<DJC> 2003 Race Report

Race Information
Event: UAW-GM Quality 500
Date: October 11, 2003	Track: Lowe's Motor Speedway
Qualified: 11th	Finished: 9th
Status: Running	Laps Completed: 334 of 334
Points Pos. Before/After Race: 3rd/3rd	Points Earned: 143 (w/ 5 bonus)
Money Earned: $98,217
Summary and Related News
Tony Stewart wins at Charlotte, Dale Jr. ninth_10/11/03 No. 8 Budweiser Team Grabs 18th Top-10 of 2003 Tony Stewart passed Ryan Newman in the closing laps to win Saturday night’s UAW-GM 500 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway near Charlotte, NC. Newman finished second, followed by Jimmie Johnson in third. The No. 8 Budweiser team with driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished ninth. They have now recorded a team-record 18 top-10 finishes with five races remaining in the season. Earning five bonus points for leading the race, Dale Jr. remained in third place in the Winston Cup point standings, behind Matt Kenseth and Kevin Harvick. The Key Moments: Dale Jr. started from the 11th position, and ran among the top-10 for the vast majority of the 334-lap event. The No. 8 Budweiser car led two laps mid-race when the team was able to stretch their fuel mileage further than the other top competitors. Several aggressive pit stops gained the team positions in the final half of the race, but the red No. 8 car gradually dropped from fourth place to ninth in the final 120 laps. Dale Jr. Quotes: “Ninth won’t win any awards. I would have liked to have finished in the top-five because I think we had a car that could run with the top five when it was handling like it should. After the last two pit stops, the car was loose, and I couldn’t get on the gas like I wanted. I just wasn’t comfortable with the car for the last 100 miles or so…” “This is a bumpy track, and we fought all night with the front of the car hitting the ground over the bumps, especially near the (cross-over) gate in turn one. It would upset the car enough that the rear brakes would lock. The rear tires were coming off the ground, and that was enough to lock ‘em up. We could run with anybody in turns three and four, but I was never able to get a lot of torque coming off the turns to be really fast going down the straights. I had to hit it perfect in the corners to have a good lap. Look at this (points to the bottom of his right shoe), I darn near bent this damn shoe I was pushing the pedal so hard…” Best Radio Conversations During the pace laps, before the race began… Ty Norris: (spotter): “Hey Junior, do you see your pit? It’s right there to your left…” Dale Jr.: (laughing) “I see it. It’s where all them idiots are standing on the wall… (silence) Hey now- y’all don’t take it so personal! I was joking…” The race included a series of long green-flag segments, leading to long moments of silence on the radio… Dale Jr.: “Well… anybody? How’s my lap times? Somebody?” Tony Jr: “That last lap was great…” Dale Jr.: (sarcasric) “Hey, thanks for letting me know that was a great lap.” Tony Jr: “And that one there was even better…” Under a yellow flag on lap 206, Dale Jr. received an unexpected response… Dale Jr.: “I don’t know what it is about this place. This track is the hardest to concentrate when the field gets spread out and I’m running by myself out there. I start to wonder what’s going on in the condos or what’s happenin’ in the pits….” Teresa Earnhardt (team owner, answering on the radio from her track-side condo in turn one): “Hey, we’re up here watching ya!” Dale Jr.: (sounding surprised) “Hey! Are ya havin’ a good time?” Teresa: “Just watching you! That exit from the pits was really good that time.” Dale Jr: “Hey, I’m wheelin’ it!” Today’s Stats Started: 11th Finished: 9th Points: 3rd (no change) Laps Led: Once for two laps Best Pit Stop: Stop 6 of 6 / lap 296 / four tires & fuel / 13.87 seconds Today’s Best Celebrity Guests: Carmen Electra, R&B singer Monica and former Olympic gold-medalist Bruce Jenner. 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! Your race team. Your beer. True. -Budweiser Earnhardt Jr. Budweiser UAW-GM Quality 500 Preview_10/6/03 Dale Jr. Quotes for Charlotte: “I’m like almost every driver and crew member out there: we love racing at Charlotte because it’s near home. Plus, I love the atmosphere and the track itself. We’re always fast there, always a contender even if the numbers don’t show it. We had a horrible finish in the spring (the rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600 in May), but we were in second place and coming up fast on Bobby (Labonte, the race leader) when we spun, so it’s not like we rode around at the back all day. Making this a Saturday night race is another plus. Prime time, network TV... The lights give it an extra sense of speed, and a lot of us can plan to spend a rare Sunday off.” “We’re looking at closing out the year strong. We can still move up in the points, but we can also fall back if we don’t keep up the focus and intensity. We’re having a great year, and I think we’re going to finish strong. If we had the number of points we have now at this time last year, we would have been only one point out of the lead. That doesn’t mean much, but it does help keep us focused on how we’ve improved and been a much better team this season.” Dale Jr. and the No. 8 Bud Team at Charlotte Previous Winston Cup Starts: 8 Best Start: 1st (May, 2000 Bud Pole winner) Best Finish: 4th (May, 2000) This Race, Last Year: ST: 13th / FIN: 9th / Led: 6 laps -- Dale Jr. made his first career Winston Cup start at Lowe's Motor Speedway in May,1999. He won his first career Winston Cup Bud Pole here in May, 2000. He was the first rookie driver to win The Winston, also at the Charlotte-area track, in 2000... Game Time: UAW-GM 500 Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Concord, NC 1.5-mile oval, 334 laps, 500 miles Saturday night, October 5, 2003 TV: NBC-TV, 7:00 pm (pre-race) / 7:30 pm race start (All Times: Eastern) Radio: Performance Racing Network (PRN) on a radio station or XM Radio near you. Bud Pole Qualifying: As usual, qualifying at Charlotte is anything but usual. You can tune in for Bud Pole qualifying Thursday evening at 7 pm on the Speed Channel. They Say It’s Your Birthday: Tip a cold Bud in honor of Dale Jr., who turns 29 this Friday, Oct. 10. "Famous remarks are very seldom quoted correctly." "No Mean City" (1944) / author Simeon Strunsky (1879 - 1948) "The ones b###hing the most about the rules or other cars are usually the guys that need to go back and work harder on their own car..." Dale Earnhardt Jr., Daytona, February 2003 -Budweiser