Kurt Busch wins Food City 500_3/23/03
 Dale Jr. and No. 8 Budweiser Team Suffer Fuel Woes
For the second year in a row, Kurt Busch won the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Winston Cup points leader Matt Kenseth was second, while Bobby Labonte finished third.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the No. 8 Budweiser team finished 16th, two laps down. The
Budweiser team ran among the top five for the first two-thirds of the race, but ran out of
fuel on lap 366. The problem dropped the team from a top-10 position to 28th with less
than 135 laps remaining. The team was able to make up one of the laps and gained 12
positions, but finished two laps behind the leaders. The finish dropped them from fourth
to fifth place in Winston Cup points after six of 36 races, but they remain less than 50
points out of second place.
The Key Moments: Starting in the eighth position, Dale Jr. muscled his
way into the top five by lap 13 on the high-banked half-mile oval. The first half of the
race saw a remarkable number of yellow flag periods (there were a total of 17 cautions for
120 laps of the race), while Dale Jr. tried to avoid trouble and run a conservative pace,
keeping his car intact for a run to the finish. He ran as high as second place in the
first 100 laps. A long green flag run proved to be the team’s downfall as Dale Jr.
reported a dry fuel tank on lap 366, 185 laps after his previous pit stop. Coasting to the
pits and falling three laps behind, the remainder of the race was spent frantically trying
to make up positions. They were able to get one lap back, but finished two laps behind
Busch and the lead-lap cars.
Dale Jr’s Quotes: About running out of fuel: “That
felt like the longest green-flag run in the history of this track… We weren’t
really pushing hard – I was just trying not to run into anything or anybody.
It’s hard enough getting around this track on your own, let alone with all those cars
out there with you. There just wasn’t enough race left to make up three laps. We just
need to stop beatin’ ourselves.”
About avoiding a large number of multi-car crashes: “Whoa. It was making me
nervous, I’ll tell you that. I’ve never seen harder racing here than I did
today. We missed a couple of them (crashes), but that was too close too many times The
cars that crash here go to the pits, then they come out all beat up and then they line-up
with the lapped cars (on restarts). Damn, that scared me. I raced a lot more against the
lapped cars today, just trying to get around them on restarts than I raced against the
other lead-lap cars.”
Best Radio Conversations
For the first two-thirds of the race, Dale Jr. ran easily, usually among the top-five
positions. During a series of yellow-flag periods through the mid-section of the race, he
carried on a rather entertaining dialogue with his spotter and his crew.
Dale Jr. : “I’ve seen harder racing already today than I have
in the last 1000 laps at this place.”
Tony Eury Jr. (car chief): “10-4.”
Dale Jr: “That’s a big 10-4 on the hard racing… I really
feel like I’m getting beaten around today. How does the car look? Does it look OK
– or is it all beat-up?
Tony Jr: “No – looks good. Pretty clean, other than a spot on
the right front bumper.”
Dale Jr: “They sure are wreckin’ a lot, aren’t they?!
It’s makin’ me nervous.”
Giving praise to Jeff Burton, who followed Dale Jr. for a considerable number of laps
through many of the multi-car crashes.
Dale Jr: (to spotter Ty Norris) “Go tell the spotter for the 99
(Burton) that that Burton boy has done a masterful job of missing me and all my brake
checks. I’ll bet I’ve been on the brakes 15 times and he hasn’t hit me
yet…”
During a late yellow flag, three laps behind, but trying to remain positive, or, at
the very least, change the subject.
Dale Jr: “How y’all getting’ home?”
Tony Jr: “Uhh.. the Interstate I think, or we’ll go back the
way (crewmember) “B” Hoover goes, all the way back home on (Highway) 421..”
Dale Jr.: “You don’t like (Highway) 321?”
Tony Jr: “Nahhh, you don’t wanna take that take that way back
(through the mountains), unless you want to get some practice for Sears Point…”
Today’s Stats
Started: 8th
Finished: 16th
Points Position: Fifth (minus one position)
Money Won: $101,407
Laps Led: ---
Best Pit Stop: Lap 137 / Stop #2 of 5 / 4 tires, Fuel / 13.14 seconds*
(*quickest stop of the year for Budweiser team.)
