Jarrett Looks to Lock Up Title at Homestead

Dale Jarrett, driver of the No. 88 Quality Care Service/Ford Credit Taurus, held a press conference at Homestead-Miami Speedway to discuss this weekend and the possibility of clinching the NASCAR Winston Cup championship.

DALE JARRETT --88-- Quality Care Service/Ford Credit Taurus -- CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR EMOTIONS KNOWING YOU CAN CLINCH THIS WEEKEND? "I think my feelings and the team this week are that we're a lot more excited because we realize that the scenario this weekend is totally in our hands, it doesn't require somebody else having problems or anything. It requires us doing the things that we've done all year and we know that the title can be ours then. I think that finally we're able to get a little more excited about this and know that it's a lot closer. Again, if we do all the things we've done all year long, then we can wrap this up this weekend." IS THERE ANY PRESSURE TO WRAP IT UP THIS WEEKEND? "No, there's really not. We realize that if it doesn't happen this weekend that we've got another shot at it. It would be nice to be able to go to Atlanta knowing that we've got it out of the way and we can go there and try to win the race and end the thing on a good note."

WERE THERE ANY MEETINGS TO DISCUSS HOW TO RACE FOR A TITLE? "I think the biggest meeting that we had came at the end of last year in discussing what we wanted to do with our race team and it not only included how we wanted to go about winning a championship, but personnel that we needed. What it was gonna take for Doug (Yates) to have the people he needed in the engine shop to get all the things done he wanted to do, and in that discussion came everybody's feelings about what we needed to do to win a championship. On days that we didn't have the best car there, that we had to make the most of it, that I had to use patience and work with the guys and realize that these races are 400, 500 and sometimes 600 miles long and make the most of those. I think that by the end of that meeting that we all had an idea of what we needed to do to accomplish that. Todd needed some people to get it done in the fab shop, we got those people, and we started doing all of our cars right there in-house where Todd could be there all the time. We got the extra engineers that we needed and Doug got the people that he needed and in doing that, realizing as we said before, that we had very adequate horsepower. Not that we've been conservative by any means, but on the issue of making sure that we can finish these races as we've been able to do, backing off there just a little bit and not being right on the total edge every race because we did have enough horsepower to win races without being right there. It was a really long meeting, but all of those things came out of it."

DO YOU RECALL ONE OR TWO RACES THIS YEAR WHERE YOU MADE SOMETHING OUT OF NOTHING? "I can think of two right off the bat. California was one. We weren't very good there the whole weekend, we struggled with the car, struggled with handling, got it decent, had a flat tire, got lucky that the caution came out while I had the flat. Of course, the tire was laying on the track so I guess we weren't really lucky that the caution came out, but we did get the break that it allowed us to pit under the caution. We went all the way to the back of the field and we worked our way back to fifth. We took a 20th-place finish and made it a fifth-place and adding those points up that's quite a few points. And the Coca-Cola 600, as I've said before, we needed all 600 miles that night. We almost got lapped, worked on the car, did get lapped, got our lap back and almost got lapped again and continued working. We honestly needed 600 miles to make a fifth-place finish out of it. We actually got up to fourth and I think Mark changed two tires on the last stop and we changed four and ended up fifth, but that was a night also that could have been 20th to 25th if we lose a lap. So those are two that stick out in my mind that we really could have lost a lot of points there, but this team just kept digging and did the things they do and the things you have to do to win championships."

IF AND WHEN THE TITLE IS CLINCHED WILL THERE BE SPECIAL FEELINGS FOR ROBERT YATES? "From what I've seen from Robert...we were relying on him and he seems to be the most nervous of the whole bunch, but that's Robert. He wants to make sure that we're doing everything possible to make this happen, and I think it's the feeling of our entire race team and you'll see that feeling, if it does happen, a lot of people in the garage area will be very pleased for Robert Yates because of what he's done in this sport and for this sport. He's been a tremendous help to Todd and I. At the times when maybe we've gotten a little excited, he's been like a father to the both of us and we've sat down and been able to talk with him or listen to him more than talk to him and get our focus back. He does have that calming effect on us and that's very good." WILL IT BE A RELIEF TO CLINCH HERE? "I don't know that it's gonna be a relief, I think it's more a feeling of excitement. I'm not sure totally what I'm gonna feel when it's over. Right now I know that I'm excited more than I'm nervous about it. All I can do is go out here Sunday and do what I'm capable of doing and, hopefully, I can't think back to a race but you never know what's gonna happen. I mean, I sat and thought last week we were gonna be racing for the win and right before halfway all of a sudden we've got a flat tire so then we have to battle back. If you go down the list, I mean there's really nowhere that we haven't been able to run in the top eight anywhere that we've been. We know this is a new place, but if we can just do our job and everything goes accordingly, it should happen and then maybe I can explain my emotions a little bit more then, but right now it's just shear excitement. The opportunity to represent this sport as their champion excites me. The opportunity for our guys and for Todd Parrott and Robert Yates to say that their race team and our race team was the very best for an entire year is exciting for us."

