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Subject: DJ's Future Looks Bright
Posted by: KrazyKoalaBears
- Donor [266182910] Tue, Apr 09, 2002, 11:11
A lot of you know that Dale Jarrett has had a rough start to the season, but there are a few signs that the rough start may be over and here they are: 1. Todd Parrott is his crew chief again. Jimmy Elledge had taken over as crew chief to start the season but a series of differences of opinion led to Elledge stepping down. This happened between the BRI and TEX races, which brings me to... 2. Dale Jarrett averaged a 14.5 finish at DAR in 16 races over the last 7 years. He finished 40th this year for a -25 difference. He averaged a 10.2 finish at BRI in 15 races over the last 7 years. He finished 29th this season for a -19 difference. And then there was TEX. DJ averaged a 12.2 finish at TEX in 6 races over the last 7 years. He finished 24th for a -12 difference, but, more importantly, the problems that led to his 24th place finish could have been avoided. It wasn't a blown engine or an accident, it was running out of gas and the subsequent pit road folly. He could have easily been top 10 if not top 5 with his teammate Ricky Rudd, which would have gone quite nicely with his 134 laps led. He led a total of 17 laps in all the races before TEX. 3. We're headed to MAR and TAL for the next 2 races, tracks that DJ has an 11.9 average finish in 14 races over 7 years and 11.7 average finish in 14 races over 7 years, respectively. 4. 1.5 average finish in 2 races last year at MAR. I'm not sure if I'm on the bandwagon myself, but the signs look good. I may have to find a way to get him on at least 1 team. Thoughts? Comments? |
| 1 | Challenger
ID: 3821129
Tue, Apr 09, 2002, 15:13
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Thoughts - I added DJ to one team last week due to his past performances in Texas & this weeks race. Won't be adding him to any of the other teams just yet.
Comments - Bringing back Parrott will be good for the UPS team, BUT in my opinion Parrott is the reason DJ ran out of motion lotion. As pointed out in the telecast, Parrott should have noted the race speeds had picked up and this should have been factored in the mpg formula. The team actually thought they could go another 2 laps!!! That's missing it by 3 laps!! Big Error!! As crew chief, Parrott has final say so on when DJ should come in and refuel.
This was not the 1st time Jarrett has led a race and ran out of gas with Parrott as his crew chief. Can't remember the exact race, but Jarrett ended up losing 4 laps and somehow managed to comeback and finish the race on the lead lap. Somehow???? Heck he had the racecar for that race!! Can't say he would have won at Texas last weekend, but it would have been interesting seeing my favorite driver being competitive at the end again.
Now commenting on the engine failures, The 1st blown engine was traced back to a machinist error in the machining of one connecting rod. To make the engines last longer, due to the one engine rule, they/Yates redesign the connecting rods to last longer. However, one rod was found to have been machined to the old configuration. That's a major human error!! But nobody's perfect.....
2nd engine was blown due to the oil pump belt breaking. TV announcers mentioned that this happens often at that particular track due to debris from the track and tires being thrown up and simply knocking the belt off which then probably broke due to hitting other moving parts. I haven't heard the UPS team explanation on why the belt broke, but if this is the case, why hasn't someone came up with the idea of a belt guard??? They can't change out the belt during a race because once it breaks, the engine will blow up due to no oil and the high rpms.
Just my $.02
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| 2 | KrazyKoalaBears
Donor
ID: 266182910
Sun, Jun 16, 2002, 17:31
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Sometimes I wish I would follow my own advice. ;) Since this thread, DJ's finishes are:
MAR: 4
TAL: 6
CAL: 6
RIR: 38
CHA: 19
DOV: 5
POC: 1
MIC: 2 All I can say is WOW! Gotta love DJ and Parrott together again. Race that truck, Dale!
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| 3 | Fatal Image
ID: 525541020
Sun, Jun 16, 2002, 22:19
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I don't know about my current team but he looks like a sure thing for my midseason team.
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