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| Birth Name(s) : Dale Jarrett |
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Full Dale Jarrett Biography
Dale Arnold Jarrett (born November 26, 1956 in Newton, North Carolina) is an American race car driver. Jarrett currently races in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series exclusively, driving the #44 Toyota Camry for Michael Waltrip Racing. He is the son of two-time NASCAR Grand National champion Ned Jarrett, and the father of former Busch Series racer Jason Jarrett. Upon graduation from Newton-Conover High School in 1974, 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 will join the ESPN/ABC Sports broadcasting team as an announcer in select Busch Series races.Broadcaster Schedule
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.
Jarrett began racing in 1982 in the #24/32 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 poles, finishing a career-best fourth in the final standings.
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, 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.
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. The following season, he won a career-best seven races and lost the championship to Jeff Gordon by fourteen points.
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 most recent win at Talladega Superspeedway.
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. He now drives the number #44 Toyota Camry. 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 champions provisional at the Spring Talladega race, Aarons 499. For the rest of 2007, Jarrett now must get into that weekends race on time. If at any point Jarrett reaches the top 35 in points, he will automatically be locked into a race. Jarrett has thus far missed eleven races in 2007 as a result.
During an interview on Speed, Dale said after his contract is up with MWR (which is an expected 2009 season), he will retire. The timetable was pushed up, according to ESPN.com's David Newton (who says that Jarrett will retire after the 2008 Food City 500 and hand the #44 Toyota to David Reutimann). |
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