Kurt Busch Wins at Martinsville_10/20
 No. 8 Budweiser Team gets another top five.
Kurt Busch won Sunday's Old Dominion 500 at Martinsville Speedway Sunday afternoon,
holding off a frantic charge by Johnny Benson, who finished a career-best second. Dale
Earnhardt Jr. and the No. 8 Budweiser team finished fourth, their best-ever finish at the
small .526-mile oval. Ricky Rudd was third, passing Earnhardt Jr. on the final lap. This
is the second time this season that the Budweiser team has finished in the top five at
Martinsville, a mark topped only by the team's two victories at Talladega. The
fourth-place finish pulls them to 12th in Winston Cup points, less than 80 points out of
the top 10 and less than 200 points out of the seventh position with four races left in
the season. The finish also extends a hot streak for the Bud team, recording a fourth
top-five finish in seven races and a fourth consecutive top-10 finish. Since the race at
Michigan in August, Dale Jr. has gained five positions in the Winston Cup standings. The Key Moments: Dale Jr. and the Bud team started
10th, and enjoyed one of the fastest cars on the track for each of the 500 grueling laps
on the small oval. Most of the trouble suffered by the team took place on pit lane. The
drama started as Dale Jr. pulled from his pit stall on lap 102, and made contact with the
no. 32 car driven by Ricky Craven. The damage was minimal, and the team restarted in the
ninth position. The second pit road incident of the day took place on lap 206, when the
no. 25 car driven by Joe Nemechek dove in front of the Bud car, causing heavy contact and
delaying Dale Jr's departure from his pit stall. The damage was again minimal and
cosmetic, but dropped Dale Jr. to 21st position on the restart. (In Dale Jr's words:
"Man, we're way at the back...") In the remaining laps, the red Bud car moved
forward, regaining the top 10 on lap 239 with a quick two-tire pit stop. With 70 laps to
go, Dale Jr., who had been conserving his car for much of the day, began a charge that
took him from seventh to third place, before falling to fourth on the last lap. The Bud
car finished the day without major structural damage, but with a body that was beaten,
scratched, nicked and dented in what seemed like an endless array of locales.
 Dale Jr's Quotes: "It was a grind all day. It was fun and I
think most all of the drivers did a helluva job. I did not want to give up third to Rudd
but I did all I could to hold him off and he got me there on the last lap. There was only
one groove - the high groove - and everybody figured out pretty early on that the only way
to pass is to get up into the guy in front of you. I think everybody understood that, so
it just became the way you had to pass. Everybody seemed to keep their cool mostly, but
you had to use the corners of your car about every turn. You were either playing offense
or defense each time.
"I have to give my guys credit because they gave me a
really good car that allowed me to make up what we seemed to lose each time on pit lane.
We had some good stops, but some wild stuff goin' on after we'd leave the box.
"The track was one groove, so I suppose we'll have to
get used to it or put with it for several more years maybe when we get some rubber down in
two or three years, it'll be a two-groove track."
Best Radio Conversations:
Because of the tight conditions, it seemed as if there was some sort of contact on
each lap among the 43 combatants. At one point, Dale Jr. did some serious jousting with
Rusty Wallace, who reportedly threatened to spin Dale Jr. out (though in more graphic
terms). During a yellow flag period, Dale Jr. and his spotter discussed the rough nature
of the race to that point.
Ty Norris (spotter): "Man, there are
some guys like the 31 (R. Gordon) and the 2 (R. Wallace) that are just body-slammin'
people out there!"
Dale Jr.: (laughs) "Hell yeah! I'm
body-slammin' back! I just about took the tailpipe offa Rusty's car there. He hit me three
corners in a row and still couldn't get past me, so I gave his crew a little extra to work
on. It sounded like a firecracker went off when I hit him, or what it sounds like when you
open up the door on one of our engine dynos"
During the next yellow flag period (just past the
halfway point of the race), Dale Jr. mused on the length of the race distance.
 Dale Jr: "These races are at least 100 laps too long. It's
kinda pointless to just be out here running all these extra laps. Why is this race so
long?"
Norris: "(Sales at) the concession
stand I just can't believe we invest so much in our teams and make such an effort to come
to a place where we can't even race without tearing our (stuff) up. It's hard to stay
positive."
Dale Jr: "I hear ya. You're where I
was at yesterday. But tomorrow, you'll look back and laugh at it."
