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2004 Season
2004 NEXTEL All-Star
Challenge
| Race Information |
| Event: NEXTEL All-Star Challenge |
| Date: May 22, 2004 |
Track: Lowe's Motor Speedway |
| Started: 15th |
Finished: 5th |
| Status: Running |
Laps Completed:
90 of 90 |
| Points
Pos. Before/After Race:
1st/1st |
Points
Earned: Non-points race |
| Money
Earned: $86,400 |
Summary and Related News |
Kenseth wins All-Star Challenge,
Dale Jr. finishes 5th_5/22/04
Budweiser car leads early but fades at the end
Defending series champion Matt Kenseth won his first career NEXTEL All-Star Challenge by
beating Ryan Newman in a two-car breakaway at the end of Saturday night’s race at
Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Kenseth’s winning move came with three laps to go when he
applied the bump-and-run to Newman’s Dodge, and then passed him on the inside. Tony
Stewart finished third. Dale Jr. and the No. 8 Budweiser team avoided several big
accidents in the opening stages and put itself in good position at the end, only to have
the handling of the Bud car fade in the final segment en route to a fifth-place finish. It
was the 10th top-five in 14 “non-points” or all-star type races for the Bud
crew. Dale Jr. led four laps on the evening, all in the first of the three segments.
Key Moments: Starting 15th, Dale Jr. dodge a massive wreck on lap 10 and
fought his way into the lead by lap 25. After an eight-car inversion to start the second
segment, Dale Jr. remained in the top five through the entire 30-lap session, thanks in
large part to savvy driving and a 12.43-second pit stop by the Bud brew crew. One last
attempt to improve the handling on the Bud car for the final segment came on lap 70, just
prior to the 20-lap sprint to the checkers. Dale Jr. restarted the final segment in
seventh, fought his way to the top-three behind Kenseth and Newman, but lost two positions
in the waning circuits to Stewart and his teammate Michael Waltrip.
Dale Jr. Quotes: “This is frustrating and disappointing. We had a
real fast car at the beginning of the race, and I felt I could race there at the end for
the win, but we didn’t play it very smart in the pits. We made some adjustments on
our car that only hurt us, and it made the car just way too loose. I don’t know, I
guess this will teach us a good lesson … when you got a good car, don’t mess
with it. I just hope that when we come back for the (Coca-Cola) 600 (next weekend), we
know what we’re doing in the pits, because tonight we didn’t. There was a lot of
money to be won … we’re kicking ourselves right now.
“We were easily the fastest car early on, but we made too many adjustments. (Car
chief) Tony (Eury) Junior felt like the track got tighter because of the cooler
temperatures. The guys up front adjusted to it better than we did.”
Best Radio Conversation:
A multi-car crash called for immediate, evasive action by Driver #8 to keep the Bud
Chevy out of the carnage by driving on the apron of turn one:
Tony Eury Jr. (car chief): (while the crash was happening) “ Stay
straight!”
Stevie Reeves (spotter): “That was a heckuva job! There was so much
smoke, I couldn’t see at all.”
Tony Jr.: “Way to keep your eyes open there driver.”
Reeves: “Helluva job. I couldn’t even see ya.”
At the end of the first segment:
Dale Jr.: “I’m real, real loose. I drive it in, and then
it’s like BAM!… loose. Sideways!”
During the 10-minute intermission between the first and second segments:
Dale Jr.: “I swear something’s been happening in the last three
or four weeks with these driving suits … the dry cleaning or something has messed
them all up. I’m burning up in this suit. It’s like they’re machine washed
or something, and it’s made ‘em real tight and my ass is burning up. The seat
and everything around me is cool, but I’m burning up all over – my arms and
legs… I mean, I put some new ones on order about 12 months ago … they ought to
be here sometime in the next couple years.”
More comedic relief after the opening 40-lap session:
Tony Eury Sr. (crew chief, talking to team member Rick “Otis” Hodges
after Hodges had sprinted to the hauler for a fan): “You need oxygen?”
