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2003 Season
2003 New England 300
| Race Information |
| Event: New England 300 |
| Date: July 20, 2003 |
Track: New Hampshire Int'l Speedway |
| Qualified: 3rd (lineup determined by owner's points as
qualifying was rained out) |
Finished: 6th |
| Status: Running |
Laps Completed:
300 of 300 |
| Points
Pos. Before/After Race:
3rd/3rd |
Points
Earned: 155 (w/ 5 bonus) |
| Money
Earned: $-- |
Summary and Related News |
Johnson wins, Dale Jr. 6th_7/20/03
No. 8 Budweiser Team leads early, finishes strong
Jimmie Johnson won Sunday’s New Hampshire 300, leading the final 36 laps for his
second victory of the 2003 season. Kevin Harvick finished second and points leader Matt
Kenseth finished third. Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the No. 8 Budweiser team recorded their
12th top-10 of the season with a sixth-place finish. This is a career-best finish at the
one-mile New Hampshire oval for the team (previous best was 9th at this event last year).
Dale Jr. led two laps early in the race, and maintained his third-place position in the
Winston Cup point standings. The Bud team has now finished seventh or better in 12 of the
last 17 races, and led 13 races for 574 laps in 2003. Johnson’s victory is the 400th
in Winston Cup history for Chevrolet.
The Key Moments: The Budweiser team started the afternoon from the third
starting position after Bud Pole qualifying was rained out and the field was set by the
Winston Cup point standings. It took Dale Jr. only three laps to take the lead, holding it
for two circuits before relinquishing the top spot to Jeff Gordon. The race became an odd,
topsy-turvy affair, with many of the top teams opting for a variety of fuel and tire
strategies during the 12 caution flag periods (including one caution when an unnamed
photographer dropped a lens onto the track). After running in the top-10 for the first 100
laps, pit strategy dropped Dale Jr. to 21st place on lap 102, then back to 28th position
after making another pit stop on lap 118. However, it was a steady climb forward for the
final 180 laps, as Dale Jr. reached 4th position before making his last stop for fuel on
lap 208. Dale Jr. gained 14 positions in the final 90 laps, earning his third sixth-place
finish of the year.
Dale Jr’s Quotes: “We had some good pit strategy today, so I
want to give credit to (car chief) Tony (Eury) Jr. and Pops (crew chief Tony Eury). They
made some good choices about when to pit, and we gained a lot of positions late in the
race. We had some damage to the nose of the car, so that made it hard to get it to turn
through the middle of the corners like we wanted. I think the owners of the track should
be credited with spending the money that was needed to re-pave the track. More tracks
should pay attention to this place, because we had some good, hard racing today, and I was
able to run a high line or down on the apron if I needed.
“I’m happy with sixth. It’s another good finish for us- the best we've ever
done here, that's for sure. We are doing a lot of things the right way this season, and I
think we’re where we need to be overall. We’re not chipping away at Matt
(Kenseth’s) lead in the points, but you gotta hand it to him and his team. We’re
having our best year ever, and we can only keep working hard and focusing on our own
effort. We can’t let it bother us if we keep knocking off top-five and top-10
finishes while Matt is doing the same.”
Best Radio Conversations
Dale Jr. seemed to be near many of the incidents that caused a series of yellow flags
early in the race. On lap 110, the cars of Rusty Wallace and Kyle Petty made contact right
in front of the Bud car.
Dale Jr: “I’m not sure what happened there. I hit him (Wallace)
in the rear because he just stopped for some reason. It was like he just paused for a
second coming off of (turn) two. If he’s mad, I’d apologize, but something
happened to him. It didn’t take much (for him to spin), because I barely touched
him.”
Less than 10 laps later, Dale Jr. had to make a dramatic, evasive move to avoid the
spinning car of Mike Wallace, who had made contact with Ward Burton.
Dale Jr: “Whooooo! Wallace made Ward realllly (mad). I think he ran
into Ward about every lap for three or four laps. Gawwwwd allllmighty, that was awesome. A
wreck waitin’ to happen…”
After making an extra pit stop for fuel and two tires on lap 118, Dale Jr. restarted
in 28th position.
Ty Norris (spotter): “Just be careful on the restart here,
brother…”
Dale Jr: “Careful?… What?!”
Norris: “There’s some (pause) inexperience in front of ya, so
just be careful.”
The last yellow flag of the afternoon fell on lap 234. The Bud team had enough fuel to
make it to the finish, while many of the leaders pulled to pit lane for fuel and tires.
Dale Jr. wasn’t happy with the handling of his car (the car was tight because of body
damage), but track position was more critical.
Dale Jr: “If we’re pittin,’ I’m plowin.’ If
we’re not, then we’ll be OK. We’ll hang on.”
Today’s Stats
Started: 3rd (his 8th top-five start of the 2003 season)
Finished: 6th (career-best finish at Loudon)
Points Position: 3rd (no change)
Best Pit Stop: Lap 118 / Stop #3 of 6 / Fuel, four tires / 14.24 seconds
Best Celeb Visitors: In Loudon, NH?! C’mon!
Want music? Films? Fun? Budweiser? Get it all at www.Budweiser.com. True.
-Budweiser
Earnhardt Jr. Budweiser New England 300 Preview_7/14/03
Dale Jr. Quotes for Loudon
“We were much better at Loudon last year, but they’ve resurfaced the turns, so
we’ll see how we respond to the changes. I think we’re a team that is equipped
to take advantage of changes: we’re smarter with our set-ups, so we should be
competitive and able to adapt to whatever the track throws us. I thought we had a real
shot to win this race last season, so that makes me more eager to see how we’re gonna
do when they throw the flag on Sunday.”
“We’re not dwelling on what happened (a crash late in Sunday’s race at
Chicagoland Speedway). We’re looking forward. We’re still having a career-best
year for this team, and Matt (Kenseth, point leader) is having some kind of an
all-time-best-ever season. We’re going to keep doing what we have been doing.”
Dale Jr. and the No. 8 Bud Team at Loudon
Previous Winston Cup Starts: 7
Best Start: 8th (Nov. 2001)
Best Finish: 9th (July, 2001)
This Race, Last Year: ST: 28th FIN: 23rd Led: 3 times for 43 laps
The No. 8 Budweiser team were in-place for a top-five finish
until Dale Jr. was taken out by Todd Bodine in a late-race crash.
What:
New England 300
300 laps / 317 miles / Race #19 of 36-race Winston Cup Series
Where:
New Hampshire International Speedway, Loudon. NH
1.058-mile oval
When:
Sunday, July 20 / 2:00 p.m.
Watch:
NBC-TV (pre-race: 1:30 pm)
Bud Pole Qualifying:
Bud Pole qualifying can be seen Friday at 3:00 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)
----
Your opponent, in the end, is never really the player on the other side of the net, or the
swimmer in the next lane, or the team on the other side of the field, or even the bar you
must high-jump. Your opponent is yourself, your negative internal voices, your level of
determination.
--Grace Lichtenstein American writer
-Budweiser |
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