Norris: "Yeah you're right. Let's
finish where we're at (second place) or one better and then we'll love this place all over
again"
Dale Jr.: (laughs) "Yeah, I can see
how your day can go to the bottom in only one second"
Dale Jr. was told late in the race that his brother
Kerry had finished fifth in the Busch race this afternoon at Memphis.
Dale Jr: "Hey, that's great."
Norris: "Awesome."
Dale Jr.: "That's good for him It was
Memphis right? That has similarities to Phoenix, so it's something they can build on!
(Suddenly realizing his distaste for testing, Dale Jr. thinks fast) NOT that I wanna go
test there before Phoenix!
Today's Stats
Started: 10th
Finished: 4th
Points Position: 12th (gained one position)
Money Won: $75,870
Laps Led: --
Best Pit Stop: Lap 206 / Stop #4 of 7 / 4 tires, Fuel / 14.76 seconds
Bonus Awards from today's action at Martinsville:
Best performance by a visiting sports celebrity in the Budweiser pit area: Picabo
Street (She's our winner for the second week in a row. Sorry kids, she's NOT dating Dale
Jr!)
Best performance in a pre-race visit by a rock
band: Third Eye Blind
Best analysis of the Winston Cup Championship race
by a fan calling a radio talk show: "Uh... yeah well, I think this year it's
Tony (Stewart's) year I mean... uh he's either gonna win it or he's not"
Most Deplorable Fan Behavior: With
approximately 100 laps to go, a "fan" dressed in a firesuit patterned after the
late Dale Earnhardt's GM-Goodwrench uniform, along with look-alike hat and sunglasses,
walked in front of the grandstands across from the Budweiser pit area and began waving to
the fans as if he were the late, great Big E himself. Most, if not all of the DEI team saw
the buffoon, but turned away to concentrate on trying to win the race. This
"fan" may be lucky there was a fence and a race track between himself and the
team.
-Budweiser
Dale Jr. qualifies 10th in
Martinsville
10/18/02 - Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s lap
of 92.047 mph during Bud Pole Qualifying Friday at Martinsville was good enough for the
10th starting position. The Old Dominion 500 goes green at noon on Sunday.
 10/18 - Race Lineup
Earnhardt Jr. Budweiser
Martinsville Preview_10/15
Dale Jr. Quotes for Martinsville
"These short track races are like a championship fight. It feels like they've added
two or three rounds of fighting to the usual distance. It's a marathon. You think you've
got a great car and you're leading the race and sailing along and then you realize…
'damn! I have 300 more laps to go!' "
"We're not one of the guys that has to be laid-back and race for points. We're going
out every weekend to win. But, I still have to approach this kind of race differently than
I do at a place like Charlotte. I have to remind myself that I need to be patient all day
and just hang in there until the last 100 laps and then really get after it. It's not
really my style, but we finished fifth there in the spring, so I feel like I have some
sort of idea how to get to the finish line in one piece. The guys have really been great
at giving me a good qualifying car too. It's easier to be patient and avoid trouble when
you're in the top five all day rather than the top 35 or something [bad] like that…
"I'm hearing a lot about the grinding they did to the surface of the turns, but I
don't know what to expect as far as the race. I hear the race speeds may be up to a full
second slower. I'll be happy if it's smoother than it was, but we'll see. I think most of
the rubber builds up on the painted lines on the inside of the corners. That is always
slicker than anything in the racing groove. I suppose we'll find out what it's like when
we get there on Friday."
Dale Jr. and the No. 8 Bud Team at Martinsville
Previous Winston Cup Starts: 5
Best Start: 2nd (October, 2001)
Best Finish: 5th (April, 2002)
This Race, Last Year: ST: 2nd FIN: 27th
The Bud team has qualified in the top three at the last two races at Martinsville. At the
most recent race there in April, Dale Jr. finished fifth, his best ever finish at the
small Virginia track, and one of eight times this season that the team has ended the day
in the top-five. The Bud team also led 41 laps in April, the first time they had led at
Martinsville.
What:
Old Dominion 500
.526-mile oval / 500 laps / 263 miles / Race #32 of 36
Where:
Martinsville Speedway, Martinsville, Va.
When:
Sunday, October 20 / 12:30 p.m.
Watch:
NBC / Pre-race 12:00 pm
You can also tune in on the Motor Racing Network (MRN)
on a radio or computer near you… you know the drill by now…
Bud Pole Qualifying:
Bud Pole qualifying can be seen live Friday at 3:00 pm on the Speed Channel and heard on
MRN affiliates across the nation. (All Times: Eastern)
-Budweiser |
