Johnson wins The Winston_5/17/03
 No. 8 Team Caught in Multi-Car Crash
Jimmie Johnson won the million-dollar first prize after winning Saturday night’s
NASCAR all-star race, The Winston. Johnson beat Kurt Busch and Bobby Labonte in the final
20-lap sprint for the big money. Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the No. 8 Budweiser team led the
race early in the evening, but were involved in a six-car crash on lap 69, and finished
17th. Earnhardt Jr. was uninjured, but the Budweiser car was damaged beyond repair. This
is the first Winston Cup race (points or non-points race) that the team has not been
running at the finish in almost a full year (Charlotte 600, May 2002). They enter next
week’s 600-mile race in second-place in the Winston Cup point standings, 20 points
behind leader Matt Kenseth.
 The Key Moments:
Starting in the fourth position, Dale Jr. cruised among the top positions early in the
running, taking the lead on lap 17 before making a pit stop on lap 21. Dale Jr. ended the
first segment (of three total segments) of the all-star race in fifth position. Dale Jr.
got as high as fourth in the second segment before pitting for adjustments during a
yellow-flag segment on lap 47. The pit stop dropped the Bud car back to 17th position.
After fighting back to as high as 13th place, Dale Jr. was unable to avoid a massive
six-car crash ahead of him on lap 69. This is the first time the Budweiser No. 8 team has
finished worse than seventh in the Winston.
Dale Jr’s Quotes: “I’m OK. I’m just heartbroken for
my crew guys because they built a brand-new car just for this race. You kind of expect
this kind of thing in the Winston- no points on the line, just big money to win, and
it’s just like a brawl out there. I don’t know what happened ahead of me –
all of a sudden there’s smoke everywhere and you can’t see anything. I hit
someone and then someone hit me. You hope you can get out of this race in one piece, but
that’s how it goes. You can’t cry about it, but I know the guys hate to see
their new car torn up like that.
“We took a risk by making that pit stop to make some changes. It dropped us back at
that point, but we were making it better for later in the race. This race is just about
winning. We had to try to get the car better because at that time we didn’t feel like
we had a car good enough to win. If we didn’t take that risk, we might have been
running ahead of that crash, but we’re here to win, so we’ll go home and get
ready to come back here to win the 600 next week. We’ll be good.”
Best Radio Conversations
After dropping back near the back of the pack after a pit stop on lap 46…
Dale Jr: “The car is better. I’d rather finish 10th in
this segment and learn about what we need to do with the car than finish second and not
learn anything…”
During a yellow flag on lap 66, while running in 13th position…
Dale Jr.: “It’s been fun racing back here (in the pack).
It’s a helluva race back here. It’s been interesting. (Jeff) Gordon got in my
lane on that restart, but we’re able to pass some guys.”
Stats and Arguably Meaningful Minutiae
Started: 4th
Finished: 17th
Points Position: Non-points race
Money Won: $65,904
Best Pit Stop: Lap 21 / Stop #1 of 3 / Fuel, four tires / 14.52 seconds
-Budweiser
Earnhardt Jr. Budweiser 'The Winston' Preview_5/12/03
Dale Jr. Quotes for The Winston
(On the final lap of last year’s The Winston, a fast-closing Dale Jr. bumped
leader Ryan Newman, but backed off to prevent Newman from crashing. Newman won, while Dale
Jr. finished second)
“I’ve replayed that thing in my head over and over about how I could have done
it differently… how I could have or should have passed him and won that race. I felt
like I did the right thing by not crashing him, but it’s not like it was really a
conscious decision. It all happens so fast; it’s over before your brain realizes what
your right foot has done. The Eury’s (Tony, crew chief and Tony Jr., car chief)
wanted to win so badly, and I wanted to win it for them and everybody else that’s
pulling for us, but it was the right decision at that split-second for me to make. The
money wasn’t worth the reaction it would have caused. I couldn’t look in the
mirror the next day, knowing I had crashed somebody to win it.
