Ryan Newman gets first win in
rain-shorted race_9/15
 No. 8 Budweiser Team moves through the field to 11th.
Rookie Ryan Newman continued to add to his resume this afternoon, as he won the
rain-shortened New Hampshire 300 at the New Hampshire International Speedway. The race
ended on lap 207 of a scheduled 300 laps after being delayed for rain twice during the
day. Newman, who started from the Bud Pole position, held off a hard-charging Kurt Busch
in a furious duel in the final laps. Busch was second, followed by Tony Stewart in third.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the No. 8 Budweiser team started near the back of the pack, and
moved forward nearly all afternoon despite several tardy pit stops. When the race was
called, Dale Jr. was in 11th position, and catching the cars at the back of the top 10 at
a rate of nearly a quarter-second per lap. The strange, delayed race not only marked the
first victory for Newman, but a new Winston Cup points leader as well. Mark Martin,
despite finishing only 16th, climbed to the top past Sterling Marlin, who had led the
point charts since the second race of the season. The top eight drivers in points are now
separated by less than 200 points, making this the closest multi-driver championship
battle in the modern era of Winston Cup racing. The
Key Moments: Dale Jr. and the Bud team were forced to take their first
provisional starting spot of the season after a slow qualifying effort. Taking the green
flag from the 37th position, Dale Jr. was 30th by the fifth lap and moving up quickly
until rain began to fall on lap 16. The Bud team made a pit stop on the following lap,
dropping to 35th before the rain strengthened and the race was stopped. The Bud team hoped
to use the fresh tires and full load of fuel to move to the front of the field when the
race restarted, but a yellow flag on lap 74 allowed the leaders to make pit stops under
the caution flag. Dale Jr. stalled the No. 8 exiting the pits on lap 75, and dropped to
30th place. From there, the skies began to darken again, so most teams became more
aggressive to try to move up before the rains fell again. Dale Jr. passed 10 cars in 30
laps, and then continued to gain spots with daring passes and avoiding several spins or
near-spins in front of him. By the time the team made their final pit stop of the day,
Dale Jr. was in the 8th position. The stop dropped them to 21st place on lap 163, and Dale
Jr. used the final 43 laps to gain back ten positions.
Dale Jr's Quotes: "I'm pretty happy
with that - almost a top ten after starting at the back. We had a good car. Based on our
lap times most of the day, a top-five car. But, we started so far back and then had a few
poor pit stops that there just weren't enough laps to catch everyone. We run well here on
long runs, but our qualifying package just doesn't seem to work worth a damn. In the past
two weeks, I feel like I've passed a thousand cars."
"One of those bad stops was my fault. I was taking a
drink of water and thinking to myself 'I hope we have a good stop,' when they dropped the
jack and I just didn't get outta there very quickly. Then, I stalled the car and lost more
time. On the track, I was able to make most of my passes pretty easily today - that's the
way you have to do it here. Just ease on by. It's one of those days where I sure would
have liked to have been able to run those last 100 laps. I think we'd have been much
further up the list. But, we did the best we could and we can go home now and not be too
upset."
Best Radio Conversations
The on-again, off-again rain showers made the day long and frustrating. As the drops
began to fall again on lap 190, Dale Jr. reported the moisture.
Dale Jr. "There's a good rain out
here in turns one and two"
Tony Eury Jr. (car chief): "Yeah,
we're feeling a few drops here."
Dale Jr. "Tony Jr. - ya gotta tell me
these things. You're up there just sittin' with your computer... but I gotta drive through
this stuff"
The rain continued, and the yellow flag was displayed
on lap 200, and he referred back to his scolding of Tony Jr.
Dale Jr: "Hey man, I was just sayin'
that I get a little nervous at this track. I was nervous about the rain because this place
has so much sealer on it, it doesn't take much at all to bust yer ass out here. I just
wanna be told (when it's raining)"
Tony Jr.: "10-4 man... We're not
stopping. We're staying out."
Dale Jr: "Oh yeah man. We're not
running for points anymore, baby, we're goin' for the bling!* (pause) Hey Junior - you
would not believe how slick it is out here."
Tony Jr: "Yeah, I can imagine."
Dale Jr: "No man, you can't! (teasing
tone) I know you know how it feels to spin out in the dry when you were racing, but this
is wild."
* For the Junior-impaired: Bling = money
Today's Stats
Started: 37th
Finished: 11th
Points Position: 14th (no change)
Money Won: $70,425
Laps Led: ---
Best Pit Stop: Lap 160 / Stop #3 of 3 / 4 tires, Fuel / 15.71 seconds
Passing Passing Passing
It is estimated that Dale Jr. passed 52 cars during the abbreviated race this afternoon.
| Laps |
Progression |
Positions Gained |
-- |
| 1 - 20 |
37th to 27th |
10 |
(Lap 20: Pit Stop 1) |
| 21 - 75 |
35th to 26th |
9 |
(Lap 75: Pit Stop 2) |
| 76 - 160 |
30th to 8th |
22 |
(Lap 160: Pit Stop 3) |
| 161 - 207 |
21st to 11th |
11 |
(Race ends early due to Rain) |
-Budweiser
Earnhardt Jr. Budweiser Loudon
Preview_9/10
Dale Jr. Quotes for Loudon
"If you just look down the list of our finishes here, it looks horrible. But, I can
tell ya that we have always had a better race car than what those finishes show. (In the
previous race at NHIS last July), we were great - easily a top-three car-- but I got into
it with Todd Bodine and spun out. It always seems to happen that way here: we work our
butts off and then we get into a crash in the last 10 laps. We had a great car (in July),
and led a lot of laps, so forget whatever our finish was… we'll be good again Sunday.
The track was in awful condition then, but I'll keep my mouth shut until we see how it is
this week…"
"How cool was that Richmond finish?! (fourth place, after dropping two laps behind
with a punctured tire) The win in the Busch car (Dale Jr. won Friday night's Busch Series
race with his new JR Motorsports/DEI team) was fun, and it was cool, but that car was so
awesome my two-year old niece Karsyn could have won with it. Winning is a great feeling,
but I really gained a lot of confidence from the Winston Cup race because we did that as a
team. We've really been coming together in the last month, and fighting back from that
flat tire was something that took the whole Bud team to pull off. I was drivin' my butt
off, the pit stops were quick, we made the right adjustments on the car, and at the end of
the race, we were the fastest one out there. Plus, we were getting great fuel mileage as
well. It took every piece of the puzzle, ya know what I mean? Now, that effort means we
have another chance to take home the million if we win at Talladega." (The Budweiser
No. 8 team has won the last two races at Talladega, and took the Winston No Bull
million-dollar bonus last October. They are eligible for the bonus again this year due to
the top-five finish at Richmond.)
Dale Jr. and the No. 8 Bud Team at Loudon
Previous Winston Cup Starts: 6
Best Start: 8th (November, 2001)
Best Finish: 9th (July, 2001)
This Race, Last Year: ST: 8th FIN: 24th
Dale Jr. and the Bud team led 43 laps in the July race here at Loudon.
What:
New Hampshire 300
1.058-mile oval / 300 laps / 317 miles / Race #27 of 36
Where:
New Hampshire International Speedway, Loudon, NH
When:
Sunday, September 15 / 1 p.m.
Watch:
TNT / Pre-race 12:30 pm
You can also tune in on the Motor Racing Network (MRN) on a radio or computer near
you…
Bud Pole Qualifying:
Bud Pole qualifying can be seen live at 3:00 pm Friday on the Speed Channel and heard on
MRN affiliates across the nation. (All Times: Eastern)
-Budweiser |
