Busch takes rain-shortened
Atlanta race_10/27
 No. 8 Budweiser team grabs another top-five finish
Kurt Busch was in front when it counted, as rain ended the NAPA 500 prematurely Sunday
evening. Busch was in the lead when the checkered flag came out on lap 248, instead of the
scheduled distance of 325 laps. Joe Nemechek recorded a season-best second-place finish,
followed by Dale Jarrett, points leader Tony Stewart and the No. 8 Budweiser car driven by
Dale Earnhardt Jr. in fifth. It is the fifth consecutive top-10 finish for the red-hot
Budweiser team, and it pulled Dale Jr. into 11th place in Winston Cup points, his highest
position since the race in Fontana in April. Dale Jr. is now less than 50 points out of
the top-10 with three races remaining. The Bud team led the race twice for four laps, and
took home a top-five finish for the fifth time in the last 10 races. They have now amassed
a career-best 10 top-five finishes in 2002. The
Key Moments: Dale Jr. and the Bud team started 13th for the third time in four
weeks (based on Winston Cup owner's points) as Mother Nature washed out Bud Pole
qualifying yet again. It took Junior only 12 laps (and a three-wide pass) to grab a top-10
spot, but the race was stopped for a lengthy rain delay soon after. When the race resumed,
under continually threatening skies, the Bud team chose to come to pit lane to fill the
gas tank on the No. 8 car, dropping them to 36th place when the race went back to
high-speed action on lap 45. With the fastest car on the track, Dale Jr. gave a clinic on
passing, as he zoomed into the top 20 by lap 69 and then into the top 10 by lap 87. It was
lap 96 when Dale Jr. took the lead, before pitting two laps later. Because of the
seemingly inevitable rain, it was a strange race of strategy geared to race toward the
halfway point rather than the full 500-mile distance. Even while battling traffic, Dale
Jr. remained the fastest, but mired in traffic, he was unable to challenge again for the
lead until lap 204, when he sped past Tony Stewart. The following pit stop was a slow one,
and it dropped him to 15th place, where he again mounted a charge to the front. As the
rain began to fall harder and harder, Dale Jr. was in a fierce battle for third place with
Dale Jarrett and Stewart, including a three-wide blast through turn two on the final green
flag lap when the rains finally made the track too slippery to continue.
Dale Jr's Quotes: "How 'bout that!?
Another top-10... that's five in a row for this team. It makes me proud of my guys. Yeah,
we had some problems in the pits that dropped us back a couple of times, but the car was
almost always the fastest one out there. There were times I could pass guys wherever I
needed to - but we fought with track position while trying to out-guess the rain. I like
this place (Atlanta) a lot, and we seem to always really run good here. I think we're
gonna win one at this place sometime soon, and then look out! If we really get it figured
out, we may do like we did at Talladega - win three or four in a row.
"It's a great track and it seems like there is an
endless combination of grooves you can run. If this thing had gone all the way to the end,
we would have been right there. The car was great after about 10 laps on new tires. Up
until then, it was a handful, lemme tell ya... Then, on the last pit stop, Tony (Eury) Jr.
made an air pressure adjustment that made it a rocket right away. If we could have run
longer, we would have been tough to handle. It was time to stop the race though. It was
way too slick to be out there like that."
Best Radio Conversations
Because of the stop-start nature of the rain delay and the change in strategy-racing
the weather instead of the competition - most of the chatter on the radio took place after
the race had been slowed to a crawl by the rain. Dale Jr. talked about the three-wide race
for third on the final green flag lap. Dale Jr. momentarily held the position, but slid on
the wet track and fell back to fifth.
Dale Jr.: "Damn! I wanted those
spots! We're faster than those guys - you guys (the team) know that - and I really wanted
those spots! I was under the 88 (Jarrett), but I was gonna knock the whole left side offa
his car if I had stayed in it... Wow... the rain is really getting hard now. It's bad.
Let's call this race right here, right now.
Tony Eury Sr. (crew chief): "I think
the fastest car just finished fifth... You were bottoming out in turn one..."
Dale Jr: "Yeah, it's rainin' bad
there."
Tony Sr: "No... bottoming out!"
Dale Jr: "Yeah! Yeah! Everybody does.
It wasn't too bad though. I would just hit for a split second."
Tony Sr: "From here, once it got
dark, it looked like a campfire behind you every lap!"
Dale Jr: (laughs) "Hell yeah!
Shootin' flames! Where's the "Flames" button in here?!?... Hey - y'all were
fantastic all weekend here. We had some things that were uncomfortable for me in practice,
but we worked through 'em and you guys did really good. We had a great car today and I'm
proud of you."
