Dale Jarrett

Dale Arnold Jarrett (born November 26, 1956) is a former American

Jarrett spent his childhood traveling to his father's races across the Southern United States.^[3] He was introduced to golf by age twelve;^[7] he also played football, basketball and baseball while attending Newton-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 the University 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]

Racing career

Beginnings

In April 1977, Jarrett entered his first professional race in the Limited Sportsman Division in Hickory.^[11] His vehicle, a 1968 Chevrolet Nova,^[8] was built by Andy 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 the Dash Series and then the Late Model Sportsman Division,^[13] the latter in which he earned his first victory.^[11]

1982–1986

Jarrett competed in the

1987–1991

Jarrett earned his second career victory in the Busch Grand National Series at Hickory during the

Following his title in 1999, Jarrett won the Daytona 500 for the third time in 2000; 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 with

Jarrett began the 2003 season by winning at

During the 2006 season, Jarrett had four Top 10 finishes, with a best finish of 4th at Kansas. 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 for Michael Waltrip Racing's new No. 44 Toyota team.

Jarrett started the

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 on

However, Jarrett was not guaranteed to start the first five races using the champion's provisional as he had the year before as Kurt Busch, the 2004 champion, had his team's owner points transferred to his teammate Sam 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 at Bristol 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]

Personal life

• Jarrett's brother-in-law is Jimmy Makar who was his crew chief when he drove the 18 car for Joe Gibbs Racing, he is married to Dale's sister Patty.
• Jarrett is an avid golfer and has a 2 handicap in golf and in 2003 was once featured in a commercial with
  Doral Golf Resort & Spa
  .
• Jarrett was a member of the Coca-Cola Racing Family of Drivers when he raced.
• Jarrett and Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Terry Bradshaw were co-owners of the now defunct fantasy sports site [1]
• Jarrett is the first cousin of USPSA/IPSC Champion Handgun Shooter, Todd Jarrett.
• Jarrett and former American football quarterback Brett Favre are co-owners of the Dale Jarrett Racing Adventure and Favre was a part owner of Jarrett's Busch Series team.
• Jarrett used to own and operate a Ford dealership in Indian Trail, North Carolina, southeast of Charlotte. He sold it to Crossroads Automotive Group and it became Crossroads Ford of Indian Trail.
• Jarrett now lives in Hickory, North Carolina.
• Jarrett participated in the Olympic Torch Relay in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
• Jarrett's son, Zach, is a professional baseball outfielder, currently playing for the Gastonia Honey Hunters of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball.

Awards and honors

• 1997, 1999 Richard Petty Driver of the Year^[21]
• 1998
  NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers^[22]
• 2000 Best Driver ESPY Award recipient^[23]
• 2014 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee^[24]
• Named one of NASCAR's 75 Greatest Drivers (2023)

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Cup Series

Daytona 500

Busch Series

ARCA Talladega SuperCar Series

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

International Race of Champions

(key) (Bold – Pole position. * – Most laps led.)

References

Citations

Sources

Moriarty, Frank (2001). Dale Jarrett. MetroBooks.

ISBN 1-5866-3048-2

.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dale Jarrett.

• Official website
• Dale Jarrett driver statistics at Racing-Reference
• Dale Jarrett owner statistics at Racing-Reference
• Dale Jarrett Foundation

Sporting positions
Preceded by Jeff Gordon	champion 1999	Succeeded by Bobby Labonte
Achievements
Preceded by Davey Allison Sterling Marlin Jeff Gordon	Daytona 500 winner 1993 1996 2000	Succeeded by Sterling Marlin Jeff Gordon Michael Waltrip
Preceded by Dale Earnhardt Mark Martin Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Budweiser Shootout winner 1996 2000 2004	Succeeded by Jeff Gordon Tony Stewart Jimmie Johnson
Preceded by Bobby Labonte	Coca-Cola 600 winner 1996	Succeeded by Jeff Gordon
Preceded by Dale Earnhardt Jeff Gordon	Brickyard 400 winner 1996 1999	Succeeded by Ricky Rudd Bobby Labonte