Jarrett knows his future, world will learn Thursday

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Dale Jarrett will race in 2008, but we'll have to wait until Thursday to find out where, when and how much.

After making his qualifying attempt Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway, Jarrett said he would announce his future plans at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

"Have I made my decision? Yes," Jarrett said. "I'm going to race some next year. That's all I'll say."

Jarrett is leaning toward running just six races next year before stepping out of his car after 23 seasons but Jarrett does not plan to drive the car past the March 30 event at Martinsville, a person familiar with the 2008 plans at Michael Waltrip Racing told The Associated Press. The person requested anonymity because portions of the deal are still being finalized.

Jarrett went out first of the 51 cars which attempted to make the field for Sunday's UAW-Ford 500 and posted a lap of 187.658 mph. He then had to wait until the next-to-last car -- Boris Said -- made his run before securing a starting spot. He'll roll off 43rd as one of six Toyotas that made the show.

Jarrett said he has discussed his future with officials from UPS but he wanted to reiterate that the choice was his alone.

"It was my decision," he said. "I went to them because obviously part of my job is to do what's best for Michael Waltrip Racing and my sponsor. So I went to them and said, 'Look, I've been thinking about this. Here are some different scenarios. Let's talk about them.' So we did that for about eight weeks."

Jarrett, the 1999 Cup champion, has a past champion's provisional that can be used six times to ensure him a spot in the field. That will take him up to Martinsville, where he made his first career start in 1984.

MWR officials are hopeful Jarrett can use those six events to get the No. 44 Toyota inside the top 35 in points. The top 35 cars are locked into the field, and MWR's three cars have all been outside the cutoff this season and have struggled to make races.

The team currently hopes to replace Jarrett with David Reutimann, who drives the No. 00 and would pilot it while Jarrett closes out his career. MWR wants to continue racing the No. 00 after the switch, but the driver and sponsor are still being ironed out.

Jarrett has been working as a television commentator on weekends when he's failed to qualify, a position that could lead to a full-time job when Jarrett decides to hang up his helmet for good. But he said that opportunity wasn't a factor.

"The opportunity is there, but that didn't weigh on my decision whatsoever," Jarrett said. "That opportunity, I was told, was going to be there, just whenever I decided to not drive the racecar any more. I didn't let that factor in."

Instead, Jarrett solicited the advice of another ex-athlete with NASCAR connections: Quarterback-turned-owner Terry Bradshaw.

"When we were in Daytona, Terry and I were just talking about it and he said, 'Look, make sure you drive as long as you want to and as long as you can, because once you get out, nobody's ever really gone back and done anything that was very good,'" Jarrett said.

"He said, 'Just make sure you satisfy yourself.' That's who you have to please. Whenever you decide to make that decision, make sure of that. I took that into consideration. I felt like that was very good advice."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.