Jarrett ready for final Cup start

Jarrett announced his retirement plans last year at Charlotte, where he is set to start his final race in May, when he competes in the non- points All-Star Challenge. However, this weekend's race will be his last in the championship in which he competed for 22 years.

"I think it's going to be somewhat emotional and probably even more so because it's going to be close to my home and I am going to be able to have a lot of family and friends around," Jarrett said. "So I think that will help add to that on top of it just being Bristol. I know I've said that a number of times but it is a special place to race."

The three-time Daytona 500 winner has claimed 32 race victories and 16 pole positions in 667 starts, taking also three non-points wins in the Budweiser Shootout. He won at every type of track NASCAR races at and believes there is nothing missing from his long career in the Sprint Cup.

"As far as anything that is missing, there really isn't anything I can see that is missing," he said. "I would obviously liked to have had another championship, and I came close to having a couple and that was great to be able to battle for that, but I've been very blessed and I couldn't imagine asking to add anything to a career that I've been very fortunate to have."

Jarrett started his Cup career in 1984, taking a 14th place finish at Martinsville. He then changed teams until winning his first race for Wood Brothers at Michigan in 1991. He then won his first Daytona 500 driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, before switching to Robert Yates Racing where he spent most of his career driving Fords and taking his only title.

Recently Jarrett has also worked as a TV commentator for ESPN in the NASCAR Nationwide Series and he is expected to make a full switch to the microphones, following on the footsteps of his father Ned.

David Reutimann is expected to take over Jarrett's drive for the rest of the season, while rookie Michael McDowell will drive the No. 00 car that Reutimann has been racing in the first five events of the year.