YOU WERE QUESTIONED EARLY IN YOUR CAREER ABOUT YOUR ABILITY. WHAT'S BEEN THE DIFFERENCE SINCE THOSE DAYS? "I got better equipment to drive. That makes every driver better. I've always had a philosophy that I'm gonna drive the equipment to its capabilities and when you start trying to do more than your equipment is capable of doing is when you get yourself into trouble and you start wrecking and having bad finishes and getting frustrated. Sure, hopefully, I've become a better race driver in that period of time. I've learned to race better, when to race and kind of when not to race and I think I've gotten smarter on the race track. But there's no substitute for having really good equipment and what I've been fortunate to do is get myself in a good position with a car owner that's the best in the business, I consider, because he's a racer and I think that's what everybody would like to be racing with and for. I've got a crew chief that's relentless. He's not gonna give up. He's gonna do everything it takes to make sure that we have an opportunity to win week in and week out and then it's my job to go on Sundays with those efforts that they've put forth and use my head and be patient and get ourselves in a position to win. I think it's all just a matter of learning. It seems like I've been around here for a long time and I guess since I started racing it has been quite a while, but I kind of had to learn things my own way and maybe that was the hard way. But I've tried to learn from each position that I've ever been in."

YOUR RECEPTION FROM FANS AND PARTICIPANTS HAS BEEN POSITIVE SINCE YOU TOOK THE POINTS LEAD AT RICHMOND. HOW DOES THAT MAKE YOU FEEL? "I think recognition from your peers means as much as anything, it does to me certainly. I can remember winning the Daytona 500 in 1993 and what seemed like everybody on pit road -- it wasn't as many as when Earnhardt finally won it. It took him a lot longer to win it than I did, so that's understandable (laughing) so that means as much to me. It's great. I love the fan support. We've had opportunities to do a lot of things with the fans this year between Coca-Cola and Ford and that means a lot to me. Maybe it'll get to the point that they don't appreciate what we do there, but I think they appreciate the way that we go about things and we are competitive week in and week out and we win our races. I guess from the other drivers and crew side, I think that I respect each and every one of the guys that are out here and the effort they put forth. I don't know that I'm terribly close to anyone. There are a number of the guys that I can say have helped me and that I probably talk to more than others, but I do respect what each one of them do week in and week out and I think they realize that I have that respect for them and, hopefully, will get that in return."

CAN YOU COMMENT ON BEING AT THE PINNACLE OF YOUR SPORT? "I think that things come your way in life when you're ready to handle them. Obviously, my faith is what got me through a lot of the situations and times that we talked about a little earlier when maybe people didn't think I could do this and it's that faith that got me through that. I think Dale Jarrett is at a time in his life now where he's ready and can handle something like this and appreciate it. The appreciation I have for this race team and the guys that work is more than I can tell you. It's a tremendous amount. I guess I look at myself maybe a little bit, although I'm not gonna quit in two years, like John Elway. He went for ever and ever and everybody knew from the day that he stepped on a field that he was a tremendous athlete and could get the job done, but he never got himself surrounded with the total package until later in his career and I kind of feel the same way. I think this has made me respect not only other athletes for what they've gone through and watching them try to win their championships and the pressures they've had to deal with to do that, but even looking at our own sport -- to get much greater respect for people like Richard Petty who has won seven championships, Dale Earnhardt that's won those seven -- what it takes to do that. It's just incredible for me to think about now, the pressures they went through and how they had to get themselves prepared for that many times because to win seven you obviously had to lose some, so they had to be in contention a lot. And someone like Jeff Gordon, a different kind of respect because of his age and the talent that he has and being pulled in a million different directions. It's just amazing to me and, again, a much greater respect for those people and what they've been able to accomplish."

HAS THE SEASON GONE BY QUICKLY? "There's been nothing quick about this I'll assure you. I checked the calendar just to make sure we're still in 1999, especially with having the lead for this long and trying to go weekly and perform. Obviously, if this would have been last year's schedule with 33 races we'd be talking about winning a championship already, so adding one just seems to fit everything the way my career has kind of gone. You have to make it difficult each time. It has been a long season. It is a long season, whether you're racing for the championship or racing to be in the top 10 or trying to get that victory for 1999, it's been a long season for everybody out there. It has been for our race team because Todd has asked a lot of our guys and even as excited as they are you can tell they need a little refreshment and, hopefully, we can give them that in the form of a trophy on Sunday."

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR CREW? "They don't get nearly enough credit as what they deserve. It's unbelieveable. Unless you've had the opportunity to be around those guys and know how much effort they put in at the shop. I mean, the majority of our guys are there between 6 and 6:15 every morning to get their workout in because, obviously, we have guys that are doing two different jobs working the pit crew and their normal job at the shop. They get their workout out of the way and then they're there until whatever time they need to be and that's not always 5 o'clock. They don't grab those cards and punch out at five everyday, it's whenever their job is done. What's great about our race team is that we have an owner and a leader and I'm talking about Robert and Todd. They don't ask anybody there to do anything that they won't do themselves. They're there with them. They're not telling those guys to stay there until 9 o'clock or the engine guys to stay there and say you're gonna have to be here until midnight to get all of this done. They're not just telling them that, they're there beside them. They're there with them and these are the sacrifices they've made. I can relate somewhat because I know the things that I miss with my wife and my kids and I know I have more opportunities to be at home than what these guys do and they don't get enough credit for what they do because they are the reason that we're where we're at. When this started four years ago, Todd assembled a group of guys that he thought could get the job done and we pretty much have that same group of people, along with a few other people that we've hired along the way that fit in nicely with them. That's why we want to win -- for those guys because of the sacrifice they've made -- to have a little something to go home to their kids and to their wife and say, 'This is why we were there and why I couldn't be at your basketball game or at cheerleading or at your play or whatever it was. This is why I couldn't be there, but this is something that we can be proud of.'"