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2008 was the last Cup season for 1999 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Dale Jarrett. He planned to run the first five races and the All-Star Race and later head to the NASCAR on ESPN broadcast booth.
Heading into Daytona Speedweeks, Jarrett and his No. 44 Michael Waltrip Racing (MWR) team were on the outside looking in as a new organization. His car was not locked into the Daytona 500.
Since Sam Hornish Jr. was transitioning from IndyCar to NASCAR with Penske Racing, the No. 77 team did an owner points swap with Kurt Busch, making him the most recent champion to have a provisional. Electrical problems plagued Busch and he had to use the champion’s provisional to get into the 50th Daytona 500, meaning Jarrett had to race his way in via the second Gatorade Duel.
On pole day, his teammate and owner Michael Waltrip qualified on the outside of the front row and teammate David Reutimann, in the No. 00 car for MWR, qualified on speed.
Two of three MWR cars were already guaranteed a spot in the race, and would do everything to help Jarrett make his last Daytona 500. And help they did, as Waltrip and Reutimann drafted with the three-time Daytona 500 winner. At the end of the day, Jarrett finished ninth, earning the first of two transfer spots, with the other one going to Front Row Motorsports driver John Andretti.
Andretti made a move around Reutimann on the last lap to make his way into the Great American Race.
Dale Jarrett’s final points-paying race would be at Bristol Motor Speedway in March 2008, before handing off the No. 44 car to David Reutimann for the rest of the season.
2008 Gatorade Duel #2 Top-Ten