Fourth-place qual effort makes Jarrett confident

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- The last year and a half has been painful for Dale Jarrett, but when he rolls into Daytona International Speedway, he knows he has the knowledge and ability to win.

Jarrett has won nine races at Daytona, including four Cup point events -- three Daytona 500s and the 1999 Pepsi 400.

So when he qualified fourth Thursday night in his No. 88 Ford behind a front row of two Chevrolets and next to Ford mate Ricky Rudd, Jarrett knew his Robert Yates Racing team might be onto something.

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Jarrett thanked a bystander who congratulated him on his run -- his best qualifying effort of the season -- as he walked to his motor coach, but dismissed his contribution.

"I didn't do anything, but it's nice to have a good, fast racecar," Jarrett said. "It gives me a lot more confidence going into Saturday night to know that we've got a car capable of running fast so you don't have to make every move perfect.

"You still have to do your job, but yeah, this is nice."

Jarrett's average start this season has been close to 23rd in 16 starts. His average finish is only six spots better, but his team has shown a lot of improvement of late, as he climbed from 26th to 14th in the Nextel Cup standings.

"We've improved a lot as a team since we've been here in February," Jarrett said, citing the fact that the No. 88 Taurus he's running here is the same car with which he won the 2004 Budweiser Shootout during Speedweeks.

"This is actually a chassis from last year," Jarrett said. "Not that it makes that much difference as far as this place goes, but you still have to handle here so yeah, that does make some difference."

	Jarrett won the Bud Shootout at Daytona in February. Credit: Autostock

Jarrett has been greatly enthused the last four weeks. Despite only one top-10 finish, a charging third place at Michigan two weeks ago, his cars engineered by crew chief Mike Ford -- the first in-house chassis constructed for his use by Robert Yates Racing, have been revelations.

"The in-house stuff is the direction that we're going, and I think it's going to do well for us," Jarrett said of his climb in the points, 171 out of the critical 10th position necessary to earn a locked-in spot for the Chase for the NASCAR Nextel Cup.

"No doubt the good runs we've been having the last few weeks will help us," Jarrett said. "You need to go into this race with something, and going into it with some confidence helps a lot.

"It puts you in a good frame of mind, and we know that the pit crew has gotten a lot better. Hopefully our luck will turn around and we can do well. We know that we can win at this racetrack so that helps us a lot."