Tony Eury Jr: "It's good day for us -
a good points day too." Dale Jr: "Yeah! I wanna get a top-seven or -eight finish
in points. That's asking a bit much, but that's what I'm aimin' for."
Dale Jr. also received some encouragement from Tony
Eury Jr. when he was bringing the Budweiser car to the pits before the first rain delay.
Tony Jr: "Come in this lap. It's wet
down here - it looks slick, so be careful. I mean don't be a granny - but come in nice and
smooth..."
Today's Stats
Started: 13th
Finished: 5th
Points Position: 11th (gained one position)
Money Won: $97,950
Laps Led: 2 times for 4 laps
Best Pit Stop: Lap 98 / Stop #3 of 5 / 4 tires, Fuel / 14.61 seconds
-Budweiser
Earnhardt Jr. Budweiser Atlanta
Preview_10/22
Dale Jr. Quotes for Atlanta
"Atlanta is great. It's no secret that the faster it is, the better I like it. We've
always run really well here, but crazy stuff kind of cost us a couple of times when we
should have won (see notes below). The team is on such a roll right now. This is what we
should have/could have done all season. We were second there in the spring, and I think we
traded the lead with Tony (Stewart) about five times. It was great race from my seat...
That kind of fun is the stuff that the fans love, and it's cool for me and the team too.
The multi-grooved deal means it puts a lot into the hands of the driver. If you're not
getting it done in the low groove, you can move the car around to find a line that works
for the set-up."
"Four-straight top-10s is cool. I think we have a realistic shot to keep that string
going for the rest of the season, because no one has been better than this team for the
past two months. Look how close we are to the top-10 in points- even the top seven or
eight. We had such a slump through the summer that you just kind of throw your hands up
and think it's over. But, now we really have a serious shot to get back into the top 10,
maybe even match the eighth place we had last year."
Dale Jr. and the No. 8 Bud Team at Atlanta
Previous Winston Cup Starts: 6
Best Start: 1st (November, 2001)
Best Finish: 2nd (March, 2002)
This Race, Last Year: ST: 1st (2nd Bud Pole of 2001)
FIN: 7th
Led 171 laps
The Budweiser team has consistently run at or near the front at Atlanta, leading 218 laps
in six races, but strange things have prevented them from winning. Oddities include the
spring race in 2000, when a telemetry cable for the television broadcast rubbed a hole in
a rear brake line, causing a crash while Dale Jr. was running second. Last season, a flat
tire knocked Dale Jr. out of a three-wide race for the lead with five laps to go in the
spring event. After starting from the Bud Pole in this race last year, Dale Jr. was
leading easily with 30 laps to go when a piece of debris became lodged in his eye, causing
him to slow while driving with only one eye open. However, it is also the location where
he led his first-ever lap in Winston Cup in 1999 and score a Bud Pole in 2001.
Runnin' in the Red
In the ten races since Watkins Glen in August, the Budweiser team has scored more points
than any other team, improving from 17th to 12th in Winston Cup points. In that span, the
team has a victory at Talladega, two Bud poles, seven top-10s (plus an 11th place) and
four top-fives. The Bud team has led more races this season (19 races / 913 laps) than any
other, and has more bonus points (110) than any other team.
Youth Rules / Winston Cup Points in the last 10 races
1. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 1453
2. Tony Stewart 1423
3. Ryan Newman 1403
4. Kurt Busch 1326
5. Jimmie Johnson 1293
The Shorter the Better
Much hoopla has been made of Dale Jr and the Budwesier team's renowned prowess on the
high-banked superspeedways, but they have quietly compiled an amazing record this season
on the three Winston Cup tracks of less than one-mile in distance. In six races at
Martinsville, Bristol and Richmond this season, they have recorded five top-five finishes!
Only a crash at the spring race at Richmond blemished their string of short track success
this season.
What:
NAPA 500
1.54-mile oval / 325 laps / 500 miles / Race #33 of 36
Where:
Atlanta Motor Speedway, Hampton, GA
When:
Sunday, October 27 / 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:
Bud Pole qualifying can be seen live Friday evening at 7:00 pm on the Speed
Channel and heard on PRN affiliates across the nation.
(All Times: Eastern)
"It's good to be the King..." Mel Brooks
The King of Beers on the internet: www.Budweiser.com
Did you know that Anheuser-Busch is the largest brewer in the world? In 2001, they sold
more than 11 percent of all beer sold across the globe...
-Budweiser |
