With Dale Jarrett racing in his final points-paying NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race Sunday afternoon at Bristol Motor Speedway, plenty of memories come flooding back about his storied NASCAR career.

The top of that list? The "Dale and Dale Show" from the 1993 Daytona 500. Watch below as his father, Ned Jarrett, calls his son (Green No. 18 car) to victory past Dale Earnhardt and others -- and try not to smile as he crosses the finish line.



That moment, with Ken Squier stepping out of his role in CBS booth in play-by-play to allow Ned to seemingly instruct his son to victory in the sport's biggest event, is definitely one of the tops in Daytona 500.

It wasn't a particularly good weekend at Las Vegas for former champions of the Sprint Cup series in the UAW-Dodge 400.

Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Kurt Busch, Dale Jarrett, and Matt Kenseth all had trouble at some point during the event that saw a record 11 cautions.

Defending two-time champion Jimmie Johnson was just horrendous all day.

The highest-finishing past champ was Bobby Labonte in the 17th-position. The rest are counted down by their finishing position:

20th - Matt Kenseth, No. 17 USG Sheetrock Ford

Kenseth had a very decent run going Sunday and looked to be the more-dominant of the Roush Fenway group through the middle parts of the race. His trouble came after contact with Gordon off of turn 2 with four laps remaining.

Last season, a number of drivers were burned by the combination of the Top-35 rule and rain on the day of qualifying for several NASCAR Sprint Cup events.

Case in point? Boris Said.

The road course ace has tried to gather together sponsorship and a quality team together to compete in a handful of races every year, and his current situation has No Fear Energy Drink as the sponsor with support from Roush Fenway Racing.

That combination had Boris on the pole for last year's Pepsi 400 at Daytona in July -- until a rain storm canceled qualifying midway through the session, sending Boris home instead of into a race on the following night.

Friday, rain is possible and the NASCAR Scene has developed a list of go-homers in the event of rain. From the Scene:

The top 35 in owners points from 2007 are locked into the field. If qualifying is canceled, the first 35 positions are allocated by owners points from last year for the first five races of the season.

Barring any teams having missed the entry list deadline, the remaining eight spots would be allocated like this:

Check out all of the NASCAR Fanhouse Daytona Speedweeks Coverage.
On Sunday, stop by for the live blog of the 50th Daytona 500 at 3:00pm/ET.

Last year, Michael Waltrip and his race team, Michael Waltrip Racing, faced one of most-publicized cheating scandals in NASCAR history. An illegal additive in Waltrip's No. 55 had set his team on its collective ear, and proved to be a barometer of the season MWR would have.

2008, though, is a much different story.

Waltrip put his No. 55 NAPA Toyota on the outside of the front row for Sunday's 50th-running of the Daytona 500 and his teammates, David Reutimann and Dale Jarrett, secured starting positions in the event.

The team has sported silver wheels for the past year and in all on-track activities during the 2008 Daytona Speedweeks. Sunday though, that will change.

Michael Waltrip and his three NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams will pay tribute to the golden anniversary of the Daytona 500 on Sunday by starting the 50th running of The Great American Race sporting specially-designed gold wheels.

Following the 200-lap event, the wheels will be autographed and sold to raise money for charities supported by the France family.

[...]

The Waltrip teams will run the gold wheels only for the start of the race, moving back to their traditional chrome wheels after the first round of pit stops.

I don't think I can remember too many cars in history that have sported gold wheels, but if anyone in the NASCAR garage would do this, it'd be Waltrip.

With only 12 of these wheels available for auction, I'd imagine the price will be pretty steep, and if one of the MWR cars wins on Sunday -- it wouldn't be as surprising as you'd think -- expect that price to raise ten-fold.

Click for previous NASCAR Testing posts from Daytona.

It's been a long time in the NASCAR world since we've seen two Dales lead at the top of any list statistically.

The second round of preseason Sprint Cup testing at Daytona International Speedway changed that Monday morning as soon-to-be-retired Dale Jarrett topped all drivers on the speed chart. Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s new Hendrick ride was second fastest.

Jarrett's lap time of 184.987mph not only paced the Monday morning single-lap session, but also bested Jimmie Johnson's best single-lap time from the first round of testing a week ago at DIS.

Running fast in qualifying trim for Jarrett is going to be especially crucial for Daytona and the four remaining races he plans to race into this season. The No. 44 Michael Waltrip Racing entry failed to make 12 races.

Jarrett, despite being a past champion, will not always be able to fall back on the guaranteed spot in a race for a past champ because of an owner points swap at Penske racing that allowed Kurt Busch's points from a year ago to be transferred to Sam Hornish Jr.'s new ride.

Guess what, fans? ESPN really does listen to us! Or ... maybe they just listen to their own broadcasts and realize how painful they are all on their own.

Rusty Wallace is out! Out I say! Done deal. My source actually used the word "fired!"

I'll tell ya what ... I don't care if he was fired, quit or otherwise. I'd just like to wish him good riddance. One Answer this... reader suggests that ESPN will shift Wallace back to the IRL booth. Good for him--they can have him.

Wallace will be replaced by the retiring Dale Jarrett, who drove circles around his fellow former champion in the booth this season.

