Race Information

Summary and Related News

Shocker at Charlotte: McMurray wins in second start_10/13
No. 8 Budweiser Team ninth.

The Key Moments: Dale Jr. and the Bud team started 13th for the second week in a row (based on Winston Cup points) as Mother Nature washed out Bud Pole qualifying as she had the week before. When the race finally began after a nearly three-hour rain delay, it took very little time for the red No. 8 to streak into the top 10, reaching the seventh position1``before the first pit stops of the day. The car lacked grip early in the race, causing it to feel as if it were liable to spin out at any moment in each corner, so the team made an extra pit stop during the first caution period of the day on lap 138. The extra stop corrected the handling difficulties, and made the Bud car the fastest machine on the track. The fresh tires launched Dale Jr. through the field and into the lead on lap 206. He held the point until pitting again six laps later. The day went from promising to frustrating on lap 223, as Dale Jr. slid through his pit box and was forced to back up before receiving service from the Bud crew. The slow stop dropped him to the 14th position, and he spent the final 100 laps clawing his way through the pack into his finishing position. The ninth place finish (along with five bonus points for leading) leaves him 13th in points, but he will likely pass the injured Marlin in the standings following the race next week at Martinsville.

Dale Jr's Quotes: "Another top 10 is great. We were fast, but just didn't do it in the pits. At the end there, we stayed out for a long time before pitting because we were out of sequence, and if we had caught a yellow flag, we would have put most all of those guys one lap behind us. But, we didn't get the yellow we were hoping for and I think we made up five or six positions in the last 20-some laps. It's fun to race like that when you have a fast car and you can make passes and race hard with guys like that. The field got a little spread out at the end, so we had to go out and just track down each guy one-by-one. That's not as easy as it looks because of the aerodynamics of these cars. It's tough to pass. That's fun for me in the driver's seat, although it took us about half of the race to get the car to where we could really run hard without having to worry about the back end swingin' around and biting us"

Best Radio Conversations
Because of rain, the race started several hours later than scheduled, and caused NASCAR to start the race under the yellow flag, allowing the cars to dry the track with their hot exhaust. On the third lap under the slow conditions, Dale Jr. reported on his race car while traveling approximately 60 mph.

Dale Jr.: "The car drives really really good so far. No changes on the next pit stop. It's great, I can hold it down right along the bottom here in the corners I'm just ridin' around out here just waiting until later to make a move"

Once the race got up to high speeds, the Bud car was not quite so perfect. Dale Jr. tried to describe its' characteristics to the crew.

Dale Jr: "The car feels so loose. Like I have no grip in the rear and I just don't have a good feel for the right side of the chassis. When we've run well here, it felt like I had a little more support on the right side and more overall grip. Now, I'm going into the turn and it feels like the porch is falling off the right side of the house... Goin' into the corners, one of the tires is bouncin', and I don't mean skipping, I mean honest-to-goodness basketball dribblin'. I'm gonna crash if we don't fix it."

Soon after, the Performance Racing Network radioed a few questions to Dale Jr. during the yellow flag period.

Dale Jr: "I don't think I can adequately express my feelings about the car on national radio, but hopefully we'll get better and I'll be happier later on"

After the second pit stop of the night, Dale Jr. pulled out of his pit stall and was nearly slammed into by the damaged car of Bill Elliott, who was limping into his stall after hitting the wall. Dale Jr. was not pleased about the near miss and about not being warned by his team.

Dale Jr.: "Guys, you gotta call me out of the pits there! I've got enough to worry about steering and shifting and braking and all, so you can't do that to me! That's a scary deal it like some sorta Halloween haunted house where they jump out at'cha Help me here Help me!"

A 10-car crash happened right behind Dale Jr. on lap 229, and perhaps the fact that he was right in front of the crash prompted a stream-of-consciousness commentary from the driver.

Dale Jr: "Man! That was a big crash! SLAM! BAM! SMASH! They were jumpin' over each other! Wild! That annihilated half the field It looks like he got on the grass and took 'em all out (half bragging, half joking) But, it doesn't compare to my wild ride through the grass at Daytona (in Feb. of this year, when Dale Jr. somehow wheeled a car through the infield grass at nearly 180 mph with a flat rear tire). I don't know about y'all but it was miraculous from my seat! When ya blow out a front tire, you're just gonna hit the wall, but when that rear tire blew, that S.O.B. did its' own thing. I was just hangin' on and wheelin' it!... (like a race announcer) But, this is where that Dale Jarrett car gets good and he comes back for a surprise win!"