Dale Jr.: “Ha, ha, ha … What, you think I’m out of shape
all of a sudden? I know I’m all hot in this firesuit, but I ain’t out of
shape.”
Tony Sr. (laughing): “I was talking to Otis.”
Dale Jr.: “Oh, I was getting all offended in here. I just want my
new uniforms, that’s all.”
Today’s Stats
Started: 15th
Finished: 5th
Money: $86,400
Best Pit Stop: Stop 3 of 5 / lap 28 / four tires & fuel / 12.43 seconds
-Budweiser
Budweiser Race Preview: NEXTEL All-Star Challenge_5/17/04
Dale Earnhardt Jr. – driver, No. 8 Budweiser team:
“We put a lot of emphasis on this all-star race, because it’s a big-money race
and we’ve won it before, so we know how awesome it is to come out on top. This is
guts racing! It’s just like the Budweiser Shootout – it’s a brawl. In
brawls, sometimes you get your car all tore up to pieces, and that’s what happened to
us last year. Something happened in front of us, I couldn’t see a thing, I hit
someone, someone hit me, and all hell broke loose. It’s hard to predict an outcome in
a money race like this, but that’s what makes it fun.”
"We're limited on practice for the All-Star race, and it will be tricky setting-up
your car. You’re there to win, but the All-Star race is also a good test session for
the (Coca-Cola) 600 (on May 30). I'm just looking forward to getting laps on that track.
We've always run good at Lowe's Motor Speedway, and hopefully we’ll have some good
runs the next couple of weeks.
On the changes made to the race format, which now allow fans to vote in the final
driver:
“It’s pretty cool. I think it’s for the better. It should be a lot more
exciting for the fans to have a larger field at the end of the race going after the win.
It's a tough race but I'd like to put my brother's name in the hat for the race. I hope
either Kerry Earnhardt or Carl Long gets voted into the All Star race."
Dale Jr. and the No. 8 Bud Team in the NEXTEL All-Star Challenge:
Previous Nextel Cup Starts: 4
Best Start: 4th (2003)
Best Finish: 1st (2000)
This Race, Last Year: ST: 4th / FIN: 17th
-- The Budweiser team enters the weekend on the heels of its third victory of the year at
Richmond International Raceway. Through 11 races, Dale Jr. is leading the following
categories: wins (3), top fives (7, tied with Jimmie Johnson) and top-10 starts (9).
-- Dale Jr. was the first rookie to win the NEXTEL All-Star Challenge in 2000. He now
shares that record with Ryan Newman.
-- In non-points-paying or all-star type NEXTEL Cup races, the Budweiser team and Dale Jr.
have four victories and a finishing average of 3.7 in 13 career starts. Only four times
has Dale Jr. not finished either first or second in a non-points race.
The finishes:
The NEXTEL All-Star Challenge: 17th (2003), 2nd (2002), 7th (2001), 1st (2000)
The Budweiser Shootout: 2nd (2004), 1st (2003), 2nd (2002), 6th (2001)
Twin-125 Qualifiers: 1st (2004), 1st (2003), 2nd (2002), 2nd (2001), 4th (2000)
-- Dale Jr. made his NEXTEL Cup debut at Lowe’s Motor Speedway at the Coca-Cola 600
in 1999. He qualified eighth and finished 16th.
-- The Budweiser team has twice won a million dollar purse. (The defunct ‘No-Bull
5’ program at Talladega, in Oct. 2001 and Oct. 2002.)
Race Details:
The NEXTEL All-Star Challenge
Lowe’s Motor Speedway / Concord, N.C.
1.5-mile tri-oval / 90 laps (three segments totaling 40, 30 and 20 laps)
Saturday, May 22, 2004
Purse: $3,195,000 ($1,003,500 to the winner)
TV: FX, 7 p.m. ET (The Nextel Open) / 9 p.m. ET (The Nextel All-Star
Challenge)
Radio: Performance Racing Network (PRN), XM Radio.
Bud Pole Qualifying: Speed Channel / Friday, 6 p.m. ET. (Qualifying will
consist of three laps with a mandatory four-tire pit stop included).
-Budweiser |
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