NASCAR WCUP: Jarrett expects long, hard day at New Hampshire

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

July 18, 2001

LOUDON, N.H. - Dale Jarrett never has a problem with motivation. What he does have is a little bit extra heading into Sunday's New England 300 (TNT; 2 p.m. EDT) at New Hampshire International Speedway.

His extra incentive: the former Winston Cup champion has yet to win at the tough 1.058-mile track in 12 previous tries. Noteworthy items include:

While he may not have won yet at N.H.I.S., Jarrett has registered eight top 10's in 12 starts (good for 83%) with an average finish of 11.8 in New Hampshire.

His career-best finish came in 1996 when Jarrett finished second to Ernie Irvan, who gave Jarrett's present team owner Robert Yates his first (and only) trip to New Hampshire's Victory Lane that season.

A look at Jarrett's last seven N.H.I.S. starts reveals a particularly strong performance trend: three top 5's (all fourth-place finishes) and six top10's.

Jarrett, with a fourth-place inaugural run at Chicagoland Speedway last Sunday, regained his spot atop the Winston Cup points standings. He is tied with Jeff Gordon at the midway mark of the 2001 season (2,515 points).

The 1999 Winston Cup champion and driver of the #88 UPS Ford Taurus offered a variety of views on the New Hampshire race weekend experience:

"It's a race track that we haven't won on and that's always something that gives you extra motivation," Jarrett said. "It's a great place to go, the Bahres are great people and the fans are tremendous."

He added, "It's a very difficult race track to race our cars on, but you know that going in. It's basically a one-lane, one-groove track, so if you've got a good car, it's a great place to race and if not, it's a very difficult place to race. Even with a good car, you're still deciding whether to take two or four tires and pit strategy is very important at Loudon. There are a lot of things that play into having a good day there. It's a challenge of a different type. You know what you've got going in and it's going to be a long, hard day."

Text provided by L Wells

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