Last Friday, he took his third past champion's provisional in as many weekends just to make the race. On Saturday, his No. 44 car was slowest in both Nextel Cup practice sessions. On Sunday he finished a distant and anonymous 33rd place, four laps behind the winner at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

It wasn't the kind of weekend Dale Jarrett is accustomed to. But it's the kind he's having to adjust to in his new world driving a Toyota for Michael Waltrip Racing.

The 32-time Nextel Cup race winner and 1999 series champion has been relegated to the role of also-ran as his new manufacturer and new team try to find their way in their first seasons on NASCAR's premier tour. It's a transition that's proven more difficult than even the driver expected.

"It is probably a bigger hill to climb than what we thought at the beginning," Jarrett said. "But if you were realistic about it and looked at what we needed to do in terms of getting all three teams together and all the people and parts and pieces that it takes to make that happen, plus trying to get cars ready for Daytona and having the current downforce cars and the Car of Tomorrow ready, it's a huge undertaking. It's just a difficult process."

Struggles on the racetrack are nothing new to the 50-year-old Jarrett, who finished in the top 10 only four times in his final season at Robert Yates Racing, and has one Nextel Cup race victory in his last 145 starts. But little has gone right for Jarrett -- or the three-car Waltrip organization as a whole -- since he drew the pole for the preseason Budweiser Shootout.

In three events, he's yet to qualify on time. His 22nd-place finish was the best among all Toyotas in the Daytona 500, but he hasn't cracked the top 30 since. Las Vegas was his young season in microcosm -- missing out on practice time because of being at the back of the inspection line, never getting the car quite right, and never emerging as a factor.

"I knew what I was getting into here. Would I have expected that we could do a little more than what we have? Sure. You always like to think that. But I took this because of the challenge, and it's certainly been every bit of that. I can get through. I think I've become more concerned with the guys on the race team," he said.

"It's not a lot of fun for anybody whenever you're running the way that we are. But if we're realistic, we need to understand that it is going to take time, and if we can continue to work together, it will pay dividends down the road. That's what we have to believe in right now." (Continued)