Report: Jarrett leaning toward six-race schedule for 2008
07.10.2007 21:00
Sport and Travel
- Source: USA Today
TALLADEGA, Ala. — Dale Jarrett is leaning toward running just six races next year before stepping out of his car after 23 seasons.
Jarrett has been mulling his future for several months, and said at Talladega Superspeedway he's made up his mind and will announce his plans next week. But Jarrett does not plan to drive the car past the March 30 event at Martinsville, according to a person familiar with the 2008 plans at Michael Waltrip Racing told The Associated Press. The person requested anonymity because portions of the deal are still being finalized. Jarrett, the 1999 Cup champion, has a past champion's provisional that can be used six times to ensure him a spot in the field. That will take him up to Martinsville, where he made his first career start in 1984. MWR officials are hopeful Jarrett can use those six events to get the No. 44 Toyota inside the top 35 in points. The top 35 cars are locked into the field, and MWR's three cars have all been outside the cutoff this season and have struggled to make races. The team currently hopes to replace Jarrett with David Reutimann, who drives the No. 00 and would pilot it while Jarrett closes out his career. MWR wants to continue racing the No. 00 after the switch, but the driver and sponsor are still being ironed out. The 50-year-old Jarrett approached longtime sponsor UPS two months ago to map out a future for the car. He told the company it could do what it wanted, and offered to get out of the car if UPS thought it would improve performance. Jarrett has missed 10 races this season, is 41st in the points and scored his best finish of the year in the season-opening Daytona 500, where he finished 22nd. Jarrett is expected to ease into the broadcast booth upon retirement. He's done some work for ESPN this season and has thrived in the booth, but stressed that future opportunities did not play into his decision. "The opportunity is there, but that didn't weigh in on my decision whatsoever," Jarrett said Saturday. "That opportunity or what I was told was going to be there whenever I decided not to drive the racecar anymore, I didn't let that factor in." Jarrett said he spoke to Hall of Fame quarterback Terry Bradshaw earlier this year about stepping away from competition and into broadcasting, and took Bradshaw's advice to heart. "He said, 'Look, make sure you drive as long as you want to and as long as you can, because once you're out, nobody has ever gone back and done anything good, whether it's your sport or his sport or football,"' Jarrett said. "I took that into consideration. I thought that was pretty good advice."
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