Ty Norris (spotter): "Bodine said they checked up in front of him that's why he crashed 'em all..."

Dale Jr.: "Yeah, maybe he meant AFTER the contact slammin' and slidin' maybe they checked up then Oh, did the 'Skins (Washington Redskins) lose? Wait- don't tell me. I don't think I can handle it"

Today's Stats
Started: 13th
Finished: 9th
Points Position: 13th (no change)
Money Won: $89,300
Laps Led: 1 time for 6 laps
Best Pit Stop: Lap 212 / Stop #5 of 8 / 4 tires, Fuel / 13.65 seconds

-Budweiser


Earnhardt Jr. Budweiser Charlotte Preview_10/8
Dale Jr. Quotes for Charlotte
"I love racing here at home, and now we're coming in loaded and ready. The Talladega win was awesome, and if you think our restrictor-plate engines were good, I think the boys back at the DEI engine room have been working just as hard to give us some serious power this weekend as well. We had three DEI cars in the top eight on Sunday, so maybe we'll see the same thing here. No holds barred, we're ready.

"Charlotte has been a place where we've run really, really well, but other than the Winston, we don't have the finishes to prove it. (In the 2002 spring race), we were just chillin'… we led the race and were just sitting there with the fastest car, then we got put into the wall by another car. I think our car must have had some sort of magnet in it that caused that white car to crash into us every week for a month or so. I learned a lot about not putting myself in a position where that kind of thing can bite us. We (the Budweiser team) know we're not up there in the points like we believe we should be, but we have momentum and the confidence to go out and finish this season off with some killer finishes. We even have a shot at getting back into the top 10 and getting a seat at the banquet.

"I wanna mention something that was kind of forgotten yesterday in all of the talk about fuel mileage and restrictor plates… my pit crew was awesome all day. They had me out ahead of the pack almost every time we came in, and especially on that last pit stop. We were making great fuel mileage, so we would sort of inherit the lead of the race when everyone else pitted, but it was really important that we were able to keep that lead on the last stop. If they hadn't been as quick, I would have been back on the track behind Tony (Stewart) or even the 28 car (Ricky Rudd). We had a great car, but it might have been a much different story at the finish if those guys over the wall didn't do such a good job. They deserve a lot of credit that may have been missed, and I wanna be sure they get an "attaboy."

Dale Jr. and the No. 8 Bud Team at Charlotte
Previous Winston Cup Starts: 6
Best Start: 1st (May, 2000)
Best Finish: 4th* (Twice: May, 2000, October, 2001)
(*This does not include the Winston victory in 2000, and
a second-place finish in the same non-points race in 2002)
This Race, Last Year:       ST: 9th
                                       FIN: 4th

Dale Jr. and the entire Budweiser team made their first Winston Cup start at Lowe's Motor Speedway in 1999, qualifying 8th and finishing 16th in their debut. In 2000, Dale Jr. won a memorable Winston all-star race that still rates among his most treasured moments, and then followed that with a track record Bud Pole qualifying lap several nights later. The team has recorded two fourth place finishes since then, including this event last season.

Funniest Sign Created By a Fan at Talladega: "Hey Junior, I'll Sign a Prenup!" Dale Jr. will need one when he gets hitched, as his winnings of $1,166,040 Sunday at Talladega is the most money he has won in a single race. It brings his career money winnings to more than $12,600,000 in less than three full seasons of Winston Cup action.

What:
UAW/GM 500
1.5-mile oval / 334 laps / 500 miles / Race #31 of 36

Where:
Lowe's Motor Speedway, Concord, NC

When:
Sunday, October 13 / 12:30 p.m.

Watch:
NBC / Pre-race 12:00 pm
You can also tune in on the Performance Racing Network (PRN)
on a radio or computer near you… you know the drill by now…

Bud Pole Qualifying:
As usual at the Lowe's track, Bud Pole qualifying is on a unique day and time. It can be seen live at Thursday at 7:00 pm on TNT and heard on PRN affiliates across the nation. (All Times: Eastern)

-Budweiser

N a v i g a t e