<DJC> 2003 Race Report

Race Information
Event: Pepsi 400 at Daytona
Date: July 5, 2003	Track: Daytona Int'l Speedway
Qualified: 5th	Finished: 7th
Status: Running	Laps Completed: 160 of 160
Points Pos. Before/After Race: 3rd/2nd	Points Earned: 151 (w/ 5 bonus)
Money Earned: $133,067
Summary and Related News
Fuel mileage gives Biffle win, Dale Jr. seventh_7/5/03 No. 8 Budweiser Team Leads 43 Laps, Moves to Second in Points Rookie driver Greg Biffle won Saturday night’s Pepsi 400 at Daytona, taking advantage of superb fuel mileage while many of the faster cars were forced to make an extra stop for fuel late in the race. Jeff Burton and Ricky Rudd were second and third with the same strategy as Biffle. Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the No. 8 Budweiser team ran at the front of the field for much of the night until a late pit stop for fuel on lap 139 (of 160). Dale Jr. led the race twice for 43 laps and regained second place in the Winston Cup point standings, 180 points behind leader Matt Kenseth. The Key Moments: The Budweiser car started in the 5th position, and ran among the top-10 positions until Dale Jr. swept past Kevin Harvick to take the lead on lap 71. The team chose not to make a pit stop during the final yellow flag of the night on lap 74, and led the race until making a pit stop on lap 102. The red No. 8 car took the lead again on lap 127 until making their final pit stop on lap 139. The stop dropped them nearly a full lap behind the leaders, but Dale Jr. put on a banzai passing display, gaining 19 positions in the final 21 laps. The Budweiser team has finished seventh or better in 11 of the last 15 races. Dale Jr. has led 12 races for 572 laps, and scored more bonus points than any other driver. With a victory in Friday night’s Busch Series race, Dale Jr. joined his father Dale Earnhardt (1993) and Fireball Roberts (1962) as the only drivers to win four races in one calendar year at Daytona International Speedway. Dale Jr. led 48 percent of the laps he completed this year in six races at Daytona. He led 295 laps in 609 laps of racing. Dale Jr. now has six career victories at Daytona. He won the Budweiser Shootout and a 125-mile qualifier in 2003, the Pepsi 400 in 2001, and has three victories in the Busch Series. Dale Jr’s Quotes: “Seventh? I’ll drink to that. I’m happy I guess. We had a car that could have won, but we’ll take another top-10 and go on. I’m proud of my guys – and I think we’re having a great season. I knew Matt (Kenseth) was right in front of me at the finish, but I didn’t have enough laps to get him.” “We didn’t stop during that yellow (the final yellow flag period on laps 74-79) because it wouldn’t have helped our fuel strategy at the time, and that’s how the race played out. If we would have had another yellow flag, we would have been right up there. I think the 29 (Harvick) and I had the best cars out there, and we had a helluva battle at the end of the race. I knew we were out of sync on the pit stop, so I just had to suck it up and pass as many guys as I could at the end. Whoo- I almost crashed about 100 times in the last 20 laps, but we were able to pass a lot of cars.” Best Radio Conversations The demands of racing at a superspeedway, where two- and three-wide racing is the norm rather than the exception, meant Dale Jr. was not as talkative on the radio as usual. Most of the chatter took place during the two yellow-flag periods. Dale Jr: (during the caution period on lap 65) “I’ll tell ya what, I don’t think I have a friend within a 100-mile radius tonight.” Ty Norris: (spotter) “I think the 97 (Kurt Busch) was trying to help you there.” Dale Jr: “Yeah, well, I feel like a one-man band out here. I’m gonna just get my (butt) to the front no matter what, no matter who helps me…” (Junior took the lead six laps later.) Best call of the night… Ty Norris: (spotter): “The 48 car (Jimmie Johnson) has a run on the outside. He’s got a big push. It’s clear behind him if you need it…(Junior pulls away from Johnson going into turn three)... oh, I see ya don’t need it…” Junior’s Burning With Rome: Dale Jr. will be the special guest via satellite on “Rome is Burning” with Jim Rome on ESPN, Tuesday at 7 p.m. Eastern. (The show will re-air on ESPN2 at 1 a.m. Eastern). Today’s Stats Started: 