NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Champion To Work 10 ESPN Telecasts in 2007 source: ESPN Dale Jarrett will begin the transition to what may be the next phase of his career this weekend when he joins ESPN2 as booth analyst for live coverage of Saturday's NASCAR Busch Series race at Texas Motor Speedway. Jarrett, the 1999 NASCAR Cup champion and one of the founding drivers of the NASCAR Busch Series in 1982, will appear on 10 of this season's Busch telecasts while continuing to race fulltime in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series in Michael Waltrip Racing's #44 UPS Toyota. The 50-year-old Jarrett, winner of 32 NASCAR Cup and 11 Busch races in his career, has indicated that 2008 will be his last year of driving and has hinted that a more expanded television presence may be in his future. "Over the last few years, TV was something that I have taken more interest in and looked more at because I want to stay involved in the sport," he said. "This is the perfect chance that ESPN is offering me to see if it's something that I really want to do and want to look at after 2008 to do maybe closer to full time. And to find out if it's something I can do and if ESPN would be interested in having me." Jarrett drove fulltime on the NASCAR Busch Series from 1982 through 1987 and was part of its growth from short track roots to the major status it enjoys today. He looks forward to working on telecasts of the series that he helped build and that propelled him to his NASCAR NEXTEL Cup career. "Personally the biggest thing for me was the Busch Series to come along and let me show the Cup owners that I could drive on the same race tracks against their drivers in the Busch Series," he said. "I don't know that I ever would have made it if it wasn't for the Busch Series. And now having this opportunity to look at the Busch Series in a different way, and look at these drivers and talk about what is happening and giving people an idea of a perspective from my standpoint, is something I want to do."
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