Dale Jarrett will sit out in consecutive races after failing to qualify for Sunday's Citizens Bank 400 race at Michigan International Speedway. He posted a qualifying time quicker than his practice time but not quite quick enough to make the 43-car starting grid. Jarrett's qualifying lap of 39.322 seconds barely missed making the race by only 0.015 seconds to the last qualifier to make the race, A.J. Allmendinger in the #84 Toyota.
As has been the typical schedule for recent races, Friday started with only one practice prior to qualifying. Jarrett fought a tight condition on his #44 UPS Toyota Camry early in the session. The crew made a few shock and spring adjustments to free the car up. They kept their focus mainly on the rear of the car with their adjustments. But after finding that the car wasn't responding accurately to the changes they were implementing, they found that they had a few bad sets of tires that skewed their attempts to remedy the handling problems.
Jarrett's qualifying draw in Michigan was almost opposite of what he had in Pocono. This week, instead of having to go out early in the qualifying session, Jarrett went out 45th of the 49 cars attempting to qualify for the Citizens Bank 400. His qualifying attempt looked smooth and fast, with his fastest lap coming on his first circuit around the track. With a time of 39.322 seconds and a speed of 183.104 mph, he improved on his practice time of 39.505 seconds but sat uncomfortably on the "bubble" waiting for the last car to go. Afterwards Jarrett and his #44 UPS team found themselves going home early for the second week in a row.
"I'm very disappointed that we didn't make it," Jarrett said. "I love to compete and especially at Michigan. I really wanted to bring home a good finish on Sunday for my father and for UPS at my favorite track. We were so close. The car was a little freer than it was in practice, but almost a little too loose."
Jarrett's teammates both made it into Sunday's race. David Reutimann successfully qualified 40th with a time of 39.291 seconds and a speed of 183.248 mph. Meanwhile, Michael Waltrip and his #55 team showed signs of improvement as he comfortably qualified 18th with a time of 38.805 seconds and a speed of 185.543 mph.
The front row for Sunday's race will be first-time pole winner J.J. Yeley with a time of 38.399 seconds and Jimmie Johnson with a nearly identical time of 38.400 seconds. Rounding out the top-five will be Kyle Busch, Ryan Newman, and Joe Nemechek.
The Citizens Bank 400 is scheduled to start Sunday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. EDT with TNT providing live television coverage at 1:30 p.m.
