Dale Jarrett Bio

Dale Jarrett won’t be driving the Big Brown Truck in the 50th Running of the Daytona 500, but, if he did, he’d probably still be a threat to win it.

The driver of Michael Waltrip Racing’s No. 44 UPS Toyota has won “The Great American Race” three times, once driving for Joe Gibbs Racing (1993) and twice for Robert Yates Racing (1996 and 2000). His last chance to add a fourth Harley J. Earl Trophy to his mantle arrives February 17, because he plans to retire from NASCAR Sprint Cup Series racing after the first five races of the 2008 season, making way for teammate David Reutimann in UPS colors.

Jarrett won the Sprint Cup Series championship in 1999 and has 32 victories in the series over his 23-year career, which almost never happened.

Although his father, Ned, won two Sprint Cup Series championships and 50 races in 13 years on the circuit, Dale Jarrett nearly accepted a golf scholarship to attend the University of South Carolina, which would have pleased his mom, Martha. To this day, Jarrett remains a scratch golfer.