Talladega: Dale Jarrett preview

Plate race number two looms ahead at Talladega

TALLADEGA, Ala. April 16, 2002 --- The NASCAR Winston Cup Series gets its second test at the fast speeds of the superspeedways with the upcoming "Aaron's 499" at Talladega Superspeedway. Dale Jarrett and the #88 UPS Racing team are looking to carry the momentum from the fourth-place finish at Martinsville to Talladega, hoping to make their first trip to victory lane in 2002. Jarrett is looking for retribution from his 14th-place finish at Daytona in February. All of the racing action gets underway this weekend with Bud Pole qualifying on Friday, April 19, at 3:05 p.m. CST.

Talladega Is Superspeedway Test Number Two
The "Aaron's 499" is the second of four restrictor-plate races for the 2002 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season. The #88 team ran strong in the season-opening plate race at Daytona. Jarrett was running in the top five on the final lap before spinning out and limping home to a 14th-place finish. A few things have changed for the upcoming race at Talladega. NASCAR announced a few weeks ago that the spoiler on the Fords will be lowered ¼ inch.

"We've done a lot of work since Daytona trying to figure out how to make our cars go faster at the plate races," Jarrett offered. "Obviously you have to have a good enough car to draft with and to be near the front. You have to have a lot of patience, but more than anything else, you have to position yourself towards the end of the race. You can race there for 470 miles and it doesn't really make any difference -- it's those last 30 miles -- that's when you have to get yourself in the right position.

"It doesn't really matter what I think about the rules because they're not going to change them," Jarrett continued. "I guess they added a little back to our spoiler. I don't know why they would have done that, but we'll just go and see. I don't think you'll see many Fords being very fast in qualifying, but maybe things will work out for us during the race. We've worked on our cars and our engines are great. Doug Yates makes sure we have what we need, and we found a few things a couple weeks ago that should help us at Talladega."

* Jarrett joined the #88 Robert Yates Racing team in 1996. Since 1996, the #88 team has an average starting position of ninth place at Talladega.

* In 12 starts at Talladega, the #88 team has six top-five finishes, with the lowest being a third-place finish in the 1998 Die Hard 500.

* The #88 team has an average finish at Talladega of 11th place in 12 starts.

UPS Introduces Its HEV to NASCAR At Talladega
The UPS Trackside Services booth at Talladega Superspeedway will feature an innovation currently being tested by the company. UPS introduced a Hybrid Electric Vehicle into its fleet of package cars at the end of 2001. The vehicle has been used in Huntsville, Ala., and worked a 31-mile route picking up and delivering packages at 158 locations. The development of this vehicle is the latest in a long line of initiatives that combine environmental stewardship with technological and market innovations. UPS began the research and design phase of its HEV project three years ago with the help of PEI Electronics, also based in Huntsville. The HEV will be at the UPS Trackside Services inside the NASCAR Winston Cup garage at Talladega.

-ryr/ups-