Jarrett in top 10 for first time in three months

CONCORD, N.C. -- The numbers have been pretty ugly this year for Dale Jarrett: 36, 37, 20, 12, 13, 36, 18, 21, 41. They look more like football scores than Dale Jarrett finishes.

	Dale Jarrett Credit: Autostock

Some of those results helped prompt Robert Yates Racing to clean house at the top of Jarrett's No. 88 team.

Crew chief Brad Parrott was shown the door, and director of competition Todd Parrott was given an indefinitely leave of absence from which he still hasn't returned.

It's been an embarrassing season for Jarrett, the 1999 Winston Cup champion and a 31-time race winner on NASCAR's top series.

Maybe, though, things are starting to turn around.

Shawn Parker was moved from teammate Elliott Sadler's team to be Jarrett's crew chief, and if his first race is any indication, Jarrett will be back up front.

Jarrett finished Sunday night's rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600 a lap down in ninth place, and while that's usually not something about which to get too excited, it was Jarrett's first top-10 since winning at Rockingham in February.

"We ended up in the top 10, and I think we might have had something a little better than that," Jarrett said. "We made a lot of progress on one week, and if we can continue to make that kind of progress, then we'll be knocking on the door again."

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Jarrett started 23rd in Sunday night's race but moved into the top 15 by lap 100. The car was working well, especially after many laps were run.

"As I said before the race, I'm not very good on new tires," Jarrett said. "Even though we were a little better, I was pretty good on the long run."

Jarrett, like a lot of drivers, was caught a lap down when a caution before the end of a cycle of green-flag pit stops. Leader Bobby Labonte remained on the track, and when Ricky Rudd spun in the muddy infield grass, only three cars were on the lead lap.

But Jarrett's car was pretty good, and he ran well until the race was called 124 laps short.

"We were pretty good throughout," Jarrett said. "It's just unfortunate that myself and a number of others got caught there whenever the 18 was still out there."

But Jarrett wasn't too upset when NASCAR decided to end it. He sounded confident in his race car, something he hasn't been for most of the 2003 season.

"At least I have something I can compete with now," Jarrett said. "Before I just had to be so easy with everything that I was almost like on eggshells trying to race. Tonight, I could be aggressive.

"I could drive in under people, know it was going to stick and get back in the gas hard. It was a lot more fun to race like that."