Charlotte II: Jason Jarrett preview

First and foremost, congratulations to Jason Jarrett and members of the ML Motorsports crew for winning the ARCA RE/MAX Series prestigious Bill France Triple Crown Award for 2003.

This award, named after NASCAR's founding father Bill France, is given to the team who accumulates the most points at three race tracks; Springfield, Salem (fall) and Talladega, as an acclamation noting the diversity of the races as well as skills involved in mastering three very different types of race events.

Jarrett, while dealing with overheating problems, "kept digging" and finished in 7th place at the Springfield, IL one-mile oval; brought it home 2nd at the half-mile track in Salem, and after suffering motor problems throughout the superspeedway event at Talladega, finished a respectable 15th place, to capture the award.

Jarrett came just three laps shy of winning this award during his 2001 Rookie Season with the ARCA RE/MAX Series after running out of gas at Talladega. Jarrett and crew are geared up about winning this award.

"I'm really excited about winning this award. It shows how hard both me and the team worked to move the ML Motorsports program ahead in 2003, and we're looking forward to bigger and better things in 2004," said Jarrett.

This past week saw Jarrett compete in another type event altogether. After a successful "Race to Read" event at New Egypt Elementary School in New Jersey last spring, Jarrett was invited to participate at another elementary school located in Jefferson, Indiana.

Jarrett spent the afternoon talking and visiting with students from Jefferson Elementary School as a reward for all the extra effort both the students and teachers put in as part of the Read Across America Program. "Race to Read" was the theme and once again, Jarrett got behind the wheel of a specially made car to race the principal, and kick off the day's activities.

Jarrett and crew suffered through a couple of on-track incidents resulting in some body damage to the car, but all-in-all great fun was had by all! Jarrett spent the rest of the afternoon visiting the individual classrooms, answering questions and just talking to the students in their classrooms.

Over 300 hundred students participated in the program, showing a marked increase in their reading since the beginning of the school year. Jarrett noted the enthusiasm of the students after meeting with them last Wednesday.

"These kids were great!" said Jarrett. "We had a great time, and the school faculty filled me in on just how hard they worked with the reading program. It was a lot of fun," added Jarrett.

This Thursday night, October 9th, the ARCA RE/Max Series heads to Lowes Motor Speedway located in Charlotte, North Carolina for the EasyCare Vehicle Service Contracts 150. In six starts at the 1.5 mile oval, Jarrett has always finished in the top ten. Jarrett is hoping to improve that record, however, and steer the Gladiator GarageWorks Damon RV sponsored #67 Chevrolet Monte Carlo into victory lane.

We're looking forward to the race this week in Charlotte. There are so many entries, it should make for a really competitive race," said Jarrett.

The race can be seen live on the Speed Channel beginning at 10:00 p.m. Eastern.

Jason Jarrett is the driver of the #67 ML Motorsports Gladiator Damon RV Chevrolet 2003 Monte Carlo. Jason is also a member of the Coca-Cola Racing Family.

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