Bristol Motor Speedway is a title that equates to excitement, drama and passion. The drama, passion and excitement are reasons that Bristol has been a staple of the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series for nearly 50 years. The Sharpie 500 equated to more than the typical excitement that goes along with a Nextel Cup Series race at Bristol for UPS and the more than 427,000 UPS employees worldwide as it was the weekend that the 100th anniversary was commemorated for UPS through its NASCAR sponsorship.
UPS announced plans in April to commemorate the 100th anniversary through a special paint scheme program to be raced by Dale Jarrett and the #44 UPS Team during the Sharpie 500 race weekend. UPS reiterated the importance of the celebration by sponsoring Jarrett and Michael Waltrip Racing in the NASCAR Busch Series race on Friday night in addition to the already scheduled Sharpie 500.
The paint scheme's designer, Joe Hill, a UPS employee in the company's Worldport in Louisville, Ky., was on hand for all of the weekend's events as a special guest to Jarrett and the #44 UPS Team, and he met Jarrett during track activities on Friday afternoon.
"This is a very big weekend for us with UPS's 100th Anniversary," Jarrett said of the festivities in Bristol. "UPS has never been on a NASCAR Busch Series car and it seemed the perfect way to bookend the weekend that is commemorating the 100th anniversary of UPS."
The NASCAR Busch Series Food City 250 turned out to be the debut for a UPS-sponsored car as Jarrett finished 23rd in the race for which he served as the ESPN in-race reporter for the network's broadcast of the event.
The main event of the weekend however was the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Sharpie 500 which Jarrett and UPS kicked off with a trip to the Toyota Live Stage just outside the Bristol Motor Speedway. One hundred UPS Centennial T-shirts were given out to race fans throughout the day with the festivities being topped with a visit to the stage by Jarrett and UPS CEO Mike Eskew.
Eskew welcomed the race fans and then introduced the driver of the #44 UPS Centennial Toyota to the crowd at which time Jarrett entertained questions submitted by race fans earlier in the day.
After making a trip to the Toyota Live stage Jarrett made visits to the UPS hospitality chalet for employees where he discussed the night's upcoming event as well as the Busch Series event in which he competed the night before explaining to guests that the race was probably a one-time deal to commemorate the 100th birthday for UPS.
"I'm pretty sure that is going to be my only Busch Series race this year and it was a lot of fun," Jarrett said. "It's been two to three years since I raced in a Busch car so it took a little getting used to but I enjoyed it and if UPS wanted me to do it again I certainly would but my guess is that it was just that race to add to this Centennial celebration for UPS."
During pre-race activities Jarrett was a special guest of ESPN's in their Countdown to Green studio located in the infield before taking part in driver introductions. Pre-race activities for the Sharpie 500 included a special delivery of the green flag by UPS employee David Bratcher who piloted the "big, brown truck" to the start/finish line for the special delivery.
While the Sharpie 500 turned out to be a tough event for Jarrett and Team UPS, the weekend was full of activities that go along with the celebration by the more than 420,000 UPS employees worldwide during 2007.
