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Dale Jr. second as Ryan Newman wins Winston_5/18
No. 8 Budweiser Team strong all night, nearly pull off dramatic victory.

The Key Moment: Dale Jr. started near the back of the 27-car field, and had to dodge several accidents that took place immediately in front of him in the first 15 laps. Once the field settled down somewhat, Dale Jr. inched his Bud car through the pack, gaining the 10th position on the final lap of the first segment. In the second race, Junior again avoided disaster as he barely dodged the car of Mark Martin, who blew an engine immediately in front of the Bud car. After finishing second in the second segment, Dale Jr. started ninth in the final 20-lap sprint to the big dollars. It took him only two laps to leap into sixth, where he stayed until the final yellow flag of the night on lap 85. With only five laps remaining, the team decided to gamble by pitting for four fresh tires. After the stop, Dale Jr. restarted seventh, climbing to fourth one lap later, then third on lap 87 and second on lap 88. Earnhardt Jr. closed quickly on the leader Newman, but despite the contact in turn two on the final lap, was unable to get past the young rookie for the victory.

Dale Jr's Quotes: "I'm proud of Ryan (Newman). He did a great job of driving and made a great save there on the last lap. Yeah, I did bump him a little bit there - I was really trying to make him loose - but I backed off the throttle because I didn't want to crash him. I guess I could have stayed in the throttle and tried to get underneath him, but once I let up, the race was over. I couldn't catch him. I guess I'll replay those last laps a hundred times to see if I could have done anything different to get past him.

"Yeah - I could have wrecked him and came around the last lap for the win. I mean, $750,000 (to win) is helluva lotta money. But, is it really worth it to win in a way that would be bittersweet? Is it worth it to piss off all the people that would be mad at me winning that way? We've had some bad luck and some crashes lately, so this feels pretty good. I'm happy with second place, we had a great car all night and we had a great stop to take the four tires at the end there. It makes me look like a hero when my guys give me car that is that good. I mean, it's easy to drive a car that's that good."

About the final 20-lap segment that was run with nine drivers younger than 35 years old, plus "veteran" Bill Elliott. "Before that last segment started, I was looking at who was out there, and it was pretty cool - all the young guys that are part of our fraternity ya know. We had all the young guns there. Me and Matt (Kenseth) aren't even that young anymore. Maybe we're the middle o' the road! Then, I saw Bill Elliott out there - and I didn't know how he was in there, and I didn't know if he even wanted to be there"

Best Radio Conversations
With no Winston Cup points on the line and a fireworks-spouting, pyrotechnic-blasting pre-race show that would make a 1970s heavy metal band proud, the rock-and-roll atmosphere fits perfectly with the young Earnhardt Jr. and the hard-charging Budweiser team. They seem to have more fun during this race than any other throughout the season. This results in a lot of animated radio chatter throughout the night.

On lap 15, Dale Jr. had to make the second crash-avoidance move of the night as he barely missed a multi-car accident in turn three. He discussed both near-misses during the caution period.

Dale Jr: "I was racing like hell there god-all-mighty this car is good up in the top groove. It's just like the old days. (Dale Jr. won the 2000 Winston with an outside-lane pass of Dale Jarret.t) That move (to avoid the multi-car crash) was pretty nifty. I was on the apron in the third turn at about 140 miles per hour I just want the race to go green again so I can get around these guys. The car is really good , but I swear I almost hit Steve (Park, DEI teammate who spun in front of Dale Jr. on lap six.) My grille had to be less than six inches from his left rear tire. I don't know how I missed him."
Tony Eury Jr. (car chief): "Yeah, you should see the replay"
Dale Jr: "Yeah - we'll need to get a tape of this one. There's been a lotta action so far"

After the first segment, the field took a mandatory 10-minute break to service the machines. Dale Jr. laughed about entering pit road at a rather fast rate of speed and sliding the car sideways as if it were a sprint car.
Dale Jr.: Y'all shoulda seen me getting' onto pit road that time. Whooo! That was Sammy Swindell all the way!"

Dale Jr. nearly crashed again as he managed to keep the car straight when Mark Martin's car blew an engine right in front of him on lap 49.
Ty Norris (spotter): "Right in front of ya! Right in front of ya! Helluva save man! Keep on comin'! Whew - you earned your paycheck tonight with that move. You ARE the man!"
Dale Jr.: "'Cuz I've got the car to be the man After Richmond (where Dale Jr. spun out) and the test at Milwaukee, I felt like an idiot. I know the jury's still out on that one, but after that save, I feel a lot better about myself as a driver. I almost crashed there."

