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NASCAR news round-up

The last Winston Cup race of the 2000 season will be veteran Darrell Waltrip's last race of his career. Waltrip retires after Monday's rescheduled NAPA 500 in Atlanta - and how does the 53-year-old feel about his career-closing race? "I just can't wait to get it over with," he says

Waltrip announced at the end of 1999 that this season will be his last, but considering he has not scored a win since 1992, the former three-time Winston Cup champion reckons he should have retired sooner.

"I've been anguishing about this (retiring) for several years," he said, "wondering when this day would finally come, knowing that it probably should have come a lot sooner than it has."

Despite this, Waltrip will miss the passion of stock car racing.

"The joy of driving a race car, and the excitement and feeling of that, is something that I will always long for."

Waltrip made his Wintson Cup debut in 1972, but didn't get a full-time drive until 1975. In that season he scored his first win and went on to record a further 83 Winston Cup victories. His three Winston Cup titles came in 1981, '82 and '85 and he currently lies 36th in the standings with 1920 points.

Morgan-McClure Motorsports has announced that Robby Gordon will be its driver for the 2001 season.

Gordon has signed a five-year deal with the Virginian-based team, replacing Bobby Hamilton in the No.4 Kodak Chevrolet.

Speaking ahead of the NAPA 500 in Atlanta, Gordon said: " I am very committed to Morgan-McClure and what Larry (McClure, team owner) wants to achieve."

Gordon currently co-owns his own Turtlewax Team Menards Ford car, but at the moment he is unsure what will happen to his team.

"There will be some other announcements about my team as we work out the details," he said.

Morgan-McClure announced earlier this season that Hamilton will not be driving for the team in 2001, but the 43-year-old has signed a deal to race the second car for Andy Petree Racing.

United Parcel Service has announced a four-year sponsorship package with Robert Yates Racing. The UPS logo will appear on the bonnet of Dale Jarrett's Ford until the end of the 2005 season. It is thought the deal is worth around $14millon per year.

This is the third NASCAR-related deal the international courier company has made this year. In February UPS became an official status partner with NASCAR and in July it became an associate sponsor with Ricky Rudd's Texaco/Havoline Ford.

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