The USG Sheetrock 400 ended better than it started for Dale Jarrett and the #88 UPS Team. After starting the race in 41st, the team had a lot of ground to make up. The progress was impeded when equipment problems developed late in the race and as a result Jarrett left Chicagoland Speedway with a 31st-place finish.
A tight condition on the car that made it feel like it was "ploughing" dropped Jarrett to last in the running order during the first 30 laps. Jarrett was the first car placed one lap down on lap 30. Adjustments made to the UPS Ford during the green flag pit stop on lap 57 did a great deal to improve the handling. The combination of a somewhat better handling car and pit strategy allowed Jarrett to climb as high as 27th in the running order and placed him in contention to get back on the lead lap.
Transmission problems surfaced on lap 175 when the UPS Ford lost third gear. That problem created a situation in which Jarrett had difficulty getting up to speed during restarts. As a result, Jarrett remained in the lap down car line and finished the day in 31st.
"Tough weekend," Jarrett said of the USG Sheetrock 400. "We struggled in practice Friday and then of course in qualifying. The car did get to handling better in last practice on Saturday but I don't know what happened between that time and the start of the race. The car was just terrible. Slugger (Labbe, crew chief) made good calls in the pits and with improving the car to where I could at least drive it but then the transmission problem hurt us there in the end. It just wasn't our weekend."
Elliott Sadler started the race in 32nd place but never really made an aggressive move through the field behind the wheel of the #38 M&M's® Ford. Sadler joined the lap down cars on lap 123 and was never in position to get back on the lead lap. Sadler brought out the fifth caution of the race when he lost the M&M'S Ford in a single car incident on lap 215. He was able to continue in the race and finished the event in 29th position.
Jeff Gordon cruised to the win at Chicago, scoring his first win at Chicagoland and second victory of the 2006 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series season. Jimmie Johnson, who finished sixth, held onto the points lead as Matt Kenseth encountered late race problems and finished 21st , leaving him 48 points from the top spot.
Sadler remains 19th in the point standings while Jarrett dropped three spots to 24th.
New Hampshire International Speedway is the next stop on the schedule for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series. The Lenox Industrial Tools 300 is scheduled to start next Sunday at 2 p.m. EDT. TNT will begin its live broadcast of the event with its pre-race show that starts at 1:30 p.m. EDT.
