Jarrett's retirement classy
Bob Pockrass
Bob Pockrass began covering NASCAR in 1992, primarily covering short-track racing and events. He has worked for Street & Smith's Motorsports Group since 2003.
CONCORD, N.C. – Dale Jarrett talked about his final race Tuesday.
He already has competed in his final points race, and now he’s got one more event – the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race.
Let’s hope that the all-star race is it for Jarrett. And from everything Jarrett is saying, it will be. You can’t have all this hoopla and return. Well you could, but the return would be very anticlimactic and it really wouldn’t do anyone much good.
Besides a strange looking yellowish color for the car, this is an ideal way for Jarrett to end his career. As he said, he knew before the
season started that he’s guaranteed a spot in the all-star race so there won’t be any worries that he couldn’t compete in his last scheduled event.
As one of the last few Carolina-born drivers, it’s also important for Jarrett to have his last event be close to his hometown of Hickory, N.C. He talked about doing it at Indianapolis, but that’s a place for Tony Stewart to run his last race, not Dale Jarrett.
Let’s hope that other drivers take notice with how Jarrett has done this short “retirement tour.” It seems to have worked perfectly – with
some pomp and circumstance but not a full year of “bye DJ” ceremonies that end up getting so overblown and overhyped that it would make anyone gag.
