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2004 Season
2004 Aaron's 499
| Race Information |
| Event: Aaron's 499 |
| Date: April 25, 2004 |
Track: Talladega Superspeedway |
| Started: 3rd |
Finished: 2nd |
| Status: Running |
Laps Completed:
188 of 188 |
| Points
Pos. Before/After Race:
1st/1st |
Points
Earned: 180 (w/ 10 bonus) |
| Money
Earned: $241,433 |
Summary and Related News |
Budweiser team finishes second at
Talladega_4/25/04
Dale Jr. strengthens points lead with 95-point edge over
Jimmie Johnson
Jeff Gordon beat Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the No. 8 Budweiser team by inches, keeping a nose
ahead of the Budweiser Chevy when a yellow flag flew three laps shy of the finish to
Sunday’s Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway. The race ended under caution,
giving Gordon his first win of the season, and handing Dale Jr. his sixth straight top-two
finish at Talladega. The Bud team led 11 times for 57 laps en route to its series-leading
sixth (and third consecutive) top-five. There were 55 lead changes among 23 drivers, and a
track-record 11 cautions for 55 laps. Dale Jr. now holds a 94-point advantage over Jimmie
Johnson in the NEXTEL Cup championship standings.
Key Moments: Starting third, Dale Jr. fought among the leaders for most
of the day in a cauldron of two- and three-wide racing. The red No. 8 Chevy needed only
minor adjustments throughout the afternoon, and a gas-and-go pit stop on lap 150 gave Dale
Jr. enough fuel to make it to the finish. The Bud car was in front on a lap 179-restart
but lost the lead on lap 183 in a door-to-door duel with Gordon. Dale Jr. fought back and
was moving in for a pass for the lead on lap 184 when Brian Vickers’ spin brought out
the 11th caution and froze the field. NASCAR reviewed the tapes and ruled that Gordon was
ahead of the Bud car when the caution came out. The final four laps were run under the tow
of the pace car.
Dale Jr. Quotes: “Man, what a wild race. It was a lot of fun. I love
running this race track, and it was a good points day for us. The car was great at the
start, I worked with my teammate (Michael Waltrip) and the RCR (Richard Childress Racing)
cars, and we just had a lot of fun. There at the end, I was leading, got shoved back, took
the lead again, and then I looked back in the mirror and saw more guys coming. At the end,
I was on the outside and I thought I was ahead of Jeff when the caution came out, but
NASCAR had a different opinion. That’s cool. We obviously would have liked to have
the win, but NASCAR has a tough decision, and they ruled it the way they saw it. I’m
just real pleased with my race team. We weren’t too confident in this car. I’m
not really sure why we brought it, but it turned out to be better than I
anticipated.”
On why he thought he had the lead:
“I had a car-length on (Gordon) when I passed the caution light, and the light
wasn’t on. But you go on when the flag was waved, and I have no idea when that was.
So we’ll go with their decision. We’re not going to gripe and moan. It’s a
tough call. That’s the way it is.”
On getting drafting help from brother Kerry Earnhardt, who was driving Richard
Childress’ No. 33 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet:
“Man, that was awesome. I was caught in the middle at one point, and it looked like I
was going to get hung out to dry (in the draft), and all of a sudden I see this dang fish
come up through the middle and give me a push. I think he had a lot of fun. Unfortunately,
he was a victim in an accident, but he has a lot to be happy about. He showed a lot of
promise, and I’m proud of him.”
On his reaction to the fans voicing their displeasure at the end of the race by
throwing beer onto the race track:
“I guess you could look at it as a form of expression (laughing). We can only
speculate why they did that, but I’m sure each little beer can had its own message to
it. Luckily it wasn’t seat cushions (which fans threw on the track at Daytona in
2001). Those (cushions) are a lot harder for your car to climb over. And if you noticed,
there wasn’t anyone throwing their Budweiser away! All I saw was Coors. What’s
that tell ya? I guess those last few swallows of a Coors really ain’t that
good.”
