Prior to the start of the 2006 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series season, Dale Jarrett had competed in 38 events at Lowe's Motor Speedway completing 13,895 laps of racing during those events. Jarrett will add only a total of 32 laps of completion out of a possible 734 laps of racing at LMS in 2006 after experiencing another short night at a track that resulted in a pair of DNFs for Team UPS this year.
LMS is considered the "hometown" track of the 1999 series champ, and it was anything but kind to the #88 UPS Racing Team this season as Jarrett finished 43rd in the Coca-Cola 600 in May - officially scored as completing zero laps in that race. He completed only 32 laps in the Bank of America 500 Saturday night after rookie driver Reed Sorenson punted the UPS Ford Fusion at the exit of turn four to bring out the fourth caution period of the race.
It was the second run-in of the night with Sorenson as he had hit Jarrett on pit road during the third caution period which occurred on lap 16. Jarrett suffered no damage other than a flattened left rear tire and continued in the event. After restarting the event in 36th on lap 21, Jarrett had climbed into the top 30 before getting turned around for the second time by Sorenson. Damage sustained to the UPS Ford was beyond repair, and the incident retired the team from the race, relegating Jarrett to a 41st-place finish and giving the team its third DNF of the 2006 season.
"You'll have to ask him what happened," Jarrett told reporters following the incident. "That's the second time he hit me tonight. We were running back there having a nice little race, and then I just got hit from behind. I don't know where he thought he was going. I hate it for the guys on this team because they have been working hard, and we felt like we were going to be decent despite where we started. I'm sure I'll have a talk with him (Sorenson) sometime this week."
Teammate David Gilliland had a tough go of it at LMS as well. After starting in 35th position, Gilliland sustained damage during the first incident of the night on lap 1, along with many other competitors including Tony Stewart, Kurt Busch, Ryan Newman, Jamie McMurray and others. Gilliland was able to stay on the lead lap and continued tallying laps for the #38 M&M's® Team until he lost the handling on the car on lap 163 and made contact with the inside wall of turn two. Damage sustained by the M&M's Ford Fusion was more than could be repaired which resulted in a DNF and 33rd place finish for the rookie driver.
Jarrett dropped one position in the point standings and is now 24th, while Gilliland remained 43rd in the driver point standings.
Kasey Kahne continues to turn his luck around in the Chase for the Championship by scoring the win in the Bank of America 500 to complete the "sweep" of the LMS events in 2006. Kahne finished second last week at Talladega and after the win in Charlotte moves up a spot to eighth and closed the gap between he and point leader Jeff Burton to 160 points. Burton continues to lead the point standings, stretching his lead to 45 points in front of Matt Kenseth and 89 points ahead of Kevin Harvick who sit second and third in the standings, respectively.
Only five races remain in the 2006 NASCAR season, and it is officially the halfway point of the Chase for the Championship. The battle moves to the half-mile Martinsville Speedway with next weekend's Subway 500. The racing action begins at 1 p.m. EDT. The Chase to the Championship continues on NBC next weekend with the network beginning its live television broadcast at 12:30 p.m. EDT.
