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2004 Season
2004 Pocono 500
| Race Information |
| Event: Pocono 500 |
| Date: June 13, 2004 |
Track: Pocono Raceway |
| Started: 16th |
Finished: 6th |
| Status: Running |
Laps Completed:
200 of 200 |
| Points
Pos. Before/After Race:
1st/1st |
Points
Earned: 150 (w/ 0 bonus) |
| Money
Earned: $121,718 |
Summary and Related News |
Johnson wins Pocono, Dale Jr.
holds lead in points_6/13/04
No. 8 Budweiser Team Gain League-Leading 11th Top-10 in
14 Races
Jimmie Johnson joined Dale Earnhardt Jr. as the only three-time winners in this
year’s NASCAR Nextel Cup Series, as Johnson won today’s Pocono 500. Johnson was
able to hold the lead in the final 26 laps despite a seemingly endless series of yellow
flags. The race ended under the caution flag, with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the No. 8
Budweiser team in sixth place. For the second week in a row, the Bud team struggled early
in the race, but gained their fourth consecutive top-10 finish by playing ideal pit
strategy and by narrowly avoiding several crashes. Dale Jr. is now 58 points ahead of
Johnson in the point standings, holding the top spot for the seventh consecutive race. He
has finished sixth or better in seven of the last eight races.
Key Moments: In almost a replay of last week’s surreal race at
Dover, Del., Dale Jr. dropped positions early in the event, falling as low as 26th
position, then narrowly avoided going one lap down when a yellow flag came out on lap 113
after Mark Martin’s engine expired. When the next caution flag fell again on lap 121,
the Bud team made a timely pit stop and climbed into the top-10. After making their last
pit stop on lap 162, it appeared Dale Jr. and the No. 8 team were among only a few cars
with enough fuel to finish the race without stopping again, but a series of six
back-to-back caution periods allowed Johnson and many of the rest of the top-10 to stretch
their fuel mileage to the finish.
Dale Jr. Quotes: “That’s another good finish – but not one
I’m really proud of. The way we ran was not very competitive. We got better and
better through the day as Tony (Eury) Jr. made small adjustments on each stop. We’ve
gotta keep working on being competitive – to get better. This is the same tire we
struggled with at Vegas (the team’s only DNF of 2004), so I feel like we’re
getting better with it. Right now, I don’t feel like this was a championship effort
on our team, we just weren’t competitive until late in the day. Those Hendrick cars
(winner Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Terry Labonte and Brian Vickers) have found something, and
we need to find out how to keep up. They were all a half-second better than anybody else
all day today.”
About finishing the race under the yellow flag: “Me, personally? I
didn’t need any more green flag laps. I would have lost a position or two. NASCAR is
an easy target right now, but they did what they had to.”
Best Radio Chatter:
The car of Ward Burton spun out immediately in front of a hard-charging Dale Jr. on
lap 50. Junior was able to avoid making any contact with Burton’s car.
Dale Jr.: “I never touched him!”
Steve Hmeil (spotter, filling in for Stevie Reeves): “10-4. You
never touched him.”
Dale Jr: “Roger. I feel sorry about that. I had a run on him on the
inside and I might have got too close.”
Hmeil: “No, not too close. His spotter is here and he’s
(Burton) not even yellin.’”
Tony Eury Jr. (car chief): “Good avoidance there. They’re just
showing the replay.”
Dale Jr.: “Yeah. I waited for him to go high or low and he just
stayed right there… but I still feel responsible. I got right up there close and got
him loose.”
Late in the race, as yellow flags multiplied like amoeba, Junior found himself
battling with Terry Labonte for sixth place under the brief green-flag segments.
Dale Jr: (to his spotter) “Tell Terry I was wanting him to go by,
but I didn’t want to cost myself a lot of time by letting him by. I know he was
faster than me, but I didn’t want the guys behind him getting a run at me as well.
I’m better than the 97 (Kurt Busch), but I’m too tight to pass… (pause,
then referring to the engine failure of the Dale Jarrett car immediately in front of him):
“Somebody blew up and I about wrecked it. That was a big ol’ mess of oil there.
They finally threw the yellow…” (another pause) “I like Terry a lot, and I
don’t want him to think I was blocking him.”
Hmeil: “10-4. He totally understands. I’m right here (with
Terry’s spotter).”
Dale Jr: “Ya know, he’s in the last three or four years of his
career and I don't want Terry to go out with me on a bad note…”
Today’s Stats
Started: 16th
Finished: 6th
Points: 1st (no change)
-Budweiser
Budweiser Race Preview: Pocono_6/7/04
Dale Earnhardt Jr. – driver, No. 8 Budweiser team:
“Sunday (at Dover) was one of the craziest races I’ve ever been involved with,
so who knows what to expect this weekend at Pocono. Track position is so critical at that
place, because if you can get out front in clean air, you can check out and leave ’em
in your dust. I like the place … used to hate it, but it grew on me the better we got
there. It’s a unique place, and it’s tough to get comfortable as a driver and
for a team to find a fast and consistent set-up. We got a couple top fives last year, and
even raced Bobby Labonte for the win in 2001, which was real cool. It would be great to
keep that trend going and have a good points weekend.”
“You’ve got to have a little luck to win a championship. I’m not going to
complain about the last couple of weeks. We know we need to do a better job the next time
we go to Dover, but there is such a thing as bad luck and good luck. You have control of
your own fate to a certain extent, but you also have to be prepared and ready to take
advantage when you do get some breaks here and there. It was a good day for us to gain so
many points on those guys. It wasn’t like we outran them. If those guys hadn’t
been in a wreck, I doubt we would’ve finished in the top five, but once we had track
position, we showed we had a fast car.”
Dale Jr. and the No. 8 Bud Team at Pocono:
Previous Nextel Cup Starts: 8
Best Start: 5th (June 8, 2003)
Best Finish: 2nd (July 29, 2001)
This Race, Last Year: ST: 5th / FIN: 4th / LED: 22 laps
-- The Budweiser team and Dale Jr. have competed in eight races at Pocono Raceway, scoring
three top-five finishes. He finished in the top-five in both Pocono races in 2003, leading
a combined 47 laps. His best finish at this tri-angular track was second on July 29, 2001,
when he led 31 laps and battled Bobby Labonte to a thrilling finish.
-- The Bud team enters the weekend on the heels of a bizarre race at Dover, where Dale Jr.
finished third for his eighth top-five and series-leading 10th top-10 of 2004. The Bud
team has finished in the top-10 in six of its last seven races. The Dover finish helped
Dale Jr. pad his lead in the Nextel Cup point standings to 98 points over Jimmie Johnson
and 179 over Matt Kenseth. Dale Jr. has been the point leader for eight weeks in 2004, and
is one of four drivers to remain in the top-10 all season. He has been among the top-10 in
points for 47 consecutive races.
-- Of the 10 superspeedway races in 2004, Dale Jr. has scored eight top-10 finishes, more
than any other driver.
-- Dale Jr. has posted 10 top-10 starts in the first 13 races in 2004, a feat equaled only
by Ryan Newman.
Race Details:
Pocono 500
Pocono Raceway / Pocono, Pennsylvania.
2.5-mile tri-oval / 200 laps / 500 miles
Sunday, June 13, 2004
TV: Fox, 1 p.m. ET start.
Radio: Motor Racing Network (MRN), XM Radio.
Bud Pole Qualifying: Speed Channel / Friday, 3 p.m. ET.
-Budweiser |
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