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2003 Season
2003 Carolina Dodge
Dealers 400
| Race Information |
| Event: Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 |
| Date: March 16, 2003 |
Track: Darlington Raceway |
| Qualified: 16th |
Finished: 6th |
| Status: Running |
Laps Completed:
293 of 293 |
| Points
Pos. Before/After Race:
10th/4th |
Points
Earned: 160 (w/ 10 bonus) |
| Money
Earned: $98,392 |
Summary and Related News |
Photo finish: Craven wins Darlington 400_3/16/03
Dale Jr. and No. 8 Budweiser Team Gets Third Consecutive Top-6 Finish
Ricky Craven and Kurt Busch crossed the finish line side-by-side in a photo finish today
in the Darlington 400. Craven won the race by a margin of .002. The final half of the race
saw close, hard racing all through the top 10 before Craven made his last-ditch effort on
the final straightaway as the top two finished while slamming hard against each other.
Dave Blaney was third. Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the No. 8 Budweiser team finished sixth
after leading the most laps (91 out of 293 total laps) for the second time this season.
The team, coming off of two top-five results, jumped six positions in the Winston Cup
point standings into fourth
place. In the last three races, they have gained 34 points positions. The No. 8 Budweiser
bunch has led four out of the five races this season, and gained more bonus points (30)
than any other team.
The Key Moments: Starting 16th, Dale Jr. and the Budweiser car needed
only two laps to get into the top 10, and then used savvy pit strategy to take the lead
for the first time on lap 18. After dropping to third place on the second pit stop of the
day, the No. 8 re-took the front spot on lap 33, and held it (except for one lap during
pit stops) until lap 116, when Mark Martin slid past. The team remained in the top five
until a pit stop on lap 191, when loose lug nuts on the left front
wheel forced the team to make a second unscheduled stop to fix the problem. This dropped
the red car to 11th place with less than 100 laps to go. From there, Dale Jr. fought his
way through heavy traffic into seventh before the final yellow flag of the day on lap 238.
Making the final restart in 9th position, Dale Jr. again fought his way forward, turning
quicker lap times than any other car, reaching fourth place with less than 20 laps to go,
before worn tires dropped him behind Martin and teammate Michael Waltrip.
Dale Jr’s Quotes: “Another good day. I had a great car and we
had ‘em covered except for some trouble in the pits. This place (Darlington) had kind
of been an achille’s heel for us, but we had a really fast car. Tony Jr. (Eury, car
chief) made the right calls on making some small adjustments, and even when we were way
back in traffic, we were the fastest car on the track. A couple of pit stops really hurt
us there, and I just wore my car out trying to get back up to the leaders. Even when the
car got a little tight, we were still pretty good… pretty fast. This is one of those
tracks that had not been one of our strong suits, so to come out of here with a good
finish makes me feel good about my team and the way we’re contenders each week. This
is the way it’s gonna be from here on this season. This is what it takes to be up
there in the points.”
About the wild finish: “They were tryin’ to wreck – and I
was hoping they’d all crash and we’d slide on through there! That was a fun,
hard racing with all of the guys. It’s a hard, hard track, and I’m just
exhausted. Not necessarily from the track, but just from circumstances. You give it all
you got, because once we fell back in the last 100 laps, I had to drive my butt off just
to get back up there. Imagine being in your car for 400 miles right up against Jersey
barriers on the highway, but do it at 170mph. One slight wrong move and you're into the
wall. I think the 6 car (Mark Martin) was the only car that could stay with us, but he had
some (pit) trouble at the end too. I think we got as high as fourth again, but we had worn
out the tires getting there and I just couldn’t hold on. “
Best Radio Conversations
Best prediction of the weekend, as Dale Jr. pulled his car into the garage after
Saturday’s final practice.
Dale Jr.: “I think we’ve got the best car we’ve ever had
here. I think we’ll be OK…”
Dale Jr. dominated the first half of the race, leading by more than eight seconds at
times. Spotter Ty Norris and car chief Tony Eury Jr. encouraged him to get a smooth rhythm
and preserve the tires.
Dale Jr.: “Yeah… OK… The car’s pretty free here. I
know I’m flying… I just gotta slow down a little bit…”
After making an unscheduled stop to tighten lug nuts on lap 193, Dale Jr. tried to
make the best of a frustrating situation.
