Ward Burton wins with track
position and fuel mileage_7/21
Earnhardt Jr. and No. 8 Budweiser Team lead 43 laps,
fall victim to late crash
 Ward Burton, who has struggled since winning the season-opening
Daytona 500, returned to the winner's circle Sunday in the New Hampshire 300 at Loudon.
Burton grabbed the win after milking the fuel in his tank over the final laps of the race.
Jeff Green was second, followed by Dale Jarrett in third. Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the No. 8
Budweiser team were among the fastest cars from start to finish, but an on-track incident
with the car of Todd Bodine sent the red Bud car spinning across the infield grass and
into the inside wall with less than 20 laps to go. The Bud team were able to make repairs
and stay on the lead lap, and then Dale Jr. drove like a madman in the final 15 laps to
regain eight positions and earning a 23rd place finish. Dale Jr. led the race three times
for 43 laps. The Key Moments: Dale
Jr., starting 28th, wasted little time rocketing toward the front of the field from the
green flag, gaining ten positions in the first two laps. By lap 38, the Budweiser car was
in the top 10, and then took the lead for the first time on lap 74. For the next 200 laps,
Dale Jr. dueled among the leaders, seemingly taking the lead at-will and squaring off with
the No. 17 car of Matt Kenseth as the two dominant players. In the final 100 laps, a
variety of yellow flags created a mixed-bag of fuel and pit strategies, and dropped
Earnhardt Jr. and Kenseth deep into the field when the race restarted with 61 laps to go.
Dale Jr. climbed from 15th to eighth by the next caution flag on lap 271, and was racing
for sixth place with Todd Bodine when Bodine cut-off the red Bud car in turn two and sent
Dale Jr. spinning in the infield grass. Dale Jr. dropped to 31st place after the crash,
but despite a mangled car, was able to provide one of his more aggressive driving displays
of the season, gaining eight spots in the final 12 laps.
Dale Jr's Quotes: "That was damn good
fun today. We had a top-three car all day, and I think the crew deserves the credit for
making some changes this morning that really made a difference in the race car. We were
really fast, and that makes it a great day even though the finish won't show it."
About the incident with Bodine: "We were all racin'
like crazy there. He was blockin' me and I got into the back of him pretty hard a few laps
before that, so I guess he saw his chance to get me back. I really should have - or could
have - spun him out but I tried to avoid doin' that and it bit me. It's one of those
split-second moments where the end of the race is right there in front of ya, and everyone
is really racin' hard. That's how it goes."
About having a really fast car but having to battle through
the field because of various pit strategies and the late crash: "You can't control
everything - especially when the yellow flags come out. I had no choice to be aggressive
and try to get what I could because we were stuck back in like 15th with less than 50 laps
to go. I wouldn't change a thing. Nothing. Our car was fast and our pit stops were good
and that's the way you have to do it sometimes. I thought it was going to be a battle
between me and Matt - like the ol' Busch Series days. That woulda been cool , but it was
still fun to be up front and battling back and forth with him."
Best Radio Conversations
By the time the third caution flag fell, the race was
only 29 laps old, yet Dale Jr. had improved from 28th starting position to 12th place.
Under the caution, he began to wonder about his fast race car.
Dale Jr. "I'm getting off the corners so good. That's
how I'm passin' everybody. I have to use the brakes to turn it in the middle of the
corner. I mean, I almost come to a stop. I hope no one spins us out in the middle there,
but if I can keep doin' that, I can rocket off the turns and pass 'em. Check that out
every once in awhile, alright Joey?
Joey Meier (spotter and DEI pilot, filling-in for usual
spotter Ty Norris, who was attending a family wedding) "10-4. You're getting in there
really well, no one has been close to spinning you."
Dale Jr: "Hey! Are they talkin' about us on TV
yet?!"
Dale Jr. swept into the lead on lap 74, and then slowed
for a yellow flag on the following lap.
Joey Meier: "Great job, Dale Jr. If they weren't
talkin' about ya before, they sure are now!"
Dale Jr: "Whooooooooohoooooooooooooo!" I LIKE
runnin' good!"
Tony Eury Jr. (car chief): "The fans like it too.
They're going crazy every time you pass somebody."
Almost immediately, the new surface on the New
Hampshire track began crumbling under the power of the Winston Cup cars and the heat of
the sun. During a yellow-flag period on lap 121, NASCAR officials decided to use street
cleaners and jet blowers to try to clean some of the debris on the circuit to make the
track safer and encourage more side-by-side racing.
Dale Jr: "If they blow that (stuff) UP the track, it'd
be a lot better, Right now they're blowing it down into the groove, so all we're doing is
picking it up on our tires and dropping it back on the groove somewhere else! (Turns) one
and two aren't too bad, but three and four are awful. That's what crashed Tony
(Stewart)."
Tony Jr. "Uh 10-4 on that, but NASCAR says if they
blew the debris up the track, it'd go all over the fans!"
Dale Jr: (chuckling) "Oh yeah! The fans! Heh
heh...Yeah, my bad. I forgot about the fans out there!"
Meier: "Unless we gave out 10,000 sets of safety
goggles in that area. THEN they could do it."
Dale Jr.:(starting to refocus on the restart of the race)
"You would not believe how loose this car is for two laps after the green. Then, just
like that, it's back to how it was before. But, those first few laps, damn, it's loose!
JUNIOR NO LIKEY!"
 Today's Stats
Started: 28th
Finished: 23rd
Points Position: 16th
Money Won: $64,925
Laps Led: 3 times for 43 laps
Best Pit Stop: Lap 158 / 4 tires and Fuel / 14.04 seconds
(Until the final stop to repair crash damage, the Bud team completed four stops between
14.04 and 14.48 seconds in length for four tires and fuel.)
-Budweiser
 Race
Results
Jr. will start 28th. Lineup.
Happy Hour Speeds
| 2nd Practice
| 1st Practice
Earnhardt Jr. Budweiser Loudon
Preview_7/16
Dale Jr. Quotes for Loudon
"It seems like we don't have many finishes to show it (one top 10 for the team at
Loudon in five starts) but we have always been able to run well here during the race. But,
it's a track that is very difficult to pass on, so track position and avoiding late
crashes is the key… at least for us it is. They made some changes to the corners to
try and make it a more competitive track, or at least make it two grooves wide, so we will
see how much it helps."
"In the past, this is one of the tracks that I've not really looked forward to, but I
can tell ya one thing, the folks up there like their Budweiser and always treat us real
well…"
"A lot of the stuff with our team has been pretty public these last two weeks…
but we're all working together to make sure our string of top-10 finishes will continue
this weekend. We had such a great start of the season, and we're striving to get back to
that string of consistent top-five and top-10 weekends."
Dale Jr. and the No. 8 Bud Team at Loudon
Winston Cup Starts: 5th
Best Start: 8th (Nov., 2001)
Best Finish: 9th (July, 2001)
This Race, Last Year: St: 29th
Fin: 9th
What:
New Hampshire 300
1.058-mile oval / 300 laps / 317 miles
Race #19 of 36
Where:
New Hampshire International Speedway
Loudon, NH
When:
Sunday, July 21
2:00 p.m.
Watch:
TNT
Pre-race: 1:30 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 can be seen live on the TNT Friday afternoon at 3:00 pm.
-Budweiser |
