Bobby Labonte wins, Dale Jr. 24th_11/21/03
 No. 8 Budweiser Team ‘Unofficial’ Pit Crew
Champions
Bobby Labonte won Sunday’s Ford 400 at Miami-Homestead Speedway, taking the lead on
the final lap of the season when the dominant car of Bill Elliott slowed with a cut tire.
Kevin Harvick finished second while Jimmie Johnson finished third. The No. 8 Budweiser
team and driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished the 2003 season with a disappointing day,
finishing 24th, but locked-up a career-best third place finish in the Winston Cup point
standings. Although NASCAR will not make the results official for several days, the No. 8
Bud team secured the 2003 McDonald’s Drive-Thru Pit Crew Championship. The team
entered the day tied for the lead in the pit crew competition with their Dale Earnhardt
Inc. teammates on the No. 15 NAPA team, who dropped out of today’s race on lap 72.
The pit crew championship is worth $200,000 in prize money. In addition, the No. 8 team
won the weekly pit competition five times this year for an additional $100,000.
The Key Moments: Dale Jr. started 38th, then gradually worked his way
through traffic on the new high-banked Homestead surface. He first cracked the top-20 on
lap 36, then clawed as high as 13th position on lap 47 before beginning to experience tire
and handling problems with the Budweiser car. The team struggled all afternoon to get the
car to turn efficiently into the corners, causing the car to push, and damaging the left
front tire during each run. Dale Jr. was as high as 12th position on lap 182 (of 267)
before he was forced to make an unscheduled pit stop on lap 186, dropping two laps behind
the leaders. After dropping as low as 30th, Dale Jr, managed to hang on for the remaining
laps to finish 24th.
 Dale Jr. Quotes:
“It feels like the last day of school. I’m goin’ home to celebrate. We were
never very good today, but third-place in points is something I’m really proud of. It
shows what a great season we had, how much we improved as a team and how we were able to
run competitively week-after-week, a lot more consistent than before. We wanted to win the
championship, but third is something we can really build on.”
“It’s a great track but we never hit on the set-up. We tore up the left-front
tire every time. We could only do about 45 laps before the left front would start coming
apart, and that’s how we lost the two laps. We had a top-10 car as far as speed, but
we made that one unscheduled stop and it just killed us…. (runs off to douse 2003
Winston Cup champion Matt Kenseth with a bottle of orange Powerade)… It’s a fun
track, and it produced some wild moments out there. It was almost a big wreck every
lap…”
Crew Chief Tony Eury Sr. (already looking ahead to 2004): “Tell ya
what boys, we’ve got some testing to do…”
Best Radio Conversations
The struggle with an evil machine didn’t stop an occasional moment of levity
during the race…
Dale Jr: (on lap 124, during a yellow-flag period) “Where’s
Matt (Kenseth) been all day?”
Tony Eury Jr. (car chief): “He blew up on lap 28…”
Ty Norris (spotter): “They won the championship just like you did in
the Busch Series. They clinched and then came here (to Homestead) and blew up. But, he
didn’t jump out of the car and dive into his crew’s arms, so you still win on
style points…”
Dale Jr: (returning to the topic of his ill-handling car) “Are you
guys gonna build me a ramp so I can shoot out of here backwards when I spin out? It’s
like we’re one adjustment away, and then POW! – it goes away. It’s not a
big push – but it’s alllll the waaaaay around the corner…”
After making an unscheduled stop to replace disintegrating tires…
Dale Jr: “I’m sorry guys. It felt really bad…”
Tony Jr: “You’re OK. You’re the one that knows how it
feels. It’s torn up the left front every time…”
Dale Jr: “I wanna know what y’all are thinking on these
changes…”
Tony Jr: “We’re two laps down and we can only do 45 laps
without tearing up these tires. You’re gonna need that ramp if we don’t keep
giving you tires. I don’t wanna see you crash into the wall.”
Dale Jr: “I don’t wanna hit the wall either, but we have a car
that coulda finished in the top-10 today…What I’m seeing in the car and what
you’re seeing on the pit box – we’ve got a difference of opinion about
what’s happening.”
Tony Eury Sr. (crew chief): “Dale Jr., we’re doin’ the
best we can to help the car…”
Dale Jr: “How bad are the tires?”
Tony Jr: “Bad. There’s chunks as big as 50-cent pieces all the
way around the tire…”
Dale Jr: (pause) “That’s bad…”
Tony Jr: “We’re gonna keep racing like we’re racing and
get all the spots we can get. We’ll be fine…”
Today’s Stats
Started: 38th
Finished: 24th
Points: 3rd place (no change)
Money: $87,117
Best Pit Stop: Stop 1 of 9 / lap 5 / four tires & fuel / 13.44 seconds
Dale Jr. in the Budweiser Hot Seat on ESPN Sportscenter: Watch Dale Jr.
as he sits in the Budweiser Hot Seat on ESPN Sportscenter this Wednesday. The segment will
be seen on Sportscenter at 6pm (ET), 11pm, 1am (Thu. AM) and the seemingly endless replays
throughout Thursday morning.