When the yellow flag flew with five laps to go, Dale Jr. (who had again avoided a crash in front of him) was in third place. The decision: stay out or pit for fresh tires?
Dale Jr.: "The car's pretty tight behind these guys. What do ya wanna do?"
Tony Eury Sr. (crew chief): "We came here to win, didn't we?"
Dale Jr.: "You're damn right! I'm comin' in!"
Tony Sr: "Alright, four tires guys. Let's go win this thing"

Off to Los Angeles
Dale Jr. leaves early Sunday morning (this morning, actually, as it is currently after midnight eastern time) for Los Angeles, where he will co-star with Sheryl Crow in the music video of her song "Steve McQueen." We hope Dale Jr. acts as well as McQueen raced McQueen was an accomplished motorcycle rider and racecar driver. McQueen actually competed as a driver at LeMans before starring in the movie of the same name

-Budweiser

Earnhardt Jr. Post-race quotes_5/18
Chevrolet

ON YOUR NIGHT "It was pretty wild there for most of the evening. We seemed to be kind of in the middle of and around everything that was happening. Steve Park got spun out somehow or another. I don't know how he got loose, but we were right in the door of him when he turned sideways. I don't know how we missed that. Then the big wreck on the back straightaway - I just went to the apron. I had seen that before.

"I saw that happening about five laps before it happened. We had that good a car all night. A couple of people were asking me where we came from, but our car was that good all night. We just had to dodge wrecks and blown motors. Mark's (Mark Martin's) blown motor about sent me into the wall. Then, we decided there at the end to take two tires during that last little run because as you can tell, second on back doesn't pay that much. $150,000 tonight (for second), that's like winning a race, so I believe Teresa (Earnhardt) will be pretty happy."

HOW CONVINCED WERE YOU ON THAT FINAL RUN THAT YOU COULD CATCH RYAN NEWMAN AND EVENTUALLY PASS HIM? "It's real early for me to really tell you right now whether I should be in victory lane right now. Of course, I'll play it over a thousand times in my head for probably weeks wondering how I could have done something different. We had new tires, fast car, that's going to be enough to take the lead. You know, with 10 cars, five laps to go, you know those guys behind you are probably going to do it.

"I could have done a lot of things different on the last couple laps to beat Ryan. I got into the back of him in turn two and I didn't take advantage of it. That cost me a lot of momentum. He had an awesome powerplant, too. Getting to him was easy, but getting by him was a different story."

WHAT DID YOU MEAN BY SAYING THAT YOU COULD HAVE DONE SOMETHING DIFFERENT TO GET BY HIM? "I was catching him pretty good in two. We'd got down into one about the same and then he would just have trouble getting on the gas because we had newer tires. I got a run on him, got in the back of him, I backed off because I thought he had spun him out. But, he saved it. I should have just stayed in the gas. He'd have went up the track and maybe I could have gotten on the inside of him. But, if he'd have spun out, I would have come back to the checkered flag - that would have kind of been bittersweet. I mean, $750,000 is a lot of money - an awful lot of money. But, it ain't worth all the people that you'd piss off by wrecking somebody to get it."

ON WHAT THIS WIN WOULD DO FOR RYAN NEWMAN "It's a huge win - an awful lot of money. The money really puts the prestige in the victory itself. This race - I think the coolness would have worn off long ago if we were still racing for $200,000. That's nothing nowadays. It's a great race. It really says a lot of the guy and the team - the combination of the two - that can win here under these circumstances. You don't really set your car up exactly like you would in the '600.' There are a lot of things that you'll do different. We do things different with gas and tires for each little segment for different reasons.

"It just says a lot. He'll come out of here with so much more confidence in himself and his ability and his team. He'll be able to take that with him the rest of the year."

IS TONIGHT ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF THE YOUNG GUYS TAKING OVER THIS SPORT? "Yeah. Tony (Eury) Sr., my crew chief, he figured that the last 10 laps would not have the expected racers or runners in it that everyone thought there would be. As you kind of saw, it was me, Matt (Kenseth), Kurt (Busch), Newman, Jimmie Johnson - all the young guns they all talk about. Me and Matt, aren't necessarily young anymore. I guess we're middle of the road. But, it was fun. We had Bill (Elliott) out there. I don't know if he wanted to be out there or not. But, it was an interesting little group. As we were kind of coming out of three and four for the green flag for the 20 laps, I was thinking that. I was looking at the guys I was around and I was like, 'Man, Rusty and (Dale) Jarrett and all them guys, they're not here.' It was so amazing that it was just our little fraternity up there having a good time."