Dale Jr.: “We’re OK. I think there’s a lotta potential
danger with all of these lapped cars on the restart. This’ll be a pretty good spot
for us because I’ll have a lotta time to dodge all the (stuff) when they start
crashin’…”
Just before restarting ninth on lap 241, Dale Jr. encouraged his pit crew.
Dale Jr.: “Damn boys… I’m really glad to be doin’
this well in this race. We know we could be a lot better, but we’ve got a great car
here, and we keep making it better each stop. It lasts a little bit longer each time. This
is a good day at this place…”
Today’s Stats
Started: 16th
Finished: 6th
Points Position: 4th (gained six positions)
Money Won: $98,392
Laps Led: Three times for 91 laps (10 bonus points for leading most laps)
Best Pit Stop: Lap 24 / Stop #2 of 6 / 4 tires, Fuel / 13.24 seconds*
(*season best for team)
GOODYEAR/GOOD LAP: For the second time in three weeks, Dale Jr. and the
team grabbed $5000 for winning the “Goodyear Gatorback Fastest Lap Award.” Dale
Jr. shot around the egg-shaped oval at an average speed of 164.154 mph while leading on
lap 76.
OLD NEWS: The No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet pit crew won the
“McDonald’s Drive-Thru Pit Championship” for the second consecutive race
last week at Atlanta. During the MBNA 500, Earnhardt spent 288 seconds in the pits, while
race winner Bobby Labonte was in the pits for 318 seconds.
RACE DRIVER/CRIME FIGHTER: The episode of FASTLANE, featuring Dale Jr. in
a cameo role, will air March 28 on FOX (8 p.m. ET and PT). The show is about two
undercover police officers fighting crime in Los Angeles.
-Budweiser
Earnhardt Jr. Budweiser Atlanta Preview_3/11/03
Dale Jr. Quotes for Darlington
“I am so confident in my guys right now. We started improving about halfway through
last season, and we just keep getting stronger. We found some things that weren’t
really right with our cars – and we started building new ones about that time
(halfway through 2002). You can really see the impact on the results. The cars keep
getting better and better all the time. The guys are also doing really well on pit lane
– our stops have been good and fast, and Tony Jr. (Eury, car chief) has been making
really good calls on changes to make to the car.”
“(Darlington) is one of the toughest tracks, the most difficult places we go.
I’d like to get in there and get out without any scratches, but we’ve been
pretty fast there in the past couple of races, so I think we will be alright. It feels
really good right now (coming off of two straight top-five finishes). We’ve always
pushed ourselves and seen ourselves as a top-five team, so now a lot of what we’ve
worked for is coming together. We just need to keep doing what we’re doing, and we
believe we can run up front every week.”
Dale Jr. and the No. 8 Bud Team at Darlington
Previous Winston Cup Starts: 6
Best Start: 10th (March 2000)
Best Finish: 4th (March 2002)
This Race, Last Year: ST:23rd / FIN:4th
Previous Races at Darlington
DATE Started Finished Notes
March, 2000 10th 40th Lap 200 crash: driver OK – car NOT OK
September, 2000 13th 11th Led 16 laps, almost won due to rain
March, 2001 16th 34th Earned ‘Darlington Stripe’ on lap 45
September, 2001 18th 17th In third place with two laps to go: taken out in multi-car crash
March, 2002 23rd 4th Led 10 laps, fast car and good pit work
September, 2002 15th 16th Rain rain rain
Quote/Unquote/Notes: Dale Jr. is featured in the new edition (April 2003)
of FHM Magazine. He provides his comments on a variety of topics, including why he
doesn’t party much anymore, why most major sports suck, and why he would agree to be
seen all across the United States in the company of a yard gnome…
What:
Darlington 400
293 laps / 400 miles / Race #5 of 36 in the Winston Cup Series
Where:
Darlington Raceway, Darlington, SC
1.366-mile egg
When:
Sunday, March 16 / 1 p.m. / Fox-TV (pre-race: 12:30 pm)
Watch:
Fox-TV… You can also tune-in to hear qualifying and race action on the Motor Racing
Network (MRN) on a radio station or computer near you.
Bud Pole Qualifying:
Bud Pole qualifying can be seen live Friday at 3:00 p.m. on the Fox Sports Network or
heard on MRN affiliates across the nation.
(All Times: Eastern)-Budweiser |
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