Bent sheet metal, handling problems, battery issues and more headlines the list of adversities with which the UPS Racing Team was confronted in the DirecTV 500 at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday. A pair of "lucky dog" awards helped to ease some of the woes plaguing the team, allowing driver Dale Jarrett to finish the day with a 15th-place finish.
A tight-handling race car is what plagued Jarrett during the first 100 laps of the 500-lap event, proving way too much to handle by lap 56 at which time Jarrett lost a lap to the race leader while running in the 34th position. Chassis changes to the UPS Ford however, dramatically improved the car's handling and Jarrett turned lap times comparable to those of the race leaders. The improved handling even allowed Jarrett to be the first car one lap down on lap 133 which was when the fourth caution of the race occurred, thus earning the "lucky dog" award and placing the #88 UPS Ford Fusion back on the lead lap.
Crew chief Slugger Labbe made subtle changes to the UPS Ford during subsequent caution periods allowing Jarrett to climb as high as 15th in the running order. After overcoming handling issues that dropped the UPS Ford Fusion down a lap early in the DirecTV 500, a new problem cropped up around lap 294. A sour battery on the car forced Jarrett back down to the one-lap down line when the team changed batteries on lap 367.
Despite being a lap down, the UPS Team continued to work on the handling of the car which allowed Jarrett to once again position the UPS Ford Fusion as the first car one lap down during the waning laps of the race. Their perseverance was rewarded when the final caution of the race waved on lap 487 and Jarrett earned the "lucky dog" again. He restarted the race in 15th place and maintained the position while Tony Stewart went on to claim his first win of the 2006 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series season.
"Considering all we overcame, it wasn't a bad day," Jarrett said. "The car was handling pretty well there during a stretch in the race, and then when we started having battery issues we had to do a lot to try and conserve. The team did a great job though of working on the car and getting to where we were in the position to be able to get back on the lead lap. So it was definitely a great team effort."
Elliott Sadler started the event from the seventh position and raced the M&M'S® Ford Fusion in the top-10 all day. Running third in the final 40 laps, Sadler looked to be in prime position to challenge for the win when a loose-handling condition developed on the car dropping him a few spots back in the running order. Sadler finished the race in sixth place.
With a third-place finish Jimmie Johnson reassumed the lead in the point standings with Mark Martin 59 points behind in second place and Matt Kenseth 60 points behind in third. Sadler moved up two positions in the standings to ninth while Jarrett dropped a spot to 11th.
It's on to the heart of Texas next weekend as Texas Motor Speedway plays host to both the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup and Busch Series. The Samsung/Radio Shack 500 is scheduled to run next Sunday at 1 p.m. CDT. FOX will provide live flag-to-flag coverage of every lap.
