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| Born | November 26, 1956 Conover, North Carolina |
|---|---|
| Achievements | Named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers
2004 USG Person of the Year Award 1x Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion (1999) |
| Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career | |
| Best pts finish | 1st (1999) |
| First Race | 1984 Sovran Bank 500 |
| First Win | 1991 Champion Spark Plug 400 |
| Last race | 2008 Food City 500 |
| Last win | 2005 UAW-Ford 500 |
| Wins: 32 | Championships: 1 |
| NASCAR Xfinity Series career | |
| Best pts finish | 4th (1984, 1986) |
| First Race | 1982 Goody's 300 |
| Last race | 2007 Food City 250 |
| First Win | 1986 L.D. Swain 150 |
| Last win | 1995 Jiffy Lube Miami 300 |
| Wins: 11 | Championships: 0 |
Dale Arnold Jarrett (born November 26, 1956) is an American retired stock car driver and current television racing analyst. He is the son of Ned Jarrett and younger brother of Glenn Jarrett. Jarrett's first race was the Sovran Bank 500 at (Martinsville) in the #02 Chevy for Emanuel Zervakis. In 1999, Jarrett won the Winston Cup Championship, which is now called the Monster Energy Cup Series, and thus with his father, Ned Jarrett, became only the second father-son duo to win a championship. Jarrett has won the Daytona 500 three times, in 1993, 1996, and 2000. Jarrett never intended on following in his father's racing footsteps. Dale's father envisioned him becoming a professional golfer. In fact, Dale was offered a golf scholarship by the University of South Carolina, but he turned it down because he "didn't really care for schooling".
Early Career[]
Jarrett's first starts in the then-named NASCAR Winston Cup series came as a handful of one-off races for Emanuel Zervakis and Jimmy Means in 1984, and 1 start for Mike Curb in 1986.
1987 was Jarrett's rookie season at the top level. He raced a majority of the season for Eric Freelander's small operation, earning 2 Top 10s, finishing 26th in points and 2nd in Rookie if the Year to Davey Allison. In 1988, Jarrett ran every race of the season, for multiple teams, but mostly in Cale Yarborough's #29 Hardee's machine. He went full-time for Yarborough in 1989, but finished 24th in the standings. Jarrett was out of a ride in the 1990 season before signing with the Wood Brothers #21 CITGO Ford, to replace the injured Neil Bonnett. In 1991, Jarrett won his first Cup Series race at Michigan.
In 1992 Jarrett left the Wood Brothers to drive the #18 Interstate Batteries Chevy for the new Joe Gibbs Racing team, owned by football coach Joe Gibbs. Jarrett and the team emerged as a contender in 1993, when Jarrett won the first of his 3 Daytona 500 wins and finished 4th in the standings.
Robert Yates Racing[]
In 1995, Jarrett left Joe Gibbs to drive for Robert Yates Racing in the #28 Texaco Havoline Ford, previously driven by Ernie Irvan, who was recovering from a near-fatal crash at Michigan the previous year. In 1996, Jarrett moved over a second Yates car, the #88 Quality Care Ford Taurus, in the wake of Irvan's return. Jarrett got his first win in the first race of the season at the Daytona 500 after starting 7th. He had 3 more wins and 2 more poles, finishing 3rd in points, If that wasn't good enough, the next season he pulled off 7 wins and 20 top 5's finishing 2nd in points. In 1999, Jarrett set a true career accomplishment, winning his first career championship with 4 wins 24 top 5's and 29 top 10's. In 2001, a sponsorship changed to the UPS.
Move to Toyota[]
Dale Jarrett announced during the Dodge Charger 500 weekend that he will be leaving Robert Yates Racing at season's end to join Michael Waltrip Racing to drive for one of the new Toyota teams in 2007. On June 10, 2007, a rumor was started that due to Jarrett's lack of performance, he could get let go to move to another Toyota team, so far Jarrett has started 11 of 14 races with a best finish of 22nd. Jarrett ran only 5 races of the 2008 season, David Reutimann was his replacement.
Retirement[]
Jarrett announced on Speed Channel his contract with Michael Waltrip Racing would be up at the end of the 2008 Season, and he would retire. He planned on running six races: the Daytona 500, Auto Club 500, UAW-Dodge 400, Kobalt Tools 500, and his last race at the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway on March 16, 2008. Honored before the race, he qualified and finished 37th.
