NASCAR Cup

Fort Worth: Dale Jarrett preview

Team UPS is big on Texas; Texas is big on UPS. CHARLOTTE, N.C. --- Dale Jarrett and the ...

Edited: Apr 15, 2002, 11:45 PM

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Team UPS is big on Texas;
Texas is big on UPS.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. --- Dale Jarrett and the #88 UPS Racing Team return to Texas Motor Speedway as the defending winners of the "Samsung/RadioShack 500." Jarrett won the "Harrah's 500" last year. The event at Texas Motor Speedway is quickly becoming one of the biggest events on the NASCAR Winston Cup Series schedule with more than 400,000 race fans expected at this year's race weekend. Since the track played host to its first NASCAR Winston Cup Series race in 1997, attendance has steadily grown, making the Dallas/Fort Worth track a hot spot for teams. Winning at Texas has quickly become a prestigious accomplishment for drivers and teams.

The #88 Robert Yates Racing team's win at Texas Motor Speedway one year ago was a prelude to back-to-back wins. Jarrett and the #88 team went on to win the very next weekend at Martinsville Speedway, scoring the only back-to-back wins in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series all season. Given the team's streak of success, fond memories are conjured up when thinking about the month of April in 2001.

"This is a very strong team and I think our performances last year at places like Texas and Martinsville - places where we had never won - were proof of what this team is capable of," Jarrett said. "We had a good car all weekend at Texas. We had a fast car and an incredible engine and it made my job a lot of fun.

"A lot of people like to make comparisons between Texas and Charlotte, but you can't take anything away from Texas," Jarrett continued. "It has its own little quirks and characteristics that make it a tough track. Texas is one of those tracks where you absolutely have to have a good engine to do well. Power means a lot there and Robert (Yates) gives us everything we need to succeed. The track was just repaved recently so that should make things a little interesting for everyone."

The #88 team had come close to victory on two previous occasions in the "Lone Star" state with second-place finishes in 1999 and at the track's inaugural event in 1997.

"We'd had good runs at Texas in the past and came close to winning on a couple of occasions," Jarrett said. "We had been missing a little something that kept us from putting everything together for the win, but we were able to do that last year. Then to go to Martinsville the next weekend and win again was just tremendous."

While Jarrett and the #88 team are big on Texas, the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex is big on UPS. UPS employees approximately 8,600 people in the Dallas and Fort Worth areas.

D/FW International Airport is home to the UPS Southwest Region Air Hub and its fleet of "Browntail" jets. The southwest air hub encompasses 380,000 and averages 24 flights a day. The hub has the capabilities of sorting 46,000 air packages/documents per hour. In addition to the air facility, UPS has three ground hubs in the area.

The Dallas Metroplex is the home for the UPS Southwest Region, which encompasses Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas and a portion of western Tennessee. A 760,000 square foot UPS Logistics Campus is located at Fort Worth's Alliance Airport, located just a few miles from Texas Motor Speedway.

Like the employee base, the UPS customer base in Texas is large in its own right. Some of the company's biggest clients, such as JC Penney, are located in Texas, making the "Lone Star" state a valuable asset for UPS. There are more than 400 UPS authorized shipping outlets for customers in North Texas including UPS Customer Counters, Mail Boxes, Etc., and Office Depots. In addition, the new UPS Store at the American Airlines Center in the downtown Dallas Victory Development is scheduled to open later this year.

"Texas is a key market for UPS," Jarrett said. "That made the victory at Texas last year extra special because there were a number of guests and clients there to celebrate with us. We'd like to do it again this year and that's what we're aiming to do."

-ryr-

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