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2003 Season
2003 Subway 500
| Race Information |
| Event: Subway 500 |
| Date: October 19, 2003 |
Track: Martinsville Speedway |
| Qualified: 3rd |
Finished: 4th |
| Status: Running |
Laps Completed:
500 of 500 |
| Points
Pos. Before/After Race:
3rd/3rd |
Points
Earned: 165 (w/ 5 bonus) |
| Money
Earned: $115,937 |
Summary and Related News |
Jeff Gordon sweeps Martinsville, Dale
Jr. grabs another top-five_10/19/03
No. 8 Budweiser Team Leads 61 Laps
Jeff Gordon won the Subway 500 Sunday at Martinsville Speedway, giving him a sweep of both
races and both Bud Poles this season at the half-mile Virginia oval. Jimmie Johnson was
second, followed by Tony Stewart. Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the No. 8 Budweiser team finished
fourth, giving them four consecutive top-five finishes at Martinsville. Dale Jr. led the
race twice for 61 laps, and ran among the top three positions for the vast majority of the
500-lap grind. The team chose to make a pit stop on lap 405 to change tires, dropping them
to 12th place. A series of yellow flag laps impeded their progress back to the front of
the field in the final 95 laps. This is a career-best 12th top-five finish of the season
for Dale Jr. and the Bud team. They have also scored 19 top-10 finishes, marking their
most consistent season yet since joining the Winston Cup series full-time in 2000. Dale
Jr. has now led a total of 920 laps this season, and has led in seven consecutive races.
The Key Moments: Dale Jr. started third, and ran among the top-three for
the first 107 laps. After a pit stop, they dropped to eighth, but needed less than 20 laps
to regain the top-five. Dale Jr. took the lead for the first time on lap 148, holding the
top spot until the team’s next pit stop on lap 180. While running in second place on
lap 230, a yellow flag closed the pit lane, which re-opened after the top-three cars had
passed the entrance to pit lane. With older tires, Dale Jr. managed to take the lead again
on lap 246, holding off the charge of Tony Stewart and Jeff Burton. The red Bud car
remained in the top three until a pit stop on lap 405. While the remainder of the top-10
remained on the track, the Bud team opted to pit for fresh tires, dropping them to 12th
position for the restart that came nearly 25 laps later. With less than 75 laps remaining,
Dale Jr. gouged and nudged his way to a fourth place finish.
Dale Jr. Quotes: “We do well here, and I like this track, but we
just can’t figure how to win at this place. We’ve been in the top-five four
straight times and the top-10 five races in a row here, but we can’t seem to get that
final little push to win. We were running second when we decided to make the last pit stop
(lap 405) because we had a terrible set of tires. There was no way were going to be able
to stay up there or have any chance to win unless we came in and took that junk set off.
It was the only chance we had. Then, we had a hard time getting through lapped traffic and
didn’t have enough green flag laps to come back. Whoo-- that was some good, hard
racing with Ryan Newman and Tony (Stewart). I was much quicker than Ryan, and I must have
hit him 50 times, and he just held his ground. Once I was able to get by him, I was trying
to catch up to Tony, but we just didn’t have enough laps. That’s fun, hard,
tough racin’. ”
About not pitting on lap 230: “We had no chance. NASCAR needs to get
these rules figured out. The drivers are all confused, and I think the officials were
confused there too. Since they have all these new yellow-flag rules since Dover,
they’ve told us the pits would be closed the first time by under yellow, but for some
reason, they waited until the first three cars went past and then opened the pits. We were
able to get into the lead on the restart, but I was irate. That could have cost us the
race there. My guys work too hard to let a call like that take us out of contention for
the win. I know it hurt the 97 (Kurt Busch) and the 29 (Kevin Harvick) too.”
Best Radio Conversations
Who says race drivers don’t have rhythm?
Dale Jr.: (during Friday’s practice session, following a minor
change to the rev-limiter chip in the ignition system of the Bud car) “Go back to the
other chip. I need that chip to stay the same. I need to hit the chip every lap, every
corner, so I can be exact. I need to hit it each time so I know when and where I need to
get off the gas.. If it doesn’t do that every time I can’t be consistent every
lap…”
During a yellow flag on lap 136, running in second place…
Dale Jr.: “I’m trying to get my five (NASCAR awards five bonus
points for leading the race), then I’m gonna take it easy. It’s real tempting to
not kick somebody’s (butt) out here. I’m getting some bumps and scratches on
this car. It’ll have a real story to tell after the race…”
During a yellow flag on lap 176…
Dale Jr: “Do you think the car handles like it does because the (air
pressure in) the front (tires) builds faster than the rears?
