MARTINSVILLE, Va. (AP) – Dale Jarrett is changing crew chiefs for the third time in just over a year after a frustrating eight races with Brad Parrott.

The 1999 Winston Cup champion wants more support and leadership.

“I’m looking for someone that has more of the answers, (instead of) coming to me after we get through qualifying – and here this year after a bad day of qualifying – saying, ‘What do you want to put in the car for the race?”‘ Jarrett said Friday.

“My answer was, and it wasn’t made to be a smart-aleck answer: At the top of my contract it says ‘driver,”‘

Jarrett said. “I’m to give input as to what I feel with the race car. I don’t think there’s

any driver out here telling

his team what springs and shocks to put in that race car.”

Jarrett’s team, Robert Yates Racing, announced Wednesday that Parrott was fired as crew chief of Jarrett’s No. 88 Ford. Parrott’s brother, Todd, took an indefinite leave of absence from his role as competition director for Yates’ two Winston Cup teams.

Team general manager Doug Yates said the move was made because “it’s kind of like the wheels have come off” since Jarrett won at Rockingham, N.C., in the season’s second race.

“We’re going to see what’s out there,” Yates said.

Garth Finley and Richard Buck will share crew chief

duties on Jarrett’s car this weekend for the Virginia

500. He qualified 39th on

Friday and blamed “driver error,” saying he overdrove his car into the tight corners.

Jarrett’s team spent three days testing at Texas, he said, but when they returned for the race, the setup in his car was all wrong, causing him to think he might need a new crew chief.

Jarrett also changed crew chiefs last season, with Todd Parrott replacing Jimmy Elledge after six races.

Brad Parrott was hired Thursday as car chief of Jeff Burton’s Roush Racing Winston Cup team. Last year, Burton won five times with Parrott as his crew chief in the Busch series.