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NASCAR WCUP: Dale Jarrett ready for a road course win

10 August 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

This week the NASCAR Winston Cup teams go to Watkins Glen where DALE JARRETT - 88 - Quality Care Service/Ford Credit Racing has honed his road racing skills over the years. Dale's crew chief TODD PARROTT talks about the team's adaptation to road course racing and Dale's improving record at Watkins Glen since joining Robert Yates Racing. Todd also comments on the year so far for the Quality Care Service/Ford Credit Racing team.

"We tested last year at Watkins Glen. We had a really good test and I think we learned some things about brakes and transmissions and did some things that he had been wanting to do so we just got together and did it. I think it made him more confident in the road courses and made him better. "I'd worked with Rusty Wallace and everybody knows what a good road racer he is so I think I've got a pretty good idea of what it takes to get around there. You've just got to get the whole package together - different driving styles and a different way of braking. Then it took a little time to learn how Dale does things. We qualified second our first two races together at Watkins Glen, and then had a fifth place finish in 1998 and a fourth last year. I think he's run better on the road courses since we've been together."

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE 2000 SEASON? "I think we're doing pretty good. We're second in points. Obviously we'd like to be first in points. We've been pretty consistent. We've had our bad races. We've had a couple races I think we should have won or been better at. But with the changes we've had in the team this year our guys have stepped up to the plate and are doing a fantastic job. It's not just about one or two people; it's about the whole team. We've got a great race team, a great car owner and a great engine program with Doug Yates and those guys over there doing what they do. Everybody just does a phenomenal job.

Jarrett's history at Watkins Glen:

Races Wins Top 5 Top 10 Poles

13 0 3 3 0

Jarrett goes into this event with 11 consecutive top-five finishes to his credit including this past week's seventh place at Indianapolis. He is now second in points just 87 behind current leader Bobby Labonte in Winston Cup Championship race. Last year at the New York road course Dale started ninth and finished fourth. In 1997 he led for the first and only time at Watkins Glen, pacing the field for 14 laps before finishing a disappointing 32nd, one lap down.

Text provided by Marti Rompf

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