Kenseth wins again, Earnhardt Jr.
struggles to 22nd_6/11
 No. 8 Budweiser team leads early, falters late
Matt Kenseth earned his league-leading third victory of the season today at
Michigan International Speedway as he held off a strong charge by Dale Jarrett on the
final lap of the Sirius Satellite Radio 400. Jarrett was second, followed by rookie Ryan
Newman in third. Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the No. 8 Budweiser team led nine laps early in
the race, but fell victim to a poorly timed yellow flag, dropping two laps down when the
first caution flag of the day flew as they were exiting pit lane. The team was able to
make up one of the laps, and finished 22nd, one lap behind Kenseth at the conclusion of
the race. With the five bonus points earned for leading the race, Dale Jr. and the Bud
bunch have now gained more bonus points for leading races this season than any other team.
The finish dropped the team to 15th place in Winston Cup points, one spot behind teammate
Michael Waltrip and the DEI NAPA team, who finished fourth this afternoon. The Key Moments: Dale Jr., starting third, took the
lead on lap nine and streaked away from the field for nine laps. However, as the day moved
from overcast and cool to sunny and warm, the No. 8 car became tighter and tighter (the
front tires would not turn efficiently, causing the nose of the car to push up the track
in each corner). The handling of the car slowly deteriorated, dropping Dale Jr. to 12th
place by lap 94, when the team made the second pit stop of the afternoon. As the Bud car
was exiting the pits, the first yellow flag of the day flew, trapping them two laps behind
the leaders in 27th place. Dale Jr. was able to get away from the field on the restart,
regaining one lap when the second yellow flag flew on lap 115. From that point forward, it
was a game of frantic catch-up, with Dale Jr. passing 10 cars in 15 laps and then hovering
around the 20th position for the final 40 laps.
Dale Jr's Quotes: "Terrible. The car
was terrible for much of the day. Even when we were leading, it was getting tighter and
tighter. I was able to help it early on by running low on the track - even down on the
apron - to get it to turn better. But, it just got worse and worse as the sun came out. I
have been wearing my hat forward this week. When our luck gets better, I'll turn it
backwards again like I usually wear it.
"I am happy for Michael (Waltrip) and the NAPA guys -
they have been getting better every week. They're working together really well right now.
We just keep missing the set-up on race day, but we're going to keep pushing until we're
up front every week like we were early in the year. We need some breaks to go our way.
Like todayif we would have run one more lap - 40 more seconds - before making a pit stop,
we would have still been on the lead lap and still in the hunt for a top-10"
Best Radio Conversations
With the team losing two laps near the halfway point of the race, the remainder of the
day was spent trying to make changes to the car to help it handle better.
Dale Jr: "I really need more grip all
around. It has no traction at all. At the start of a run, we're really loose for a few
laps and then it gets tighter and tighter for the rest of a run. But, I'm tellin' ya,
there's no grip overall. The tires just feel real rocky today. It's like they're really
hard - I'm feeling EVERY bump out here. The tires are chattering and bouncing through the
corners and the car feels like it's rolling over on the front tires."
Today's Stats
Started: 3rd
Finished: 22nd
Points Position: 15th
Money Won: $80,677
Laps Led: Nine laps
Best Pit Stop: Lap 46 / 4 tires and Fuel / 16.19 seconds
I Want My Dale-TV
Those who tuned in to see Dale Jr. on MTV this weekend will have to wait awhile longer to
see the "True Life" marathon. The documentary series marathon has been
rescheduled for the weekend of July 6 and 7. ("True Life: I'm A Race Car Driver"
is a one-hour documentary about a segment of Dale Jr's 2000 rookie season.) The re-airing
will include additional interviews with Dale Jr., taped recently at California Speedway.
-Budweiser
Earnhardt Jr. Budweiser Michigan Preview_6/11
Dale Jr. Quotes for Michigan
"We had a good test there - but that seems like sooooo long ago… (It was April
16-17) It's a fast track and it's somewhere that we have always been pretty decent. We
always kicked butt there in the Busch car, but we've never been able to match that kind of
finish in the Bud car… yet. We led and ran up front (at this race) last year, but we
blew up near the end, so our finish just doesn't show how good of a car we had. The track
at Fontana looks like a carbon copy of Michigan, but the banking is different and you
really can't assume that a fast set-up at Fontana is going to be as good here, but I think
we learned some things at the test that will help us and the other DEI cars."
Dale Jr. and the No. 8 Bud Team at Michigan
Winston Cup Starts: 5
Best Start: 1st (August 2000)
Best Finish: 12th (August 2001)
This Race, Last Year: St: 7
Fin: 39
Led: 4 laps
A track record Bud Pole position is the highlight of the first five Winston Cup races at
Michigan for Dale Jr. and the No. 8 Budweiser team. The scaldingly fast lap of 191.149 mph
is still the Winston Cup single lap record. It was the team's second career Bud Pole
position. In the NASCAR Busch Series, Dale Jr. had considerable success at Michigan,
recording his first career Busch Series top-10 (seventh place) in 1997, a third place in
1998 and a win in 1999, where he out-dueled Jeff Gordon to the finish.
Dateline NBC
Dale Jr. will be featured on "Dateline NBC" this evening (Tuesday) at 10 p.m.
Eastern… Stay tuned for some additional major national media coverage of Dale Jr.
later in the week as well…
What:
Sirius Radio 400
200 laps, 400 miles
2-mile tri-oval
Race #15 of 36
Where:
Michigan International Speedway
Brooklyn, MI
When:
Sunday, June 16
1 p.m.
Watch:
Fox
Pre-race: 12:30 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 begins Friday afternoon at 3:00 and can be seen live on the Fox Sports
Network.
-Budweiser |
