NASCAR WCUP: NAPA 500 Post Race Notes and Quotes, Dale Jarrett
22 November 1999
Posted By Terry
Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
DALE JARRETT --88-- Quality Care Service/Ford Credit Taurus -- YOUR RACE TODAY IS REALLY WHAT THIS TEAM HAS BEEN ABOUT ALL YEAR HASN'T IT? "Yeah, it really does. That' really what this team has been about for four years, racing every single lap as hard as we could with the car and the position that we were in, just trying to make up every position that we possibly can. It would have been great to finish off this day and this year with a victory, but Bobby Labonte is just the man here as he is at a lot of other places. They just seem to have an incredible setup. Here, Bobby does a great job of driving and I want to congratulate Bobby, not only on his victory but a tremendous year. Jimmy Makar and Joe Gibbs, they've put together a great race team there and they'll certainly be winning plenty of races and championships in the near future. But I'm awfully proud of our guys, not only for the year that they've had and the hard work and effort that they've put forth, but for the spirit that they showed today. They could have come out here and maybe not have been quite as excited because we did have it wrapped up, but that showed the type of spirit that we do have -- that they want to win each time we go out."
THAT WAS A GREAT PERFORMANCE FOR A TEAM THAT ALREADY HAD THE TITLE CLINCHED? "I knew that our guys had worked hard on this race car. We really wanted to finish this off with a win, but we knew Bobby Labonte was gonna be there and the guy that could keep us from that. It would have been fantastic if that race Jeremy and I were having for second place could have been for the victory, but Bobby was just out there and gone. Jeremy and myself had a great race. I'm not sure if we would have been racing for the win he would have given me quite as much room as he did, but we did have a great race. Again, it goes back to just what this race team is made of -- what they want to do, what they want to accomplish, how hard they work each and every week and we didn't want to say that we came here after everything was clinched and just ride around. We wanted to be a factor in the race and those are the types of things you have to do to have a championship caliber team. I'm really proud of them. Doug Yates and his people were working late in the engine room all week trying to get us the very best engine that we've had all year. Todd was working on the cars and the chassis with his guys late every afternoon trying to get everything else in with the media and then working on the cars, so it was a huge effort for the guys to come here and perform like they did. And then we had good pits and all that really made a difference. Again, it makes me proud to be associated with these people."
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE EMOTION ON THE FLOAT, IT WAS ONE OF THE BETTER CELEBRATIONS. "I wasn't sure you all were ready for that, but we have a spirited group of guys and girls that are very excited. I think you could see there just how much this means to our people. It took each and every one of those people and more to make all of this happen. It's a sacrifice the guys have to make, but it's a huge reward at the end for making that sacrifice. They've done a fantastic job for four years with this team and before that, we still have people that were there when Robert Yates Racing was started back in 1988, so it took all of that effort to make it happen. They sacrficed a lot. Whenever other people are getting home at five o'clock in the afternoon to spend some time with their families or out on the lake on weekends, these people are putting forth a tremendous effort to make all of this happen and they're families make a huge sacrifice for letting all of this take place and for giving up that time. Hopefully, this is somewhat of a small reward to pay some of that back whenever they can't be there. Hopefully, as we continue on, it's not gonna get easier certainly, but, hopefully, we can bring them even more victories and, hopefully, championships to give them a little something to be proud of."
IS BOBBY LABONTE ON THE SHORT LIST OF GUYS YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO BEAT TO DEFEND THE TITLE NEXT YEAR? "There's no doubt that Bobby Labonte is one of the guys that we're gonna have to beat to win the championship. He did a whole lot more things right this year than what they had go wrong. They had a couple of unfortunate situations or this points race would have been a whole lot closer at the end, but he's a tremendous race driver. He uses his head well and they have a really good thing going there. I think, certainly, if you look right now and said who has the opportunity to win the Winston Cup championship next year, they would definitely be towards the top of the list, or at the top of the list really because they perform well at each and every race track that we have."
HOW MUCH LONGER DO YOU SEE YOURSELF DRIVING IN WINSTON CUP? "Right now forever. You've got this adrenaline and great things going on, but honestly, I feel like I can go another seven or eight years. I think I can drive these cars until I'm 50 or 51 years old. I don't want to set a time limit because something may change my mind that I'm either not as competitive or if I'm holding the team back or if that desire within me to compete and to win somewhat goes away. I don't think that'll ever happen. I've had this for almost 43 years inside of me to want to compete and try to be the best, but, physically, I think that I can do it for quite a while. I'm in the best shape of my life right now and I look forward to each and every race that we go to, so, hopefully, we're gonna be able to continue on a pace that will be pleasing to not only our sponsors, but to Robert and Todd, and we'll be able to have more success."
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