Richmond II: Dale Jarrett preview

DJ hopes Richmond test ends in success.

RICHMOND, Va., September 3, 2002 --- Richmond International Raceway's "Chevy Monte Carlo 400" will be a short-track Saturday night clash of the 43 Winston Cup drivers and teams. Dale Jarrett and the #88 UPS Racing Team have visited Richmond's victory lane on two occasions. The #88 UPS Racing team will make a run at their third win of the season this weekend at 7:30 p.m. EST on Sept. 7th. TNT will provide live television coverage beginning at 7 p.m. EST.

Team UPS Hopes Richmond Test Translates Into Success
Jarrett and the #88 team didn't fare well during the spring race at Richmond, getting caught up in an accident on lap 170. The team finished the race in 38th place, 91 laps down. In preparation for this weekend's race, the team spent two days testing at Richmond. The team believes it was able to garner information that should give them a leg up on the competition this weekend. Jarrett and the #88 UPS team have combined to put together a pretty impressive stat sheet at the .75-mile oval, and hope to add to their record this weekend.

* In 13 starts together at Richmond, Jarrett and the #88 team have combined for nine top-five finishes, including two wins (Spring '99 and Fall '97).

* Since 1996, Jarrett has completed 5,089 of the 5,200 laps run at Richmond International Raceway for a lap completion percentage of 97.8 percent.

Team UPS Gains In The Point Standings
Jarrett's fifth-place finish in the Southern 500 boosted the #88 UPS Racing Team to ninth place in the Winston Cup point standings. Since winning at Michigan three weeks ago, the team has moved from 12th to ninth, and currently sit 214 points out of fifth place. While the championship is not out of reach, Jarrett hopes to pace his team into the top five in points.

"As far as what I look at from us, I hope that we can continue the pace that we're on," Jarrett said. "Hopefully, we can be competitive and give ourselves a chance to win a couple more races and take advantage of that. As far as the points deal, I think it's going to be a wild race to the end. I think it's up for grabs for any of those guys that are in the top seven or eight. I'm not counting us out by any means. We're just going to do our job and if we can do that, maybe we'll end up in this battle if the leaders have a few more problems. I think it's wide open and it's going to be interesting to watch and see how they handle it because I think it's probably going to give others a chance, including us, to go and be aggressive and win some races because these guys are going to start looking at those points. You're going to start getting down to that point that they're all going to start saying, 'Hey, I've just got to finish in front of him or I've got to beat him today.' That will be a chance for us and others to go win."

UPS To Begin Safety Pit Stop Program
Beginning this month, UPS will take its safety program to teenagers through safety pit stops that will be conducted in select high schools along the NASCAR Winston Cup Series circuit. The UPS teen safe-driving curriculum is a spin-off of UPS's own comprehensive defensive driving course called "Space and Visibility." Emphasis will be placed on The UPS Five Seeing Habits, which stress the importance of space and visibility when driving. UPS drivers are among the safest in the world, traveling more than two billion miles each year on the U.S. roadways, and the company's intention is to take their teaching tools into the classroom and instill these same safe-driving standards among teens. This expands a program started with Dale Jarrett last May to emphasize safety practices during National Transportation Week before the start of the busy summer travel season. Jarrett also has recorded Back-to-School safe driving tips, which UPS is disseminating as public service announcements this month.

-ryr/ups-