Dale Jarrett drove his last stock car race Saturday night. And unlike so many before him, there are no plans to make a comeback.
“We’re competitors and that’s what we’ve done,” he said. “Just cutting off is difficult, and I know that there’s going to be times that I’m going to look back and think that I should have kept going at this, but again I know in the long run that it’s the right decision for me, and we’re all different as to what drives us.
“I was just lucky to be a part of it,” he said. “It’s very fortunate. The weekend, this is it. It was the end of points racing and now we’re at the end.”
It was Jarrett’s 17th appearance in the all-star event, and it was his first finish outside the top 12 in the last four years. “I knew we were going to struggle,” Jarrett said. “We kind of chased it around, but that is what I expected. You always like to do more but that’s OK.” “With five laps remaining I started taking things in and realized that it wouldn’t be happening any more,” Jarrett said. “I am very satisfied with the decision and how things have gone in my career.
“It’s over. We’ve done it. It’s been great and I wouldn’t do anything different.” “It started with about five (laps) to go. I started taking things in and realizing it wouldn’t be happening anymore.” While ending his career was tough, Jarrett’s father thinks his 51-year-old son is retiring at the right time. “I would hate to see him hang on for four or five more years or whatever the case might be,” the elder Jarrett said. “People have a tendency to remember you for the last thing you did. I want people to remember him as a champion and a winner in racing. If you hang on too long, sometimes people lose track of that.” Jarrett was honored before the race with a video tribute. He drove a brown UPS delivery truck in a slow lap around the track before the race.”
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