qualifying regardless of rain and cancellations of qualifying.
Jarrett started 43rd in the Daytona 500 and finished 22nd. Jarrett 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 12 races in 2007 as a result.
During an interview onSpeed, Jarrett 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 the2007 Bank of America 500. Jarrett retired from points racing after the2008 Food City 500, turning the No. 44 Toyota ride toDavid Reutimann. His final race was the All-Star race on May 17, 2008, after which he joined ESPN's NASCAR coverage full-time as a booth announcer.
However, Jarrett was not guaranteed to start the first five races using the champion's provisional as he had the year before asKurt Busch, the 2004 champion, had his team's owner points transferred to his teammateSam Hornish Jr. and would be first to receive it. Jarrett started off 2008 with a 16th-place finish at Daytona. He retired from points racing after the Food City 500 atBristol 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.[20]
(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time.Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)
| Year | Team | Manufacturer | Start | Finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Ellington Racing | Buick | 36 | 16 |
| 1989 | Cale Yarborough Motorsports | Pontiac | 20 | 32 |
| 1991 | Wood Brothers Racing | Ford | 17 | 6 |
| 1992 | Joe Gibbs Racing | Chevrolet | 35 | 36 |
| 1993 | 2 | 1 | ||
| 1994 | 41 | 35 | ||
| 1995 | Robert Yates Racing | Ford | 1 | 5 |
| 1996 | 7 | 1 | ||
| 1997 | 3 | 23 | ||
| 1998 | 5 | 34 | ||
| 1999 | 8 | 37 | ||
| 2000 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 2001 | 31 | 22 | ||
| 2002 | 21 | 14 | ||
| 2003 | 11 | 10 | ||
| 2004 | 31 | 10 | ||
| 2005 | 1 | 15 | ||
| 2006 | 25 | 10 | ||
| 2007 | Michael Waltrip Racing | Toyota | 43 | 22 |
| 2008 | 20 | 16 |
(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time.Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)
| ARCA Talladega SuperCar Series results | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | No. | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | ATCSC | Pts | Ref |
| 1985 | Isenhower Racing | 32 | Olds | ATL | DAY | ATL | TAL | ATL | SSP | IRP 5 | CSP | FRS | IRP | OEF | ISF | DSF | TOL | 103rd | - | [71] |
(key) (Bold – Pole position. * – Most laps led.)
| International Race of Champions results | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Pos. | Pts | Ref |
| 1994 | Dodge | DAY 3 | DAR 12 | TAL 3 | MCH 12 | 8th | 34 | [72] |
| 1996 | Pontiac | DAY | TAL | CLT | MCH 9 | NA | 0 | [73] |
| 1997 | DAY 7 | CLT 10 | CAL 8 | MCH 3 | 8th | 34 | [74] | |
| 1998 | DAY 6 | CAL 8 | MCH 10 | IND 7 | 10th | 29 | [75] | |
| 1999 | DAY 8 | TAL 10* | MCH 11 | IND 6 | 8th | 30 | [76] | |
| 2000 | DAY 8 | TAL 8 | MCH 5 | IND 8 | 9th | 31 | [77] | |
| 2001 | DAY 1 | TAL 11 | MCH 8 | IND 4 | 5th | 47 | [78] | |
| 2002 | DAY 12 | CAL 3 | CHI 9 | IND 1* | 3rd | 49 | [79] | |
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | NASCARWinston Cup Serieschampion 1999 | Succeeded by |
| Achievements | ||
| Preceded by | Daytona 500winner 1993 1996 2000 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Budweiser Shootout winner 1996 2000 2004 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Coca-Cola 600 winner 1996 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Brickyard 400 winner 1996 1999 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
