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NASCAR WCUP: Dale Jarrett agrees with current point system

20 September 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

DALE JARRETT - 88 - Quality Care Service/Ford Credit Racing driver is scheduled to make his 29th appearance at Dover Downs International Speedway this coming Sunday. It will be Jarrett's 416th start in Winston Cup competition.

In addition to questions regarding his run for a second Winston Cup championship Dale has most frequently been asked what his feelings are about the possibility of a change in the current point system and why he shaved his mustache. Here are his answers.

DO YOU THINK THE CURRENT WINSTON CUP POINT SYSTEM IS FAIR? "I do think that it is fair. I do know that there are people out there that think more emphasis should be put on the guy that wins and more points awarded to that. People think we are just racing for points and not to win. I want to assure the fans that every driver out there is racing as hard as we possibly can every week to win the race. We wouldn't race any harder if there were 1000 points for first and the guy only got 100 points for second. We're gonna race to win. But sometimes you realize your car isn't good enough to do that and then you race to get as many points as you possibly can. I think the system has worked well. It seems like we always have a couple of cars at least, and this year it looks like we are going to have more than that going for the championship at the end of the year."

WHY DID YOU SHAVE YOUR MUSTACHE? "My wife Kelley wanted to see what I looked like without it. And like every other man, when my wife tells me what to do, that's what I'll do."

ARE YOU MORE AERODYNAMIC WITHOUT IT? "Well, that was the plan, but it hasn't seemed to work that way. I was trying to do my part.. We've had a lot of people tell me we need to grow it back, that my luck hasn't been quite as good. But I don't really think that has much to do with it. We just haven't been quite on our game. We're going to leave it off and see what we can do with that."

Dale's victory at Dover in the spring race came in 1998. He has not finished lower than seventh at Dover since then. Jarrett has led a total of 498 laps at the "Monster Mile", with 99 laps at the front of the field during the race last fall when he finished third. He was fourth in June.

Text Provided By Ford

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