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2003 Season
2003 Pennsylvania 500
| Race Information |
| Event: Pennsylvania 500 |
| Date: July 27, 2003 |
Track: Pocono Raceway |
| Qualified: 18th |
Finished: 3rd |
| Status: Running |
Laps Completed:
200 of 200 |
| Points
Pos. Before/After Race:
3rd/2nd |
Points
Earned: 170 (w/ 5 bonus) |
| Money
Earned: $131,037 |
Summary and Related News |
Newman wins at Pocono, Dale Jr.
third_7/27/03
Budweiser team regains second place in Winston Cup point
standings
Ryan Newman won his league-leading fourth race of 2003, taking the Pennsylvania 500 at
Pocono. Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the No. 8 Budweiser team led the race for 25 laps, and
finished third. It is the sixth top-three finish of the season for Dale Jr. and the Bud
team. The strong finish, plus five bonus points for leading the race, propelled Dale Jr.
back into second position in the NASCAR Winston Cup standings. With 16 races remaining in
2003, Dale Jr. needs only three additional top-10 finishes to match his career season-best
of 16 (2002).
The Key Moments: Starting 18th, Dale Jr. slowly moved his way through the
field, taking advantage of pit strategy to move into the top-10 on lap 51. The day took a
bizarre twist on lap 74, when the Budweiser car suffered damage to the right rear quarter
panel while avoiding a crash. Rather than risk a cut tire from the bent sheet metal, the
team opted to make an unscheduled pit stop on lap 76 to change tires and make repairs.
Even though the stop dropped the No. 8 car to 32nd position, the misfortune turned into
good fortune when much of the field made pit stops while Dale Jr. and teammate Michael
Waltrip remained on track until making pit stops on lap 117. A yellow flag flew on lap 118
allowed the Dale Earnhardt Inc. duo to remain in first and second position. The Bud car
took the lead on lap 130, then pulled away from the field by nearly five seconds before
making a final pit stop on lap 154. Taking advantage of several late-race yellow flag
periods, the Bud car made it the remaining laps without stopping again for fuel, finishing
behind Newman and Kurt Busch.
Dale Jr. Quotes: “Hey – alright, man. It’s another great
day for the Bud guys, a really strong day in the points. We were good all day, the car was
fast, and we needed good pit strategy to get ourselves up near the front. I don’t
know if we’ve ever been better in the pits and on making the right calls to come in
when we did. Track position is everything: once we got out ahead of the pack in clear air,
it was easy to pull away. The last 50 laps or so, once Newman got out ahead of me, my car
didn’t handle well enough to get past him.”
“We really needed those late yellow flags to make it to the end on fuel. They told me
we were a gallon short at first, then we got a yellow flag (on lap 166) and that meant we
were half-a-gallon short, but we knew we had to take a chance and stay out. Track position
was key, and then when the 18 (Bobby Labonte) blew up big-time, that gave us enough laps
under yellow to put us on the positive side of the fuel question. I kept asking the guys
if they were sure on the fuel mileage, because we seem to always end up on the wrong end
of that deal. I still don’t know if anyone has figured out how to “save
fuel.” I hate it when they tell me that because I have no idea how to do that, ya
know? I just kind of rode around out there, coasting when I could. Heck, I dunno if that
helped or not, but the yellow flags saved us.”
Best Radio Conversations
The radio chatter was sparse until well past the halfway point of the race.
Tony Eury Jr. (car chief): “OK, we look good here. The 15 car
(Waltrip) and us are probably the only two that can make it on only one more stop.”
Dale Jr: “Yeah, but I gotta problem here. I can’t mash on the
brakes because there’s fluid on the floorboard. It’s all over my shoes.”
(The fluids were from a spill inside the car earlier in the weekend.)
Tony Jr: “You’re doing great though. Just wipe your shoes on
the (leg) brace.”
Dale Jr: “No way. I’m trapped in here, I can’t do that,
and I can’t reach my hand down to wipe it off. That’s how trapped I am in
here.”