Best Radio Conversations:
Under a yellow flag period on lap 68…
Stevie Reeves (spotter): “The 20 (Tony Stewart) was lookin’ for
ya out there. He was looking to help you get in line…”
Dale Jr.: “Tell him I don’t wanna be in line. I wanna have
fun.”
Later during the same yellow flag period:
Dale Jr: “Can I get on the radio with (teammate) Michael (Waltrip)?
I couldn’t tell what he wanted me to do. I’ll run three-wide all day long –
especially up there against the wall. That’s fun and exciting, man. I love it. But,
find out if Michael needs me to help him in the low lane… up high?… 3- wide? I
couldn’t tell by his body language or how we was driving.”
Reeves: “He says his car is really fast everywhere.”
Dale Jr: “OK. Can he talk to me on his radio? Tell him to talk to me
all he wants. Lemme know where he wants to run.”
Under the yellow flag on lap 95…
Dale Jr: “Man, these fans are crazy! I think there’s a fight
near the flag stand… It’s good to see ‘em enjoyin’ themselves. I love
it. These fans are up the whole damn race… I love the crowd here. I feed off it and
race like hell.”
During another yellow flag on lap 147…
Dale Jr.: “I’m in bad need of a tear-off (on the windshield). I
think Tony (Stewart) or the 01 (Joe Nemechek) is dropping grease or something. I
couldn’t see anything there – I was just trying to push an orange blur past the
blue blur.”
Jon Dennison (engine tuner): “Save all the fuel you can…”
Dale Jr. (dejected): “Oh… nice…
Tony Eury Jr. (car chief): “We’ll be OK. Everybody’s gonna
come in and do a splash of gas before green…”
Dale Jr: “So we’ll be OK?”
Tony Jr: “Yeah, we’ll be good to go.”
Under yet another yellow flag period, lap 167, while leading the race:
Dale Jr: “Y’all nervous?”
Tony Jr: “Nope.”
Dale Jr: “Y’all look nervous.”
Tony Jr.: “Nope. You’ll have 19 laps to go.”
Dale Jr: “How about Jimmie (Johnson). I figured if he wanted to win
really bad, we’ll see how he hangs onto it when he’s sideways in the corners. He
must want it pretty bad because he hung onto it…
After the race-ending yellow-flag, after NASCAR ruled Jeff Gordon was inches ahead of
Dale Jr. when the caution came out, giving Gordon the victory.
Dale Jr.: “Listen to me guys, we know we were leading when that
(caution) light came on. But – watch what you say on TV or radio or anywhere. First
place or second place – we are gonna handle it with class.”
Tony Eury Sr. (Crew chief): “I just want to see the tape (regarding
the ruling). We’ve shown we’ve got class.”
Dale Jr: “I’m proud of y’all. We had a good day no matter
where they say we finish.”
Tony Sr.: (referring to the fans beginning to throw debris onto the
track) “It looks like they’re starting a riot here…”
Today’s Stats
Started: 3rd
Finished: 2nd (sixth straight top-two at Talladega, sixth top-five of the year)
Points: 1st place (94 points ahead of Jimmie Johnson)
Laps Led: 11 times for 57 laps
Best Pit Stop: Stop 6 of 8 / lap 115 / four tires & fuel / 13.31 seconds
-Budweiser
Budweiser Race Preview: Talladega_4/19/04
Dale Earnhardt Jr. – driver, No. 8 Budweiser team:
“We’re going to Talladega with cautious optimism. Obviously, the car we’re
taking is not the car we want. The car we want is in the (Daytona USA) museum. But
that’s cool, we’ve got good superspeedway cars. We may go back to the car we won
the Budweiser Shootout with (in 2003) and haven’t raced since. It wouldn’t
surprise me a bit – in fact I almost expect it – if we struggle in qualifying,
but we should do well in the race. We seem to have things figured out at Talladega.
“Everyone wants to talk about how much this Budweiser team has matured. Fact is, I
don’t know how much more maturing we can do. We’re right where we need to be.
We’ve had one bad race this year – the one that lost us the points lead. It took
five races to get it back, and we’re only leading by five points. The bottom line is
we’re having fun.”
