Earnhardt's evening ends early with
engine woes_5/26
 No. 8 Budweiser Team fast on track until engine failure.
Mark Martin won Sunday night's Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway, grabbing
victory in NASCAR's longest race after a two-year drought from victory lane. To add to the
victory, Martin and a lucky race fan won an additional million-dollar bonus from series
sponsor Winston as part of the "No Bull 5" bonus program. Martin led his
teammate Matt Kenseth and Ricky Craven across the finish line. The race had been dominated
by rookie Jimmy Johnson, who led 263 of the 400 laps, until he overshot his pit stall on
his final pit stop of the night. Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the No. 8 Budweiser team ran among
the top five for much of the first half of the race, but were hampered by damage caused
when the red Bud car has hit by the lapped car of Ron Hornaday. After five pit stops to
repair the damage caused from the incident, they fought their way back into the top 10
until engine problems knocked them from the race on lap 372, finishing 35th. It is the
third consecutive Winston Cup race with a finish of 35th or worse for the Bud team. The Key Moments:
Dale Jr., starting sixth, moved to the top three after five laps, and easily ran among the
top 10 for the first half of the 600-mile race. On lap 199, Dale Jr. was cruising in
second place, and was making his way around the lapped car of Ron Hornaday, when
Hornaday's car suddenly lost traction and slammed the Bud car into the wall. The damage
damaged the alignment and the aerodynamics of the No. 8, causing a dramatic drop down the
standings. Dale Jr. managed to hang onto the car for more than 50 laps until a yellow flag
period allowed the team to make five pit stops to make repairs to the car. After the
stops, they restarted the race in 19th, the final car on the lead lap. From there, it was
a steady climb back up the standings, including leading the race from lap 333 until making
another pit stop on lap 337. Dale Jr. was running in ninth position and closing on the
leaders when an engine failure ended the night early for the team.
Dale Jr's Quotes:
"I thought we were in really good shape the first half of the race. We were making
some small adjustments and finding out how the car would respond. It looked like we were
going to be in a great position to go for the win. Then, I was going around the outside of
the 49 car (Hornaday) and he just lost it. The car broke loose and trapped me against the
wall. Our car pushed like crazy after that, and we slowed down by more than a second per
lap. Then, we came in under the yellow and Tony (Eury) Jr. (car chief) and the guys worked
on the bodywork and the alignment, and then we were pretty damn fast again. I thought we
could get back up there and make some noise, but then I felt the power steering go away
and then all of the other belts on the engine blew apart. I heard 'em fly under the car on
the back straight."
Best Radio Conversations
After hard contact with the car of Hornaday, Dale Jr. was forced to make several
re-starts near the back of the back, where he had to deal with a variety of cars that were
many laps behind. He expressed his concerns before a lap 277 restart.
Dale Jr: "I'm pretty decent here. The
car was not too bad there at the end of the run, but it takes soooo long to get my
confidence in the car after we stop. It's so loose for a long time Plus, these guys are
crazy back here! I'm nervous about starting back here with all of this (stuff) in front of
me. I couldn't run back here every week. Man, I dunno why these guys do a lot of the
things they do. If I was that many laps down, I would just hang back and wait for some big
crash so I could move up a lotta spots. But these guys are gouging at me on the restart
and just doing crazy things."
Today's Stats
Started: 6th
Finished: 35th
Points Position: 12th
Laps Led: 1 time for 5 laps
Best Pit Stop: Lap 132 / 4 tires and Fuel / 13.96 seconds
-Budweiser
5/23 - Dale Jr. qualifies 6th
 5/23 - Coke 600 Starting Lineup
Earnhardt Jr. Budweiser Coca-Cola 600
Preview_5/20
Dale Jr. Quotes for Coca-Cola 600
"How cool was the Winston?! I mean, that was a lotta fun! I'm going to spend a lot of
time thinking about how I'm going to win the race this weekend if I am in the same
position again (second place on the final lap). Those last few laps are something I'll
replay in my mind over and over - so maybe it will help me Sunday night when the checkered
flag comes out.
"This week, we really switch the focus from short bursts of speed (for the Winston)
to the longest race of the year. You do some things differently to the car for the
Winston, so you can't transfer everything you learned to the 600, but I think that we had
such a good-driving car Saturday night that (car chief) Tony (Eury) Jr. has a great feel
for what we will need. The 600 starts off in daylight and then fades into night, so you
have to be prepared to make adjustments to the car for the whole race and be there for the
last 100 miles. That is when your vision gets blurry and you can barely keep your head
upright without leaning on the headrest. But, that's when you need to be the best and race
to the front."
Dale Jr. and the No. 8 Bud Team at Charlotte
Winston Cup Starts: 5
Best Start: 1st (May, 2000)
Best Finish: 4th (May, 2000)
This Race, Last Year: St: 19th Fin: 25th
Dale Jr. and the Budweiser bunch made their Winston Cup debut in this race -- one of
NASCAR's biggest races each season -- in 1999. They qualified 8th and finished 16th, one
lap behind the leaders. In 2000, Dale Jr. won the Bud Pole for this race, setting the
single-lap NASCAR track record at the Speedway (29.076 seconds, 186.034 mph, May 24, 2000)
and leading 175 of the 400 laps before finishing fourth. Saturday night's second place
finish in the non-points race The Winston gives the Bud team finishes of first, seventh
and second in three all-star outings at Charlotte...
What:
Coca-Cola 600 / 400 laps, 600 miles / 1.5-mile oval
Race #12 of 36
Where:
Lowe's Motor Speedway, Concord, NC
When:
Sunday, May 26, 5:30 p.m.
Watch:
Fox Pre-race: 5:00 pm (All Times: Eastern)
You can also listen to the race live on the Performance Racing Network (PRN) on a radio
station near you.
Bud Pole Qualifying:
Bud Pole qualifying for the 600 starts at 7 pm Thursday evening with no practice for the
Winston Cup cars scheduled for Friday. Dale Jr. will pull double duty this weekend, as he
competes in his second Busch Series race of the year. He won the Busch race at Daytona in
February.
-Budweiser |