Never thought I'd say it .. Thank you, ESPN!

Update: Daly Planet has also received a confirmation that Rusty is out.

Update: Official Comment from ESPN

"Rusty Wallace is our guy. We have a long-term contract with him. He's the voice of NASCAR on ESPN."
NORBY WILLIAMSON – ESPN Executive Vice President, Studio and Remote Production

That's disappointing. I should like to withdrawal my thanks and hope that Mr. Williamson is just saying that 'cause he has to and that he'll be telling us something different at a later date.

1999 Winston Cup Champion Dale Jarrett is expected to announce later this week that he will run six races in 2008. Or ... uh ... as many as he can get in before running out of championship provisionals

Part of me wishes that Jarrett had retired in the #88 rather than having such a dismal last full-time season with Michael Waltrip Racing. But it was cool he postponed his retirement to race awhile longer and help his good friends The Waltrips get their team up and running.

In making a decision about his future, Jarrett considered the advice he received earlier this year from Hall of Fame quarterback and former NASCAR team owner Terry Bradshaw:

"He said, 'Look, make sure you drive as long as you want to and as long as you can, because once you're out, nobody has ever gone back and done anything good, whether it's your sport or his sport or football.' I took that into consideration. I thought that was pretty good advice."

Good advice indeed. Where was Bradshaw when Michael Jordan retired the first time? And second ...

All the free time Jarrett had on his hands this season afforded him the opportunity to test his skills in the broadcast booth. Fans loved him. We would like to see him spend the rest of his semi-retirement there. You listening, ESPN? Bump Rusty. Give us some DJ.

Dale Jarrett Career Stats / Accomplishments
1999 Winston Cup Championship
1998 Named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers
1996 Daytona 500 Winner
First Race: 1984 Sovran Bank 500 (Martinsville)
First Win: 1991 Champion Spark Plug 400 (Michigan)
Last Win: 2005 UAW Ford 500 (Talladega)
Career: 32 Wins, 163 Top 5s, 260 Top 10s, 16 Poles in 659 starts

Dale Jarrett hasn't had the best of years -- by far.

That, though, doesn't mean the Cup Champ is going to step out of the driver seat of the No. 44 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota before his contract is up at the end of 2008.

"I'm very fortunate to have a sponsor that's very committed to our program, and I'm fortunate as a driver that they built their marketing program around me, and so that's very good," he said. "Do they want to do better? Sure. We all do. They're no different than anyone else, but never has there been anything said about making a change or doing anything different."

UPS really should be given a pat on the back for their support of Jarrett. Can the man still wheel a race car? Definitely. Can he make hilarious commercials? He can act in them, I suppose.

And they realize that Toyota will make some nice strides in 2008 with the Car of Tomorrow.

Rudd One and Done

As for Jarrett's old car and teammate, Ricky Rudd has deciding to hang it up again next year.

Though contemplating full retirement, Rudd hasn't taken his name away from anything, other than saying he won't be back at Yates and that he is tired of the daily grind.

Isn't that we he left the sport for a year ago?

Michael Waltrip Racing denied today a report from RacingOne that Dale Jarrett would be out of the ride in 2008 and that UPS was already packing up. (Heh, get it?)

The original report about DJ from International Speedway Corporation affiliate RacingOne:

Toyota is expected to pair down Michael Waltrip racing from a three-car effort to a two-car squad, shifting some of that support to JGR's three-car team of Busch, Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin. Dale Jarrett is said to be seriously considering retirement, trading in his helmet for a microphone as a television analyst, which would leave MWR with Waltrip and David Reutimann.

There must be something to the rampant rumor that Toyota and Joe Gibbs Racing are forming a partnership for '08, you'd think.

Anyways, this race fan would be more than happy to have Dale Jarrett replace Rusty Wallace in the ESPN booth. MWR's words with ESPN (via Jayski) didn't sound like that was even feasible:

Toyota is celebrating a Nextel Cup milestone today: their first Bud Pole Award.

Dave Blaney put the manufacturer on top of the New Hampshire International Speedway scoring pylon today and became the first driver outside the top 35 in points to nab the pole.

Blaney has qualified for more races than any other Toyota driver, but he doesn't seem to know what to do once he gets there and can't seem to climb his way into the top 35. Kyle Petty's trying to help him out by sitting out a few.

Brian Vickers, who I had previously named as Toyota's emerging star, has qualified on time for 9 races and made Sunday's Lenox Industrial Tools 300 his tenth. Unfortunately, he got a post-qualifying surprise when his time was disallowed after the #83 car failed inspection. He'll join Red Bull teammate A.J. Allmendinger on the couch.

Per usual, Michael Waltrip and Dale Jarrett will be sitting this one out, but MWR's David Reutimann is in starting 17th.

And in another qualifying surprise, Blaney's teammate Jeremy Mayfield qualified for his sixth race. Remember when he was, like, a chase contender?

One man's loss is another man's gain.
Since Vickers won't need his PR rep in the pits on raceday, Ashley Miller will be free to sit atop her boyfriend's pit box and give him the extra girlfriend support he might be needing since recently meeting her parents. What must it be like bringing Kasey Kahne home to meet mom and dad?