On how the new aerodynamic rules package affects the racing at restrictor-plate
tracks:
“The race at Daytona (the Daytona 500, in which Dale Jr. won) was fun. It came down
to the best cars on the track racing for the win. That’s the way it should be. There
were just a few cautions, and (the field) got spread out. Everyone was really tight, but
you were able to drive away from people. It’s hard to get that at Talladega, but
we’ll see. They’re much different tracks. Daytona is a handling track, so if
you’re not handling, you can fall back. Talladega is big and wide, so it’s
wide-open all day. I love that, but it makes it harder to pull away from the cars that may
not have as much speed or handling. I could probably go out in the pace car and run in the
draft here with 42 other cars… ”
Would you like to try to turn laps at Talladega without a restrictor plate:
“Hell yeah. I’d love to. Just send us out there and let it fly. 230? 240 (mph)?
It’d be great.”
Dale Jr. and the No. 8 Bud Team at Talladega
Previous Nextel Cup Starts: 8
Best Start: 3rd (October, 2000)
Best Finish: 1st (Four times, most recently April 6, 2003)
This Race, Last Year: ST: 13th / FIN: 1st / LED: 34 laps
--- Dale Jr. will be attempting to win the Aaron’s 499 for the third consecutive
year. He has won four times in eight career Cup starts at Talladega, winning $2,954,102 in
those eight starts … The Bud team won this race last season after making a total of
17 pit stops to repair damage from a multi-car crash on lap four.
--- Dale Jr. won a track-record four consecutive Talladega races until the streak ended
last October when he fell all the way to... second place. The No. 8 car finished second in
October to teammate Michael Waltrip after being damaged in a chain-reaction accident on
pit lane on lap 14. The team recovered from falling one lap behind on lap 60 to finish a
few feet short of a fifth consecutive win.
--- Dale Jr. holds a slim lead in the Nextel Cup points standings (five points over second
place Kurt Busch and 12 points ahead of third place Matt Kenseth). He regained the lead
with a third-place finish at Martinsville on Sunday, his series-leading fifth top-five of
the season. Dale Jr. has now led the NEXTEL Cup point standings for three weeks in 2004.
--- Dale Jr. has led in seven of his eight Cup starts - 352 laps total - at Talladega.
That represents almost 25 percent of the total laps since he made his first start in 2000.
(The only race he didn't lead was his first start, when he was forced to the garage
following an incident before the race even started.) He has a current string of five
consecutive finishes of first or second here, and six consecutive finishes in the top-10.
--- Dale Jr. will be behind the wheel of the No. 8 Chance2 Busch Series car this weekend.
A two-time Busch Series champion, Dale Jr. is on a streak of four victories in his last
four Busch Series starts. He had a clean sweep during this event last year, winning both
races. He has a weekend sweep of Busch and Cup races already in 2004, winning the Daytona
500 and the Busch 300 back-to-back in February.
‘Maxim’um Exposure: Care to see our young hero laying a flaming
burnout in the red no. 8 car? Well, OK, it’s only a small slot car, but he is
included in the “We Want Answers” segment in the May 2004 issue of Maxim
Magazine, now on newsstands. The issue includes the Maxim Hot 100 - featuring the 100
sexiest women in the world. Dale Jr. will also appear in the VH-1 special "Maxim Hot
100" later this summer. (Although, in our opinion, Mandy Moore and Josie Moran were
ranked way too low, while Jessica Simpson and Christina Aguilera were rated waaaaaay too
high… But you’ll need to see and decide for yourself.)
Race Details:
Aaron’s 499 / Race No. 9 of 36 in the Nextel Cup Series
Talladega Superspeedway / Talladega, Ala.
2.66-mile tri-oval, 188 laps, 500 miles
Sunday, April 25, 2004
TV: Fox-TV, 1 p.m. ET (pre-race) / 1:30 p.m. ET race start.
Radio: Motor Racing Network (MRN), XM Radio.
Bud Pole Qualifying: Speed Channel / Friday, 3 p.m. ET.
-Budweiser |
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