Tony Eury Jr. (car chief): “Maybe we’ll drop the pressure in
the fronts. We’ll see what happens…”
Dale Jr.: “I don’t wanna see what happens. I just wanna
win…”
Before the restart on lap 427 after making a stop to change four tires, dropping from
second to 12th…
Dale Jr.: “I hope this set of tires is better than that last
set.…”
Tony Jr: “10-4. This is the best set in the garage.”
Dale Jr.: “I’m gonna need every bit…”
Tony Jr: “Don’t worry about the brakes or anything. Just let it
eat… you’ll have 75 laps to go…”
Today’s Stats
Started: 3rd (16th Top-10 start / 8th top-three start of 2003)
Finished: 4th (12th Top-Five finish of 2003)
Points: 3rd (no change)
Laps Led: Two times for 61 laps
Best Pit Stop: Stop 4 of 6 / lap 275 / four tires & fuel / 13.76 seconds
Inside Winston Cup: Look for Dale Jr. in ‘the Hot Seat’ on Monday night’s
edition of “Inside Winston Cup” on Speed Channel.
Reality: The unblinking eye of MTV will follow Dale Jr. through the
Atlanta race weekend for an upcoming episode of “Diary,” the
reality/behind-the-scenes/week-in-the-life-of-a-celebrity documentary series… Also,
mark your calendar with a Sharpie for Tuesday evening, Oct. 28, when VH-1 debuts
“All-Access; NASCAR,” a reality/behind-the-scenes/weekend-in-the-life-of two
drivers and a visiting rock-band documentary… (Dale Jr., Tony Stewart and 3 Doors
Down…)
“This is NASCAR. When has reality ever had anything to do with it?”
Darrell Waltrip, 3-time Winston Cup champion, pundit, Fox-TV analyst
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 Subway 500
Preview_10/13/03
Dale Jr. Quotes for Martinsville:
“The race here earlier this year was a big one for this team. We led the most laps,
but I think it was more important how we recovered from what could have been a disaster.
(The Bud car was nearly taken out by a lapped car on a restart with less than 60 laps
remaining.) We didn’t let it get us down, we hung together as a team and fought back
to third place. We had fun leading for much of the day, but I think the finish really sent
a message that we were a team that was going to be in the championship hunt all season. It
was big day in the growth of this team. People always expect this team to dominate at the
superspeedways, but I think our short track results speak pretty loudly.”
Dale Jr. and the No. 8 Bud Team at Martinsville
Previous Winston Cup Starts: 7
Best Start: 2nd (April, 2003 and Oct. 2001)
Best Finish: 3rd (April, 2003)
This Race, Last Year: ST: 10th / FIN: 4th
The Bud team has been remarkably consistent at the small Martinsville oval. They have
recorded three consecutive top-five finishes, and four consecutive top-10 starts. In the
race earlier this season at Martinsville, Dale Jr. led the most laps (195) and finished
third.
At tracks of less than one mile in length, Dale Jr. and the Bud team have eight top-five
finishes in the last 13 Winston Cup races, more than any other team or driver. The streak
also includes a top-10 finish at Bristol in August. The No. 8 car was in third place at
Richmond (.75-mile oval) in September when a flat tire knocked them out of contention with
less than 50 laps remaining.
Game Time: Subway 500
Martinsville Speedway, Martinsville, Va.
Half-mile oval, 500 laps, 250 miles
Sunday, October 19, 2003
TV: NBC-TV, 12:00 pm (pre-race) / 12:30 pm race start (All Times:
Eastern)
Radio: Motor Racing Network (MRN), or on a radio station or XM Radio near
you.
Bud Pole Qualifying: Bud Pole Qualifying can be seen live Friday
afternoon at 3:00 pm on the Speed Channel.
"When I get real bored, I like to drive downtown and
get a great parking spot, then sit in my car and count how many people ask me if I'm
leaving."
--Steven Wright, American comic
-Budweiser |
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