May 4, 2007 9:12 pm EDT
By Jerry Bonkowski
Yahoo! Sports

RICHMOND, Va. – Throughout his career, Dale Jarrett has been one of NASCAR's biggest supporters. Whenever the sanctioning body introduced new rules or format changes, DJ remained the loyal company man.

Even now, facing one of the biggest challenges of his 20-plus year Cup racing career, Jarrett remains a good soldier – even if he's shooting down his own chances for success.

At the end of last season, NASCAR decided to significantly alter one of its most popular rules. Instead of granting active (full- or part-time) past Cup champions such as Jarrett and Bill Elliott unlimited automatic berths in the field every week – known as a past champion provisional – NASCAR drastically cut the number to just six automatic starts, beginning this season.

"It was disappointing to us that in November a rule change affected us the way it did," said Ty Norris, vice president of Michael Waltrip Racing, which signed Jarrett long before the rule change was made. "I understand and what they were trying to do … but so many major [corporate] decisions were made months before that rule was changed, and that one would tend to bite us at some point."

That point is now.

During this season's first nine races, Jarrett managed to qualify just twice on speed (he was given an automatic berth in a third race without having to use a past champion's provisional due to qualifying being rained out).

Six other times he had to use the provisional, and now he has exhausted them. From Richmond this weekend to the season finale at Homestead, Fla., if Jarrett wants to take part in the Saturday or Sunday Cup show, he's going to have to race his way into an event on speed – provided he doesn't somehow climb back into the top 35 in owner points.

And those lack of provisionals already are making a difference, as Jarrett failed to qualify Friday for Saturday's Crown Royal Presents the Jim Stewart 400 here at Richmond, marking the first time Jarrett will not start a Cup race since Oct. 2, 1994.

But the snub doesn't have DJ pining for a rule change. Instead, it's about protecting the owners, not drivers.

"There's a lot of owners who've made a huge investment in this sport," Jarrett said. "I'm one that thinks more along the lines that they need to be protected, that they're allowed to go sell their sponsorship and teams on the fact that they're in that top 35 and that they're going to be in those races.

"That's far more important than even someone like myself; you need to get out there and get the job done."

On Friday, Jarrett didn't even come close to getting the job done, recording the fourth-slowest qualifying speed (123.226 mph) of the 50 cars that attempted to make Saturday's race. And that came after parting ways with crew chief Matt Borland earlier this week.

Obviously, the addition of new crew chief Jason Burdett didn't help much, at least not this weekend.

"We knew it was going to take time to make all of this happen," Jarrett said, alluding both to the growth of MWR as well as adapting to the new Toyota Camry. "We didn't go sell UPS, Domino's and Burger King and NAPA on the fact that we were going to put together this team and we're going to conquer the world. We didn't make promises that we can't live up to.

"But because we have been around the sport and we know that we are capable of what we're doing right now, yes, it's difficult."

Growing sponsor, manufacturer and owner pressure has prompted NASCAR to reevaluate the top 35 format, with an eye on perhaps changing it to give more teams – and ultimately more sponsors – a better chance of making the field for race day.

NASCAR could consider cutting the number of automatic berths to the top 30 or maybe even 25 in owner points in the coming weeks. But Jarrett would rather see the trend go the opposite way, with NASCAR guaranteeing 40 starting spots and leaving just three spots on the grid open for drivers trying to race in on speed.

Any way you slice it, that would still continue the practice of sending seven or more teams back home without making the show. Of course, including the top 40 would put Jarrett in the show right now, as his ride currently is 38th in owner points.

Not that 38th is anything to brag about.

"Yeah, this is difficult because you want so badly to make something work and make something happen," Jarrett said. "You try to stress patience, that it's going to take time. That's easy to say but very hard to do because we are competitors."

But in light of failing to make Saturday's race, Jarrett runs the risk of dropping out of the top 40. And while he says he won't change his stance on this rule, one has to wonder how many more failed qualifying attempts – and missed races – would alter his outlook.

"I just don't have it in my makeup to quit or say I don't want to do this anymore," Jarrett said. "That's not going to happen. … We are going to continue to work hard. It's stressful on everybody, but we're going to make this work eventually.

"There isn't a quick fix and we have to tell ourselves that. … You don't want to be the car that's at the bottom of the list every week. It's no fun."


Veteran motorsports writer Jerry Bonkowski is Yahoo! Sports' NASCAR columnist. .

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