List of victories[]
| Year | Team | Race | Win# | Track |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | Wood Brothers Racing | 1991 Champion Spark Plug 400 | 1 | Michigan International Raceway |
| 1993 | Joe Gibbs Racing | 1993 Daytona 500 | 2 | Daytona International Speedway |
| 1994 | 1994 Mello Yello 500 | 3 | Charlotte Motor Speedway | |
| 1995 | Robert Yates Racing | 1995 Miller Genuine Draft 500 | 4 | Pocono Raceway |
| 1996 | 1996 Daytona 500 | 5 | Daytona International Speedway | |
| 1996 Coca-Cola 600 | 6 | Charlotte Motor Speedway | ||
| 1996 Brickyard 400 | 7 | Indianapolis Motor Speedway | ||
| 1996 GM Goodwrench 400 | 8 | Michigan International Speedway | ||
| 1997 | 1997 Primestar 500 | 9 | Atlanta Motor Speedway | |
| 1997 TranSouth Financial 400 | 10 | Darlington Raceway | ||
| 1997 Pennsylvania 500 | 11 | Pocono Raceway | ||
| 1997 Goody's Headache Powder 500 | 12 | Bristol Motor Speedway | ||
| 1997 Exide NASCAR Select Batteries 400 | 13 | Richmond International Raceway | ||
| 1997 UAW-GM 500 | 14 | Charlotte Motor Speedway | ||
| 1997 Dura Lube 500 | 15 | Phoenix International Raceway | ||
| 1998 | 1998 TranSouth Financial 400 | 16 | Darlington Raceway | |
| 1998 MBNA Platinum 400 | 17 | Dover Downs International Speedway | ||
| 1998 Winston 500 | 18 | Talladega Superspeedway | ||
| 1999 | 1999 Pontiac Excitement 400 | 19 | Richmond International Raceway | |
| 1999 Kmart 400 | 20 | Michigan Speedway | ||
| 1999 Pepsi 400 | 21 | Daytona International Speedway | ||
| 1999 Brickyard 400 | 22 | Indianapolis Motor Speedway | ||
| 2000 | 2000 Daytona 500 | 23 | Daytona International Speedway | |
| 2000 Pop Secret Microwave Popcorn 400 | 24 | North Carolina Speedway | ||
| 2001 | 2001 Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 | 25 | Darlington Raceway | |
| 2001 Harrah's 500 | 26 | Texas Motor Speedway | ||
| 2001 Virginia 500 | 27 | Martinsville Speedway | ||
| 2001 New England 300 | 28 | New Hampshire International Speedway | ||
| 2002 | 2002 Pocono 500 | 29 | Pocono Raceway | |
| 2002 Pepsi 400 Presented by Farmer Jack | 30 | Michigan International Speedway | ||
| 2003 | 2003 Subway 400 | 31 | North Carolina Speedway | |
| 2005 | 2005 UAW-Ford 500 | 32 | Talladega Superspeedway |
Career history & stats[]
| Year | Car no. | Primary sponsor | Make | Team/Owner | Races | Wins | Top 5's | Top Tens | Pts finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | No. 02 | Chevrolet | Emanuel Zervakis | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 72nd | |
| 1986 | No. 98 | Busch | Pontiac | Mike Curb | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A |
| 1987 | No. 18 | Freedland Financial | Chevrolet | Eric Freedlander | 24 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 26th |
| 1988 | No. 29 |
Hardees | Oldsmobile | Cale Yarborough Motorsports | 19 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 23rd |
| No. 1 | Port-A-Lube | Buick | Hoss Ellington | 8 | |||||
| 1989 | No. 29 | Hardees | Pontiac | Cale Yarborough Motorsports | 29 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 24th |
| 1990 | No. 21 | CITGO | Ford | Wood Brothers Racing | 24 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 25th |
| 1991 | No. 21 | CITGO | Ford | Wood Brothers Racing | 29 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 17th |
| 1992 | No. 18 | Interstate Batteries | Chevrolet | Joe Gibbs Racing | 29 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 19th |
| 1993 | No. 18 | Interstate Batteries | Chevrolet | Joe Gibbs Racing | 30 | 1 | 13 | 18 | 4th |
| 1994 | No. 18 | Interstate Batteries | Chevrolet | Joe Gibbs Racing | 30 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 16th |
| 1995 | No. 28 | Texaco/Havoline | Ford | Robert Yates Racing | 31 | 1 | 9 | 14 | 13th |
| 1996 | No. 88 | Quality Care Service/Ford Credit | Ford | Robert Yates Racing | 31 | 4 | 17 | 21 | 3rd |
| 1997 | No. 88 | Quality Care Service/Ford Credit | Ford | Robert Yates Racing | 32 | 7 | 20 | 23 | 2nd |
| 1998 | No. 88 | Quality Care Service/Ford Credit | Ford | Robert Yates Racing | 33 | 3 | 19 | 22 | 3rd |
| 1999 | No. 88 | Quality Care Service/Ford Credit | Ford | Robert Yates Racing | 34 | 4 | 24 | 29 | 1st |
| 2000 | No. 88 | Quality Care Service | Ford | Robert Yates Racing | 34 | 2 | 15 | 24 | 4th |
| 2001 | No. 88 | UPS | Ford | Robert Yates Racing | 36 | 4 | 12 | 19 | 5th |
| 2002 | No. 88 | UPS | Ford | Robert Yates Racing | 36 | 2 | 10 | 18 | 9th |
| 2003 | No. 88 | UPS | Ford | Robert Yates Racing | 36 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 26th |
| 2004 | No. 88 | UPS | Ford | Robert Yates Racing | 36 | 0 | 6 | 14 | 15th |
| 2005 | No. 88 | UPS | Ford | Robert Yates Racing | 36 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 15th |
| 2006 | No. 88 | UPS | Ford | Robert Yates Racing | 36 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 23rd |
| 2007 | No. 44 | UPS | Toyota | Michael Waltrip Racing | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 41st |
| 2008 | No. 44 | UPS | Toyota | Michael Waltrip Racing | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 54th |