Rolllllll Out… the Complex Cover: The latest edition of Complex
Magazine (April/May 2003) hits newsstands later this week, featuring a cover photo of Dale
Jr. alongside one of his favorite rappers, Ludacris. The interview with the two distinct
stars took place during a late-January photo shoot in Charlotte, NC. Dale Jr. and Ludacris
(who stars in the upcoming sequel to the blockbuster “The Fast and The Furious”)
discuss a variety of topics, such as the state of the world, Elvis, cars, ladies and
growing up in the South. Ludacris attended the Daytona 500 as Dale Jr’s guest in
February.
In the Fast Lane: Dale Jr will make a cameo appearance on the Fox-TV
action series Fastlane this Friday evening (March 28) at 8:00 pm (Eastern time).
-Budweiser
Earnhardt Jr. Budweiser Bristol Preview_3/17/03
Dale Jr. Quotes for Bristol
“We were really awesome there (Bristol) last year. We had two top-fives and led for a
big chunk of both races. This is a great track that’s fun for the drivers and the
fans, but it’s also one of those places where you can’t let up for a second. We
had some strong runs the first couple of years in Winston Cup, but it seemed like
something would happen in the last 50 laps and we’d have a terrible finish. You work
hard all day… scrapping all day long for 450 laps and then it can fall apart. I think
that made us realize last year that we had to prepare for a marathon, a prize fight that
lasts 15 rounds, and it paid off with some really good finishes. It’s so fast and so
small, you have to be ready for about anything and try to bring the car home in one piece
instead of behind a wrecker.
“The last three weeks have been great, but I think we’ve been a top team from
the first day of testing this year. Well, even before that – it’s not something
that happens overnight. It’s not just the last few races. We could have swept Daytona
except for a bad alternator, and then people wouldn’t seem so surprised and make such
a big deal that we’re right up there in points. This is the result of sheer hard work
by Tony (Eury, crew chief) and Tony Jr. (Eury, car chief) and all of my guys. They work
their tails off, and it shows every week. We expect to run at or near the front every
Sunday, and now we’re backing that effort up with some strong results. Yes, we
believe we should be in the top five.”
Dale Jr. and the No. 8 Budweiser Team at Bristol
Previous Winston Cup Starts: 6
Best Start: 2nd (August, 2002)
Best Finish: 3rd (August 2002)
This Race, Last Year: ST: 23rd FIN: 4th
LED: 181 laps (bonus points for leading most laps)
Dale Jr. and the Budweiser team were the dominant players in the two races at Bristol in
2002. The No. 8 Bud boys led for a combined total of 321 laps and grabbed two top-four
finishes.
Leader of the Pack: Including non-points races so far this season, Dale
Jr. and the Budweiser team have led six out of the seven races they have entered.
(Rockingham is the only race they did not lead). This continues their pace from last
season, as the team led more laps and more races than any other in 2002. They have also
finished no worse than sixth in five of the seven races.
| Budweiser Shootout |
13 laps led |
Won |
| Twin-125 |
38 laps led |
Won |
| Daytona 500 |
22 laps led |
36th |
| Las Vegas |
97 laps led (most laps led) |
2nd |
| Atlanta |
23 laps led |
3rd |
| Darlington |
91 laps led (most laps led) |
6th |
What:
Food City 500
500 laps / 266 miles / Race #6 of 36 in the Winston Cup Series
Where:
Bristol Motor Speedway, Bristol, TN
.533-mile high-banked oval
When:
Sunday, March 23 / 1 p.m. / Fox-TV (pre-race: 12:30 pm)
Watch:
Fox-TV covers the first half of the 2003 season… You can also tune-in to hear
qualifying and race action from all of the Bruton Smith-owned tracks (Charlotte, Texas,
Sears Point, Atlanta, Bristol, Las Vegas) on the Performance Racing Network (PRN) 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 (and
replayed later on Speed Channel). You can hear it live on PRN affiliates across the
nation, including XM Radio, who carries wall-to-wall coverage on the 24-hour NASCAR
Channel.
(All Times: Eastern)
-Budweiser |
