Final run: Jarrett expects emotional outing in final career race
By Rea White - Associate Editor
Saturday, May 17, 2008
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David Griffin / NASCAR Scene
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CONCORD, N.C. – Dale Jarrett didn’t realize it would be like this.
Although he’s known for months that tonight’s NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race would be the final race of his career, he didn’t expect it to feel quite like this. Certainly, the 51-year-old expected this to be an emotional year. He planned to run the season-opening Budweiser Shootout, then five points races. Then he moved over to ESPN to begin working as a commentator, taking a break before making his final career start in tonight’s non-points event.
He admitted from the start that he didn’t know how he would feel when it came time to finally say goodbye.
Now, he’s finding out. For Jarrett, this is it.
Tonight he’ll cross the stage for driver introductions the final time and compete in his final NASCAR Sprint Cup race. While he gently refuses to say he’ll never get back into a Sprint Cup car, he clearly has absolutely no plans to do so. For Jarrett, retirement could really be just that – at least in terms of driving. Obviously he’s taken on a new career in the television booth, another factor that could keep him from driving again, but Jarrett plans to follow in his father’s footsteps and make a clean break from racing.
How does it feel?
“It’s difficult,” he said Friday as he tried to capture his emotions. “It’s been easy to talk about, but to be honest, it’s been - even leading up to this week having a lot of time to reflect this week has been extremely busy with a lot of things going on. It’s getting more difficult by the day to know that this is going to be it, but it’s the right thing to do.
“It’s not that I’m having any second thoughts. It’s just difficult in knowing that when I get out of the car Saturday night that that is the last time that I will ever compete at this level. You can do a lot of fun things. I can go to the golf course and have great matches but nothing will ever match the kind of excitement that you get from driving a race car and being able to compete at this level. It is tough, but again it is the right decision and I’m looking forward to the future.”
Drivers universally were pleased to see Jarrett back at the track. Four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon, who has raced against Jarrett Gordon’s entire Cup career, said that he prepared a basket for Jarrett and took it to him Friday morning.
“[It’s been] a real pleasure racing against him, he’s one of my favorites as a driver, as a person and I’ve had the opportunity to race hard against him, race for championships against him and, [in] my opinion, he stacks up there with the all-time best,” Gordon said.
Roush Fenway Racing’s Carl Edwards says that Jarrett’s impact will continue in his new role, continuing his NASCAR legacy.
“What his whole family has done for the sport, they’re pillars of the sport,” Edwards said. “Dale Jarrett is a class act. … I think he can bring a lot to the sport even outside of the driver’s seat. He’s one of those guys who can do a lot for the sport.”
He’ll just do it with a microphone in his hand instead of a steering wheel. Jarrett has long been viewed for his classiness both on and off the track. Now he brings his calm demeanor and wit to the television booth. Before he makes the full transition, though, he has to say farewell to the driving side of the sport.
So tonight Jarrett drives the No. 44 UPS entry he made famous – both on the track and through a clever advertising campaign – for the final time.
After that, he plans to focus on his television duties and the life that he’s put on hold for all these years. He’ll have time to reflect on his career, one started in 1982 in what was then the Busch Series. He’ll have time to think about his 11 wins there, his 24 years of Cup racing and the 32 wins netted there and eight years he ran the International Race of Champions Series, earning two victories there.
He’ll think about the famous teams he took to victory lane. Jarrett drove for the Wood Brothers, earning his first career win in 1991 with the team. He gave Joe Gibbs Racing its first win in the 1993 Daytona 500, taking the checkered flag with his dad, Ned, calling the race. He spent 11 years at Robert Yates Racing, winning the 1999 Cup title. He's closing his career driving for Michael Waltrip Racing.
He’ll have time to realize just how much that 1999 championship meant and where it now ranks him among the sport’s elite. What he won’t have time to do, it seems, is return to the car. As a past champion, Jarrett has access to a provisional that could help a team make a race. That apparently hasn’t escaped the notice of some who have already courted the driver about appearing in a random race or two in the coming years. It’s something several retired drivers, including Terry Labonte, have done.
Jarrett, though, doesn’t expect it to be something that he’ll do, though. He just doesn’t seem interested in being tempted – by money or opportunity.
“I hate to use the word never, but I have no plans whatsoever of getting back in a car,” he said. “And I can’t even come up with a scenario. I’ve said a couple of times the only reason I would even consider it would be because of something that UPS wanted me to do. I’ve talked to them a number of times and they have given me not a hint that anything like that would come about so I don’t think that it is. If I sit here and say ‘never, never’ who knows what happens - I don’t know. No, I’m not getting back in. That is my plan right now and I just don’t see anything changing that. I’ve told this to my family and I’ve told it to the fans. I think whenever you tell them things like this that you need to hold to that.”
As he summarizes his racing career, Jarrett uses one word – fantastic.
“It’s just been a huge thrill for me,” he said. “… Basically from 1993 to 2004 and 2005 - that was a 10- or 11-year span that was just fantastic. You always hear about people loving to get up every day because they love to go do their job and that’s the way I was. I was mad on Sunday nights not because we had a bad day, but because I had to wait four more days before I could get back in the race car.
“That’s how good it was and you wanted to do that every single day. … We made the most of it and I was very, very fortunate and it was a blast.”
- Mentioned Drivers:
- Dale Jarrett
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