Celeb Sightings: The highlight of Dale Jr’s day was a surprise,
pre-race meeting with his favorite boxer, Arturo “Thunder” Gatti, former world
lightweight and welterweight boxing champion. Gatti, also known as ‘the human
highlight film,’ watched much of the race from the Budweiser pit area.
2003 in the Rearview:
Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the No. 8 team had the best season of their brief Winston Cup
career in 2003. We will have a complete statistical recap later this week, but here is a
thumbnail of the team’s numbers this year:
Race Victories: 2 (Talladega/April, Phoenix/November)
(Career Wins: 9) (Fourth consecutive multi-victory season)
Points Finish: 3rd (career best, previous best: 8th, 2001)
Money Won: $4,923,497*
(*does not include post-season awards or points money)
Top-Three Finishes: 10 (career best, previous best: 8, 2001)
Top-Five Finishes: 13 (career best, previous best: 11, 2002)
Top-10 Finishes: 21 (career best, previous best: 16, 2001)
Races Led: 24 (career best, previous best: 22, 2002)
Laps Led: 1046
Most Laps Led: 4 races (ties career best, 2001)
Top-10 Starts: 17
Average Start: 12.47 (career best, previous best: 13th, 2002)
Average Finish: 12.69 (career best, previous best: 15th, 2001)
Laps Completed: 10,605 (career best, previous best: 10347 laps, 2002)
“Other” Victories: 2003 Budweiser Shootout at Daytona
Twin-125 Qualifier, Daytona
League-Leading Awards: Most Races Led / Most Leader Bonus Points tied
w/J. Gordon)
2003 McDonald’s Pit Crew Drive-Thru Award
$200,000 Season Champion Bonus
5-time race champions: $100,000 Bonus
MBNA Mid-Race Leader Award: 5 times (tied w/T. Stewart)
Goodyear Fastest Lap Award: 8 times
(In 2003, Dale Jr. also won three races in three starts with the Chance 2 Busch Series
team he co-owns.)
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 Ford 400
Preview_11/10/03
Dale Jr. Quotes for Homestead:
“It’s kinda cool that everyone goes into the weekend with a completely unknown
set-up for the new configuration. I was there a few weeks ago, but riding around in a
rental car offers no advantage, other than I’ve seen the track and have a sense of it
looks like. This team has been fast all season, so I think it gives us a slight advantage
this week, being able to adjust or develop a set-up that will be fast. Qualifying and
track position will be critical. No matter how good the new track will become, it will be
like any new track this weekend: one groove only and very, very hard to pass…”
“No matter what happens Sunday, it has been a great year for this team. I’m
really proud of how far we’ve come and how many ‘career best’ marks
we’ve already set this season. To end the year with momentum and confidence makes the
short off-season a more pleasant time, and it gives us a launch toward the ’04
season. We’re going to do all we can to grab second place in the points by the time
the race ends, so we’re completely focused.”
Dale Jr. and the No. 8 Bud Team at Homestead
Previous Winston Cup Starts: 3
Best Start: 2nd (2002)
Best Finish: 13th (2000)
This Race, Last Year: ST: 2nd / FIN: 21st / Led 46 laps
--- Dale Jr. dominated the early stages of the race at Homestead last year, leading twice
for 46 laps. A broken valve spring damaged any chance of victory, but despite snail-like
speeds on the straights, the team managed to hang-on for a 21st-place finish.
2003 Career-Best Season Records for No. 8 Budweiser Team
With one race remaining, the No. 8 Bud team and Dale Jr. have already set a series of
career-best records since joining the Winston Cup tour full-time in 2000…
| Points Finish: |
Currently third (previous best was 8th in 2001) |
| Top-Three Finishes: |
10 |
| Top-Five Finishes: |
13 |
| Top-10 Finishes: |
21 |
| Races Led: |
24 |
Race Time:
Ford 400
Miami-Homestead Speedway, Homestead, FL
1.5-mile oval, 267 laps, 400.5 miles
Sunday, November 16, 2003
TV: NBC-TV, 12:30 pm (pre-race) / 1:00 pm race start (All Times: Eastern)
Radio: Motor Racing Network (MRN), or on a radio station or XM Radio near
you.
Bud Pole Qualifying: You can tune in live for Bud Pole qualifying Friday
at 1:30 pm (note slightly earlier-than-usual start time) on the Speed Channel.
"We didn't lose the game, we just ran out of
time..."
Vince Lombardi
-Budweiser |