The cloudy day began to look a little brighter when a crash involving Jeff Gordon
brought out a yellow flag, and cemented the Bud team’s place at the front of the
field.
Dale Jr: “OK, looks like some points gained for Junebug (his
nickname) here…”
Tony Jr: “It’s just an opportunity. We still gotta take
advantage of it.”
Dale Jr: “The car’s great, but I’m giving up a little time
in the tunnel turn (turn two). Man, I was amazing in that corner earlier today. I was the
best through there, but now I’m a mid-pack car in the tunnel turn. But, if I hit the
lap just right, I’m good everywhere else.”
As the laps wound down, the team decided to stay on the track, gambling that there
would be enough yellow flag laps to finish the race without stopping again.
Tony Jr: (on lap 167) “You’re about 3/4 of a lap short right
now. But we’ll be OK if we get some more caution laps.”
Dale Jr: “Well, then we have until lap 199 to decide if we need to
pit.”
Tony Jr: “Do what you can to save fuel. Don’t scrub your tires
too much so you don’t dump any fuel out of the overflow.”
Dale Jr: “C’mon now! Are you sure, or are you guys just
paranoid?”
Tony Jr: “We’ll see…”
Dale Jr: “I’m gonna be short on fuel, I just feel it. It looks
like the rest of the field stopped and we’ve gotta stay out and try to make it to
beat all of those guys… How was my pace there?”
Tony Jr: “Good. You were only a touch slower.”
Dale Jr: “Yeah, I wanted to go slower (to save fuel) without having
to go a lot slower. Ya feelin’ me?!”
Tony Jr: “Yeah, I’m feelin’ ya. But, this caution should
save us enough that you can really race now. I’ll let ya know before we go
green…”
Today’s Stats
Started: 18th
Finished: 3rd
Led: Once for 25 laps
Points: 2nd (gained one position)
Best Pit Stop: Stop number one of six / Lap 35 / Four tires and fuel/ 13.45 seconds
Nothing’s better than a cold Bud at the end of a long day. Unless you drink one while
logging in to www.Budweiser.com for all of the latest Dale Jr. news, games, music, short
films and more! True.
-Budweiser
Earnhardt Jr. Budweiser Pennsylvania 500 Preview_7/21/03
Dale Jr. Quotes for Pocono
“This was one of the places where I used to dread. We didn’t have a handle on
making the car consistently fast, but those days are long gone. We’ve been good the
last several visits, other than being taken out last year (in a lap one crash with Steve
Park). We had a really strong car in the race last month, and at times I think we were the
best out there. It’s the same story: track position is critical. If you can get in
front, you can set sail in the clean air. If you're in traffic, you're in trouble."
“I’m happy about sixth at Loudon. That was our best finish there, and we need to
keep up the consistent pace. We’ve finished second at Pocono, so we’ll need to
win the thing to beat our previous best.”
Dale Jr. and the No. 8 Bud Team at Pocono
Previous Winston Cup Starts: 7
Best Start: 5th (June, 2003)
Best Finish: 2nd (July, 2001)
This Race, Last Year: ST: 11th / FIN: 37th
Dale Jr. was swept into a horrific-looking accident on the first lap of this race last
season. Rusty Wallace and Steve Park made contact, sending Park across the track, and then
across the front of the Budweiser car, sending both across the infield grass before
crashing into the inside guardrail.
In the most recent event at Pocono, seemingly only a few days ago (mid-June actually),
Dale Jr. led 22 laps and finished fourth.
What:
Pennsylvania 500
200 laps / 500 miles / Race #20 of 36-race Winston Cup Series
Where:
Pocono Raceway, Long Pond, PA
2.5-mile scalene triangle
When:
Sunday, July 27 / 1:00 p.m.
Watch:
TNT-TV (pre-race: 12:30 pm)
Bud Pole Qualifying:
Bud Pole qualifying can be seen Friday at 3:00 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)
-Budweiser |
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