 Dale Earnhardt Jr.
History
2000 Season
2000: Winston Cup
The 2000 season was Dale Jr's and the Bud Team's first full year in the NASCAR Winston Cup
Series. It was an exciting year for the fans, the Budweiser Team won two NASCAR Winston
Cup points races and the Winston Select, the first rookie to ever win that race. The
"Rookie of the Year" battle came down to Matt Kenseth and two-time BGN Champion
Dale Earnhardt Jr., both rookies had a fantastic year but Matt was more consistant and
took the 2000 R.O.T.Y.
Earnhardt Jr. was quoted as saying, "We are happy with what we did. We won races.
That was great. We learned a lot. We did poorly in some areas, but we know how far we have
to go. It taught us a lot about ourselves. We'd like to run more consistently in the top
five or the top 10."
The younger Earnhardt's campaign had two distinct faces to it and in the end, that
dichotomy relegated him to 16th in the final point standings. "Little E" scored
three victories -- two of them in Winston Cup points races -- but totaled only five
top-10s the entire season. Amazingly, his 10th place finish at Dover in early June was his
last top-10 of the season.
Earnhardt Jr..'s close relationship with his cousin, car
chief Tony Eury Jr..; crew chief Tony Eury; and his crew, many of which had been with his
Busch program, was both a blessing and a curse. The continuation of his Busch Series
success to Winston Cup created an atmosphere that was too distracting and disruptive for
the operation's success to continue.
In the second half of the season he had six finishes of 30th
or worse, and by the time he figured out what had disrupted the smooth flow of success he
experienced earlier in the year the season was over. Still, Earnhardt Jr.. became the
second driver to score his first Winston Cup win at Texas Motor Speedway, with 1997
inaugural winner Jeff Burton; and also became the first rookie to win The Winston all star
race at Lowe's Motor Speedway. With his victories and two Bud Poles, he qualified for
2001's two special events, the Budweiser Shootout at Daytona and The Winston.
He did have a part in recreating one Winston Cup milestone
when he competed with his father and older half brother, Kerry Earnhardt, in the Pepsi 400
at Michigan International Speedway, making only the second time a father had raced against
two sons. Lee, Richard and Maurice Petty had previously accomplished the feat.
|
