After 24 years behind the wheel of a race car, NASCAR champion Dale Jarrett is scheduled to compete in his final NASCAR race on May 17th in the Sprint All-Star Race at Lowe's Motor Speedway (LMS). With a career resume that holds such honors as the 1999 points championship, three Daytona 500 wins and 32 career victories, it is only appropriate that tribute it paid to one of the sport's greatest drivers.
Jarrett has spent the last seven years of his career wearing the color brown as the spokesperson for UPS, the Official Express Delivery Company of NASCAR. As a sponsor, UPS, who entered the sport in 2000, quickly tagged the North Carolina native as the face for their popular "Race the Truck" advertising campaign as well as the driver for their car on-track.
The UPS/Jarrett duo has provided storybook results as the driver gave the company their first trip to Victory Lane in 2001 at Darlington Raceway, going on to win four races in his first season behind the wheel of the UPS entry. Over the years, Jarrett has brought UPS a total of eight victories and two top-10 finishes in the final season points standings.
2008 kicked off with Jarrett competing in the first five regular season races, beginning with the season-opener Daytona 500, as part of the "Signed, Sealed, Delivered Tour." After retiring from full-time competition following the race at Bristol Motor Speedway on March 16th, the tour will culminate with Jarrett climbing behind the wheel a final time at LMS for the All-Star exhibition race, a track where he is excited to end his career.
"Obviously the Coca-Cola 600 came to mind because it would be here (at LMS)," Jarrett said when asked about choosing his last race. "But as I looked at that, that was going to take away from somebody trying to run all the races if I go take a spot there and I didn't want to do that.
"I looked at Indianapolis, same scenario basically - a great place to end your career, but it is perfect here. This is where it should happen. The all-star race gives me a perfect opportunity to do that with family and friends coming here."
In support of Dale's last ride, UPS has partnered with Lowe's Motor Speedway to bring fans a special offer to see their favorite driver is action, which was announced on March 19th at the speedway.
Lowe's Motor Speedway will sell a special two-day, $44 ticket "DJ's Deal" package to match Jarrett's car number that will allow fans to see Friday night's qualifying and the Craftsman Truck Series race and then the all-star event the following night. Also, diehard Jarrett fans can add a special $99 Saturday hospitality package to their ticket order that includes food and drink in a UPS Racing-themed chalet prior to the event and a question-and-answer session with Jarrett himself.
In addition to the on-track activities for Jarrett, the week leading into the race will be filled with several events which pay tribute to the champion. At the announcement, Lowe's Motor Speedway track president and general manager, H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler revealed that Jarrett will be inducted into the track's Court of Legends on that Tuesday and will be joined by another special inductee, his father Ned Jarrett.
Jarrett also unveiled the #44 UPS Toyota he will drive in the All-Star Race featuring a special paint scheme that pays tribute to several of the North Carolina native's career accomplishments. The unveiling marked the first time Jarrett viewed the metallic gold design uniting the past and present. The car displays design elements from both Jarrett's current #44 UPS Camry as well as from the #88 Quality Care entry that he drove during the 1999 championship season.
The metallic-gold car will not be Jarrett's only form of transportation on Saturday, May 17th. Before Jarrett straps into the #44 UPS Toyota Camry for the final time, he'll do something fans have eagerly anticipated and "race" the truck. After Jarrett is introduced prior to the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, he will step into the UPS Race Truck from the UPS advertising campaign and take one lucky fan for a ride around the 1.5-mile superspeedway.
"Before Dale takes his final ride in the UPS Toyota, we still have some unfinished business," said Laura Kouns, UPS Motorsports Marketing Manager. "A few years back, Dale finally agreed to race the big, brown truck and although he has done that in the commercials, we still have yet to see him in the truck at the race track. So, in order to finish the business of racing the truck, Dale will indeed drive the truck during the driver introductions for the All-Star Race."
Even with all of the excitement of his final race swirling around him, it is no surprise that Jarrett still has a bit of unfinished business of his own.
"It's the one thing that I wish that I had, one of those trophies," Jarrett said when asked about his hopes to win the All-Star race. "So we'll try extremely hard and do everything short of cheating to make that happen."