Dale Jr. qualifies 24th for The Winston
5/17/02 - The qualifying procedure for Saturday night's Winston required that each driver make a 4-tire pit stop and run three green flag laps to make up his total qualifying time. Qualifying got under way Friday evening, and Jr. was the 15th car out. After a slow pit stop, Jr's qualifying effort was off to a bad start. To make matters worse there was a light rainfall while Jr. was on the track making his three laps. Adding insult to injury, NASCAR attached a 3-second penalty to the team's qualifying time for leaving a lug nut loose on the pit stop. The result is a 24th-place starting spot for the Bud crew. Although the qualifying time was disappointing, Junior and team seem to have a strong car. They were in the top-10 on the speed charts during all three practice sessions, including Happy Hour. Watch Dale Jr. as he tries work his way through the pack when the green flag drops Saturday evening. TV coverage begins at 7 p.m. ET on FX.
Starting Lineup

Earnhardt Jr. 'The Winston' Race Preview_5/13
Dale Jr. Quotes for The Winston
About the new format that eliminates cars following the first two segments, leaving only the 10 best to fight for the majority of the $3 million purse. The winner will take home a minimum of $750,000 for 90 laps of work: "I like it. A lot. The Winston is always great, but this will make the racing even more heated in the first two stages. In the past, I think some guys would kind of cruise around for those first two segments and then race like hell in the last segment. Now, you need to get to the front and try to stay there so you're one of the 10 cars that get to fight for the big bucks. It's pretty good too if you're runnin' bad. If the car sucks that much, I'd just as soon go home early anyway… (laughs)"

"The Winston is one of my favorite races each year. The atmosphere is electric. When we won it (in 2000), I think it was probably the proudest moment of my life - having my dad come up on the victory stand and just have fun with us. Everyone was drenched in sweat and Budweiser, even Big E. I had watched him in this race for so many years - he won it three times with some pretty incredible moves - and that night I felt like I had done some things that were kind of on that level… his level. It may have been the first time that I felt like that, if ya know what I mean."

Dale Jr. and the No. 8 Bud Team at Charlotte
Winston Cup Starts: 7 (includes two starts in the non-points Winston)
Best Start: 1st (May, 2000)
Best Finish: 1st (The Winston, 2000)
This Race, Last Year:     St: 15th
                                       Fin: 7th

Dale Jr. and the Budweiser bunch were only the second rookie team ever to qualify outright for The Winston, but they did that feat that one better when they became the only rookie driver and rookie team to win NASCAR's version of an all-star game in May, 2000. It was a dramatic night, as they recovered from unscheduled pit stops and a rather heavy brush with the turn four wall to take the lead (via a daring pass on the outside of Dale Jarrett) with one lap remaining for the victory. Last season, the team struggled with a rough-handling car, but passed more than a dozen cars in the final 10 laps to place seventh. Dale Jr. holds the single-lap NASCAR track record at the Speedway (29.076 seconds, 186.034 mph, May 24, 2000), located some 20 minutes down the road from the Dale Earnhardt Inc. shop. Dale Jr. made his Winston Cup debut at Lowe's Motor Speedway in the Coca-Cola 600 in May, 1999.

Ask Q, Get A
Got a burning question that you MUST ask Dale Jr? Well… now you can submit it to Budweiser.com. Click on the site, then choose the "Dale Jr." section. From there, you can send in your question, and if it's one of the best, Dale Jr. will answer it and post it on the site every month. You can see his latest answers online now at Budweiser.com.

What:
The Winston
Three segments, 90 laps total
135 miles
1.5-mile oval
Non-Points Race

Where:
Lowe's Motor Speedway
Concord, NC

When:
Saturday, May 18
9:00 pm
(Preceded by the Winston Open)

Watch:
FX
Pre-race: 7:00 pm
(All Times: Eastern)
You can also listen to the race live on the Motor
Racing Network (MRN) on a radio station near you.

Bud Pole Qualifying:
Bud Pole qualifying for the Winston starts at 8 pm Friday evening with a special format consisting of three laps around the track plus a four-tire pit stop. The format allows the crew to participate in the actual qualifying time.

-Budweiser

N a v i g a t e