“The winner gets a million dollars this year?! I like the sound of that. Last year, I
said I would race just as hard if the winner got 10 bucks, but a million to win certainly
gets your attention. Is it about the money? I should say ‘no,’ but, hell yeah- a
million dollars is a million dollars, ya know?
"We’ve been focused so much this year on the big picture – getting the
championship – but for this one, there are no points on the line, so we’re going
to let it hang out. That’s what I love, and that’s what my entire team loves.
It’s all about guts.
“This is one of the best nights of the year for me, even though I hate waiting all
day and night for it to start (approx. 9 pm). I think this is how it should be every week:
a real show… smoke and lights and fireworks. It has this energy that no other event
generates. It’s more like a rock-and-roll concert than any other race, so I like that
part of it. Most of all, I like the format of the race – no points, no holding back,
no messin’ around- just put your foot to the floor and let’s see who’s the
best. Plus, I can sleep in my own bed when the night is done.
Dale Jr. and the No. 8 Bud Team at The Winston
Previous Starts: 3
Best Start: 5th (2000)
Best Finish: 1st (2000)
This Race, Last Year: ST: 24th / FIN: 2nd
 Dale Jr. was the first rookie to win The
Winston in 2000. He now shares that record with Ryan Newman.
In non-points-paying or all-star-type
Winston Cup races, the Budweiser team and Dale Jr. have three victories and a finishing
average of 2.8 in ten career starts. The team has never finished worse than seventh, and
has won or finished second in each non-points race since the Winston in 2001.
The finishes:
The Winston: 2nd (2002), 7th (2001), 1st (2000)
The Budweiser Shootout: 1st (2003), 2nd (2002), 6th (2001)
Twin-125 Qualifiers: 1st (2003), 2nd (2002), 2nd (2001), 4th (2000)
Even the worst finish in that span --
The Winston, 2001 -- was impressive, as Dale Jr. went from 20th place to 7th, passing 13
cars in the final 10 laps.
Dale Jr holds the track record for
Winston Cup cars at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, turning a lap at an average speed of
186.034 mph in 2000.
The Budweiser team has twice won a
million dollar purse from Winston. (The defunct ‘No-Bull 5’ program at
Talladega, in Oct. 2001 and Oct. 2002)
Dale Jr. made his Winston Cup debut at
Lowe’s Motor Speedway at the Coca-Cola 600 in 1999. He qualified 8th and finished
16th.
Props to the Peeps
Dale Jr. is not the only Budweiser-sponsored driver having a good season on four wheels.
Brandon Bernstein stepped into the Budweiser Top Fuel dragster after his legendary father,
Kenny, retired as a driver. Brandon, as a rookie, has won three out of the first seven
NHRA National events and is currently second in points.
Robby Gordon (yes, THAT Robby Gordon) qualified the Andretti/Green Budweiser-sponsored car
for the front row for this year's Indianapolis 500. Budweiser had signed to sponsor
popular Scotsman Dario Franchitti for the 500, but when Franchitti, the husband of Ashley
Judd, (yes, THAT Ashley Judd) hurt his back, the Andretti/Green team opted to put Gordon
in the car.
What:
The Winston
90 laps /3 segments (40-, 30- and 20-lap segments) / 135 miles / Non-points all-star event
Where:
Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Concord, NC
1.5-mile oval
When:
Saturday, May 17 / approx. 9:00 p.m. (follows the Winston Open qualifying race)
Watch:
FX Network (pre-race: 7:00 pm)
Bud Pole Qualifying:
Bud Pole qualifying, which is always unique for The Winston, can be seen live Friday at
6:00 p.m. on Speed Channel. You can also hear qualifying and race action on the Motor
Racing Network (MRN) on a radio station or computer near you. The radio programming is
also heard on the 24-hour NASCAR channel on XM Radio. (All Times: Eastern)
-Budweiser
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