NASCAR WCUP: Jarrett ready to resume the rigors of racing at Talladega

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

April 19, 2001

TALLADEGA, Ala., - As drivers and fans brace for the most anticipated Winston Cup race in recent memory, Dale Jarrett and his #88 UPS Team look to continue their winning ways in Sunday's Talladega 500 (FOX; 1 p.m. EDT) at Talladega Superspeedway.

Noteworthy items include:

Jarrett is on an unprecedented run right now, winning three out of four races for the first time in his Winston Cup career (Darlington, Texas and Martinsville).

While winning back-to-back races at Texas and Martinsville, respectively, Jarrett was also the only driver to finish in the top 10 in both of those events.

Jarrett now leads the Winston Cup championship standings by 123 points over Jeff Gordon after eight of 36 events.

During the day of his most recent win at Martinsville Speedway, Jarrett also had The Masters on his mind, watching Tiger Woods' coronation at Augusta following his own victory in the Virginia 500. Jarrett was on hand at Augusta for opening round activity this year to watch personal friend Davis Love III and Woods, who like himself, is represented by International Management Group. As irony would have it, both Jarrett and Woods captured the 27th victory of their respective careers on Sunday, April 8.

Jarrett will compete in Saturday's IROC race at Talladega Superspeedway. In the last series event at Daytona, he notched the first IROC win of his career after a door-to-door battle with Robert Yates Racing teammate Ricky Rudd (those two also dueled to a 1-2 finish at Martinsville).

Jarrett spoke recently on the rigors of superspeedway racing and the work being done to improve safety in his sport:

"It's just a very intense day," Jarrett said, speaking of Talladega. "It's one of the most nerve-racking races that we run in because it's high speed and you're bunched up more than you are anywhere else. There's nowhere else we run three- and four-wide for any amount of time. It's constantly there for 500 miles at Talladega and because of that it's just very intense."

Jarrett on NASCAR's efforts to improve overall safety:

"NASCAR has always listened to (the drivers) when it's come to matters of improving safety. They're listening now and they have their ideas and I think they're doing a very good job. It's just that everybody doesn't know everything that's going on. We've become a society that thinks we have to know everything's that's going on, whether it's the government or right here with NASCAR. It's not necessarily best that everybody knows everything. What's best for everybody to know is that there's a lot of work and a lot of effort being made on the part of a lot of people to make this a safe sport."

Jarrett concluded by saying, "I think that we've come a long way (in terms of safety). Things are gonna happen that are still out of our control, but I think that the things that are being done now are not only going to be beneficial to us right now, but certainly well into the future."

Text provided by Kris Johnson

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