Dale Jarrett and the #88 UPS Racing Team overcame a poor qualifying effort for the Golden Corral 500 to finish the weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway with a ninth-place finish.
The Golden Corral 500 started nearly 24 hours after its scheduled start time, but that didn't deter the UPS Racing Team from putting forth its best effort. Jarrett used the first 100 laps of the event to race from 31st place to the top 15 despite persistent handling issues with the UPS Ford Fusion.
Jarrett fought a handling condition that made the car loose when he got back on the gas. Toward the latter stages of the race a tight-handling condition created too much grip for the UPS Ford, making it hard to turn.
"We had a couple runs where the car was OK but it was never perfect," Jarrett said. "The car was loose at the beginning but it got really tight there toward the end of the race. The car just wouldn't turn. But we made improvements from where we started here this weekend so that was OK."
After starting from the 28th position, Elliott Sadler and the #38 M&Ms® Racing Team battled tight conditions for most of the 325-lap race. Sadler was able to jump to the top 15 fairly quickly and climbed as high as seventh in the running order before settling for a 29th-place finish. Sadler sits 13th in the points while Jarrett jumped to ninth.
Kasey Kahne picked up the win in the Golden Corral 500, his first of the 2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series season. Jimmie Johnson continues to lead the point standings.
Bristol Motor Speedway will be the next race site for the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series. The Food City 500 begins at 2 p.m. EST with FOX's live television coverage of the race starting at 1:30 p.m. EST.
