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Dale Jarrett will move to the broadcast booth upon his retirement from driving.

By the Numbers: Bristol

Jarrett to make 668th and final start in 24-year career

By Josh Pate, NASCAR.COM
March 13, 2008
02:31 PM EDT

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The year was 1986. The date was Aug. 23. Just 30 cars -- led by pole-sitter Geoffrey Bodine in his No. 5 Levi Garrett Chevrolet -- started the Busch 500 at what was then known as Bristol International Speedway.

Darrell Waltrip went on to win his second of three races that year, his final driving the No. 11 Chevrolet for Junior Johnson. Dale Earnhardt was fourth; hot-shot Tim Richmond was sixth; The King was seventh.

Finishing next-to-last, in 29th position, in just his fourth career start in the Cup Series and first in nearly two years was Dale Jarrett in the No. 98 Pontiac.

It was Jarrett's first Bristol experience and only start that season before racing full time in 1987. He lasted 69 laps before retiring due to a vibration.

Since then, Jarrett has won stock-car racing's biggest prize on multiple occasions, won a championship, went 11 consecutive seasons with a victory, and drove for 11 different car owners with 12 different numbers.

On Sunday, the real retirement begins. Jarrett, after 24 years of racing in NASCAR's highest level, is calling it quits. The Food City 500 will be his final Cup Series start.

3Daytona 500 victories for Dale Jarrett, third most by any driver along with Bobby Allison and Jeff Gordon. Richard Petty has seven Daytona 500 wins, followed by Cale Yarborough's four. Jarrett won in 1993, 1996 and 2000.

6.8Average finish for Dale Jarrett during the 1999 season when he won the Cup Series championship.

7Victories for Dale Jarrett during the 1997 season. He won consecutive races at Atlanta and Darlington, then collected wins at Pocono, Bristol, Richmond, Charlotte and Phoenix. He finished second in the championship by 14 points to Jeff Gordon.

8Times that Dale Jarrett has finished the season ranked in the top 10 in points, seven of which he finished inside the top five. He won the 1999 Cup championship by 201 points over Bobby Labonte.

32Career victories for Dale Jarrett, ranking him 20th on the all-time list.

43Career starts for Dale Jarrett at Bristol, more than any other track in his career. He has one victory (fall 1997), nine top-fives and 19 top-10s at the half-mile. His average finish is 17.1.

667Career starts in the Cup Series for Dale Jarrett. He made his first career start on April 29, 1984, at Martinsville Speedway, where he finished 14th in the No. 02 Chevrolet.

Aug. 18, 1991Date that Dale Jarrett recorded his first Cup victory, winning the Champion Spark Plug 400 at Michigan while driving the No. 21 Ford for the Wood Brothers. He beat Davey Allison to the checkered flag by an estimated 10 inches.

Oct. 2, 2005Date that Dale Jarrett won his final Cup race, the UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega while driving the No. 88 Ford for Robert Yates Racing. Jarrett led two laps, winning the race under caution over Tony Stewart.

Dale Jarrett

Career Statistics

Year	Starts	Wins	Top-5	Top-10	Led	Rank	Avg. Start	Avg. Finish

1984	3	0	0	0	0	72	30.0	24.7
1986	1	0	0	0	0	107	28.0	29.0
1987	24	0	0	2	0	26	27.7	24.1
1988	29	0	0	1	5	23	24.5	24.3
1989	29	0	2	5	99	24	24.2	22.7
1990	24	0	1	7	73	25	15.2	19.4
1991	29	1	3	8	47	17	16.4	19.4
1992	29	0	2	8	99	19	16.5	17.8
1993	30	1	13	18	263	4	19.7	12.4
1994	30	1	4	9	55	16	22.7	18.7
1995	31	1	9	14	324	13	18.4	17.4
1996	31	4	17	21	755	3	12.1	8.8
1997	32	7	20	23	2,083	2	7.2	9.6
1998	33	3	19	22	812	3	8.7	11.2
1999	34	4	24	29	1,061	1	13.2	6.8
2000	34	2	15	24	333	4	13.1	11.1
2001	36	4	12	19	511	5	14.8	13.9
2002	36	2	10	18	441	9	18.5	15.2
2003	36	1	1	7	49	26	25.8	23.8
2004	36	0	6	14	25	15	20.8	16.4
2005	36	1	4	7	4	15	20.4	18.2
2006	36	0	1	4	8	23	28.2	22.7
2007	24	0	0	0	0	41	31.9	32.3
2008	4	0	0	0	3	32	29.0	28.5
Totals	667	32	163	260	7,050		19.0	17.2

Back in Time

Aug. 23, 1997Dale Jarrett won the Goody's Headache Powder 500 at Bristol, his only victory at the half-mile track. Driving the No. 88 Ford for Robert Yates, Jarrett started third, led 210 laps, and beat Mark Martin by 0.102 seconds.

