The only thing that stood between Dale Jarrett and his final regular season Sprint Cup Series career start were two qualifying laps on the high-banked, half-mile track of Bristol Motor Speedway (BMS). With retirement on the horizon for the former Sprint Cup Series champion, the #44 Team was set to focus all of their efforts to guarantee that Jarrett would qualify for Sunday's Food City 500. But Mother Nature had her own plans on Friday and decided that no track time would be necessary to lock Jarrett into the field with rain showers forcing the cancellation of qualifying.
In his final start at Bristol, Jarrett will start from the 37th position based on his standing as a past champion. The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams were able to practice for almost an hour on Friday before clouds circled in above BMS. Following a red flag ending the session early due to the weather, Jarrett and the #44 Team were listed as 15th quick of the 46 teams attempting Sunday's race.
"It's a good feeling to know that we're locked into Sunday's race," Jarrett said after NASCAR cancelled the session. "I think our team would have been in good shape if we had to go out there and qualify our way in but Sunday is a big day, not for me and my family, but also for my fans and UPS. With that in mind, I'm glad to have qualifying behind us and to be able to focus on the race and the rest of the weekend."
Jarrett's teammates Michael Waltrip and David Reutimann also are locked into Sunday's starting line-up based on their current position in the NASCAR owner's point standings following the first four races of the season. Reutimann and Waltrip will start in the 39th and 40th positions respectively.
Television coverage of the Food City 500 is scheduled to broadcast live on the FOX Television Network on Sunday, March 16th with the green flag scheduled to fall at 2 p.m. EST. Radio coverage will be broadcast by the Performance Racing Network (PRN).
