Pre-race notes: Jarrett dropping to the back

DARLINGTON, S.C. -- If Dale Jarrett wins his first Mountain Dew Southern 500 Sunday, he'll have to do it after starting from the rear of the 43-car field.

After changing an engine when his crew discovered bent exhaust valves following Bud Pole Qualifying on Friday, Jarrett's UPS Ford will drop out of its 19th starting position on the pace laps and fall to the rear of the inside line of the grid.

Jimmy Spencer and Derrike Cope won't have as far to go as they also go to the rear for the start, after taking provisional starting positions.

Spencer, who crashed his Sirius Dodge on his qualifying lap, will drop out of his 38th starting position and go to the end of the outside line of the grid. Cope's Friendly's Chevrolet team had to change an engine Saturday when a piece of valve spring dislodged its oil pump belt.

Jeremy Mayfield also bopped the wall in qualifying in his Dodge Dealers Intrepid, but his Evernham Motorsports crew repaired the car and it will start 15th.

Military presence

U.S. military officers had a high profile presence Sunday at Darlington Raceway.

Marine Corps Lt. Colonel RoseAnn Lynch sang the National Anthem, and Admiral Vern Clark, the highest-ranking officer in the Navy, gave the command, "Gentlemen start your engines."

Whoops

NBC Sports NASCAR color commentator Wally Dallenbach took actor David Spade on a hot lap of Darlington Raceway during pre-race preparations early in the weekend and, according to the comedian, hit the wall at 140 mph.

"I don't know who this guy was or what his credentials were, but that made me think he wasn't very good," Spade said, eliciting a lot of laughs from a media gathering. "I didn't think that (hitting wall) was a regular thing here."