10 Key Facts

2Drivers who have led every race this season: Kyle Busch and Jeff Gordon. Busch has one victory and is ranked first in the Cup standings, while Gordon has not won and is ranked 15th.

6Times in the Modern Era (1972-present) that a Chevrolet has not won during the first four races of the season: 1972, 1973, 1976, 1992, 2002, 2008.

10.3Average finish for Greg Biffle in his 10 starts at Bristol, the best average among drivers ranked in the top 12 in points. Biffle has never won at Bristol.

11Former winners at Bristol who are on the entry list for this weekend. Three drivers have won multiple times: Kurt Busch (5), Jeff Gordon (5), Matt Kenseth (2).

17Positions in the standings Carl Edwards has dropped in just more than a week. He was leading the standings following consecutive victories at California and Las Vegas, but was penalized 100 points for a post-race infraction and fell to seventh. Then his engine expired at Atlanta, dropping him 10 positions to his current spot in 17th.

20Races that NASCAR's new chassis has run. It made its debut in this race one year ago as part of a 16-race part-time schedule. Kyle Busch was the inaugural winner in the new car.

77Races of the 94 held at Bristol that have been won from a top-10 starting position, 50 of which have been won from the top four positions.

371Laps led by Jeremy Mayfield in his 25 starts at Bristol, the most by an active driver who has not won there.

904Points scored by Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the last six Bristol races, more than any other driver.

2,437Laps led by Jeff Gordon at Bristol, more than twice that of Tony Stewart (1,085) who is ranked second.

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Sprint Cup Series

Owner points, pos. 30-40

Pos.	Car	Owner	Points	+/-

30.	No. 5	Mary Hendrick	331	+33
31.	No. 26	Geoff Smith	318	+20
32.	No. 44	Michael Waltrip	315	+17
33.	No. 55	Michael Waltrip	303	+5
34.	No. 70	Margaret Haas	301	+3
35.	No. 96	Jeffrey Moorad	298	--
36.	No. 77	Roger Penske	280	-18
37.	No. 22	Bill Davis	273	-25
38.	No. 40	Felix Sabates	264	-34
39.	No. 01	Teresa Earnhardt	232	-66
40.	No. 45	Kyle Petty	217	-81

• Complete Owner Points, click here

Bristol Motor Speedway

Active drivers, based on victories

Driver	Starts	Wins	Top-5	Top-10

Jeff Gordon	30	5	12	18
Kurt Busch	14	5	5	9
Mark Martin	40	2	15	21
Matt Kenseth	16	2	7	9
Carl Edwards	7	1	2	3
Bill Elliott	42	1	6	14
Kevin Harvick	14	1	7	9
Dale Jarrett	43	1	9	19
Elliott Sadler	19	1	3	4
Dale Earnhardt Jr.	16	1	6	9
Kyle Busch	6	1	2	4
Tony Stewart	18	1	5	6

Active drivers, based on average finish

Driver	Starts	Avg. Start	Avg. Finish	Led

Biffle	10	15.8	10.3	202
Harvick	14	17.6	10.5	358
Earnhardt Jr.	16	19.6	11.7	743
J. Gordon	30	5.5	11.7	2,437
Kenseth	16	18.9	12.5	742

Sprint Cup Series

Official Standings

Pos.	+/-	Driver	Points	Behind

1.	--	Kyle Busch	665	Leader
2.	+3	Greg Biffle	592	-73
3.	+1	Kevin Harvick	574	-91
4.	-2	Ryan Newman	571	-94
5.	+1	Jeff Burton	555	-110
6.	+4	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	531	-134
7.	-4	Kasey Kahne	528	-137
8.	+3	Tony Stewart	525	-140
9.	+4	Brian Vickers	491	-174
10.	+2	Kurt Busch	478	-187
11.	-3	Martin Truex Jr.	471	-194
12.	+4	Matt Kenseth	470	-195