5th Finished: 7th Points Position: 2nd (gained one position) Laps Led: Twice for 43 laps Money: $133,067 Best Pit Stop: Lap 64 / Stop # 2 of 4 / Fuel, four tires / 14.76 seconds Race Awards: MBNA Mid-Race Leader Award Goodyear Gatorback Fastest Lap Award Best Celeb Visitor: Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive star Warren Sapp spent the first segment of Saturday night’s race in the Budweiser pit area, listening to the Bud team radio chatter on a scanner. Dale Jr’s 2003 Results at Daytona: Winston Cup Fin Laps Led/Total Laps Pepsi 400: 7th 43 160 Daytona 500: 36th 22 109 Budweiser Shootout: 1st 13 70 125 Qualifier: 1st 50 50 Busch Series: Winn-Dixie 250 1st 100 100 Daytona 300 1st 67 120 Want music? Films? Fun? Budweiser? Get it all at www.Budweiser.com. True. -Budweiser Earnhardt Jr. Budweiser Pepsi 400 at Daytona Preview_6/30/03 Dale Jr. Quotes for Daytona The Budweiser team dominated at Daytona in February until a failed alternator knocked Dale Jr. out of the lead in the Daytona 500: “Does this place owe us one? No way. But, if you ask me if the Daytona 500 still haunts me and my team, I’d say you’re damn right it does. We had that thing handled – even when we were two-laps behind, I knew I was going to come back and win that race. We got one lap back, and then the rains came… Now, we’re halfway into the season, and we’re right there in the championship race. We never need extra motivation when we come to Daytona, but I'll tell ya that we’ve had our eyes on this race since that day. We’re focused, we’re confident, and we’ll be fast.” “I was happy about the way we performed (at Infineon Raceway) on the road course. I don’t think anyone gave us a chance to be competitive, and we proved them wrong. More importantly, we proved to ourselves that we can go out and run at or near the front every week. The days of this team being inconsistent are gone. To have a weekend off, and then come to Daytona, where we’ve been really good in the past, means I can’t wait to get on the track when practice starts (Thursday afternoon).” Dale Jr. and the No. 8 Bud Team at Daytona Previous Winston Cup Starts: 7 (Points races only – does not include Budweiser Shootout, 125-mile qualifiers) Best Start: 2nd (2003 Daytona 500) Best Finish: 1st (2001 Pepsi 400) This Race, Last Year: ST: 9th FIN: 6th - Speedweeks at Daytona earlier this year were dominated by Dale Jr. and the Budweiser team, as they won the Budweiser Shootout, won a Twin-125 race, qualified second for the Daytona 500, then led 22 laps (seemingly at will) in the 500 until a failed alternator knocked them two laps behind the field. Dale Jr. regained one of those laps when rain fell to end the race prematurely on lap 109 of the scheduled 200-lap race. Dale Jr. and his Chance2 team also won the Busch Series race on the day prior to the Daytona 500… - Dale Jr. and the Bud team grabbed an emotional victory in this race in 2001. - Dale Jr’s Dale Earnhardt Inc. (DEI) teammate Michael Waltrip is aiming for his third-consecutive points-race win at Daytona. At the other ‘restrictor-plate’ superspeedway, Talladega, Dale Jr. has won four consecutive races. What: Pepsi 400 160 laps / 400 miles / Race #17 of 36-race Winston Cup Series Where: Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, Florida 2.5-mile superspeedway When: Saturday, July 5 / 7:30 p.m. Watch: NBC-TV (pre-race: 7:00 pm) --- This event marks the transition to the NBC/TNT segment of the season. The remaining Winston Cup races of the 2003 season will be seen on NBC or TNT. Bud Pole Qualifying: Bud Pole qualifying can be seen Thursday at 8:00 p.m. on TNT. 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) ----- Since Murray Walker's quotes in the last Budweiser Race Preview were so popular, we'll dip into that bucket a second time with more comments from his days as the British Formula One television commentator... Since the Daytona 500 ended prematurely due to rain, here are a few relevant quotes: "It's raining, and the track is wet." "With half the race gone, there is half the race still to go." At Monaco: "And there's a dry line appearing in the tunnel..." (long, silent pause) "Obvious really, as it has a roof." "I don't make mistakes. I make prophecies which immediately turn out to be wrong" -Budweiser