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2004 Season
2004 Subway 500
| Race Information |
| Event: Subway 500 |
| Date: October 24, 2004 |
Track: Martinsville Speedway |
| Started: 3rd |
Finished: 33rd |
| Status: Accident |
Laps Completed:
449 of 500 |
| Points
Pos. Before/After Race:
2nd/3rd |
Points
Earned: 64 (w/ 0 bonus) |
| Money
Earned: $103,173 |
Summary and Related News |
Johnson wins at Martinsville on
tragic day_10/24/04
Gear Problems for Dale Jr. and the Bud Team
All of our thoughts and well-wishes go out to Rick Hendrick and the entire Hendrick
organization after today's tragic plane crash.
Jimmie Johnson won his second straight NASCAR Nextel Cup race Sunday at Martinsville
Speedway, winning the Subway 500. Jamie McMurray was second, followed by Ryan Newman in
third place. Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the No. 8 Budweiser team had a frustrating day, as
their sparkling performances this season on short-tracks came to an end with a 33rd-place
finish. Dale Jr. ran easily among the top-five early in the race, but a constantly
deteriorating car finally gave way, spewing a pinion gear out of the rear end on lap 416.
The Bud team made repairs and Dale Jr. returned to the race, only to be swept into a crash
in front of him. The crash broke the radiator of the No. 8 machine, ending the race day
for Dale Jr. after 449 (of 500) laps. The disappointing finish dropped Dale Jr. from
second to third place in the NASCAR Nextel Chase for the Cup with four races remaining.
Prior to Sunday's race, the Bud team had two wins and four top-three finishes in the
previous short track events in 2004. Today's race ended the string of five consecutive
top-five finishes at Martinsville, and also ended a career-best six consecutive top-10
finishes this season.
Key Moments: Starting 3rd, Dale Jr. ran in top-10 for the first 225 laps
despite faulty radio communications between the car, the team and spotter, Steve Hmiel.
(The radio problems have been a recurring theme for the past several seasons. Perhaps the
time has come to investigate alternative systems…) From that stage forward, Dale Jr,
began complaining of an ill-handling car and an ever-worsening vibration. After 16 pit
stops to check out the tires and brakes, make huge adjustments to the spings and the rear
track-bar, the problem finally became very apparent when the rear-end pinion gear
deposited itself on the front stretch on a late restart. The team replaced the drive line,
returning to the race nearly 20 laps later, but were soon swept into a crash. The
resulting damage to the radiator knocked the team out of the race, finishing 33rd.
Dale Jr. Quotes: (NOTE: Dale Jr. left the track before news of the tragic
plane crash was announced. We will send any additional comments or reactions in the
following days.)
"It was mostly out of our control. It wasn't a mistake any of us made. You can't do
much about a parts failure. We had a good car yesterday in practice. We changed a lot of
things during the pit stops and nothing helped. We finally had a bunch of vibrations. I
thought Kyle (Petty) was staying low but he spun. That's just an insult to injury really.
His spoiler hit my car right at the front of the driver's side door. Look at that damage -
that was close. I thought it was going to take my head off. It's just a tough day. We
couldn't really do much about it. It was one thing after another."
About losing points toward the championship: “I think a guy can win a championship
without having any problems. We didn't really need this. I don't you think you can go
ahead and say 'yeah we're going to have one and this is it.' We didn't need this. This is
a track we've run good at."
"We were really good in practice yesterday. We weren't up on the (lap time) sheet but
my car ran 19.90s (second per lap) something like twenty laps in a row. I didn't see
anybody that could do that. When you put the sheet down and look at everybody's times, I
was happy. I don't know why I was tight. Maybe that gear was messed up and made it pull in
the rear end. The car was awful and it fell apart out from under me today. The rear wheel
was skipping all day. Every once in a while you just get a bad batch of parts or something
like that. We normally don't have these type of problems.”
Best Radio Chatter:
As the car handled worse and worse and a vibration became stronger and stronger:
Dale Jr: (after originally explaining it felt like a stuck rear brake
caliper) “Could it be a gear coming out?”
Tony Eury Jr. (car chief): “Yeah, that may be it.”
Dale Jr: “What do we do?”
Tony Jr: “Just drive it until it breaks.”
Dale Jr.: Will you pick me up outta the grandstands if it breaks?”
Tony Jr: “I think you're smart enough to know when it's
happening.”
Dale Jr.: “It feels like it's happening right now. Tell the boys
behind me in line this thing might go…”
One lap later:
Steve Hmiel: “There it goes! There's gear grease all over the front
stretch.”
After the team spent nearly twenty laps repairing the drive train, and Dale Jr.
returned to the track.
Dale Jr: “I don't know if I'll have everybody together at the shop
tomorrow, but let's keep it all together!”
Tony Jr: “We're together down here. We'll just have to be hard at it
for the rest of the year.”
Dale Jr: “That's right. Let's hang in there and stay on it.
Attention to details and no bullshit the rest of the year.”
Today's Stats
Started: 3rd
Finished: 33rd
Led: --
Points: 3rd (dropped one position, 125 points behind Kurt Busch)
Best Pit Stop: Stop 1 of 18 / Lap 42 / four tires and fuel / 12.86 seconds
-Budweiser
Budweiser Race Preview: Martinsville_10/18/04
Dale Earnhardt Jr. – driver, No. 8 Budweiser team:
“We’ve run good at Martinsville in the past, but it will be a tough race with
the new track. We’ve been in position to win here quite a few times in the last
couple of years, and we need to step up and do it Sunday. The track is really smooth. They
did a great job resurfacing it. You still deal with some of the same issues handling-wise,
but the speeds are definitely faster (The Bud team tested at the newly resurfaced
Martinsville Speedway last week, and was one of three teams to register unofficial lap
times quicker than the track record.) I think the set-up is going to be close to what it
used to be, but it’s still going to be tough. All of us (in the top-10 Chase for the
Championship) run pretty good there. With this new surface, one of us might struggle.
Hopefully we’ll get it right.”
Dale Jr. and the No. 8 Bud Team at Martinsville Speedway
Previous Nextel Cup Starts: 9
Best Start: 2nd (Oct., 2001)
Best Finish: 3rd (April, 2003; April, 2004)
This Race, Last Year: ST: 3rd / FIN: 4th / LED: 61 laps
Martinsville Race in April: ST: 4th / FIN: 3rd / LED: 151 laps
Dale Jr. and the No. 8 Budweiser team are riding a string of five consecutive top-five
finishes at Martinsville Speedway, the longest top-five streak among any active driver at
the Virginia short track. Dale Jr. has nine starts at Martinsville. In his last five races
there, his average start is 4.4, average finish is 3.8, and he has led laps in all but one
race (452 laps total). Dale Jr. has qualified in the top-10 in his last seven races at
Martinsville.
-- On the circuit’s half-mile tracks (Bristol and Martinsville), the Bud team has not
finished worse than 16th in the past 11 races, including one win, eight top-fives, and
nine top-10s. In those 11 races, Dale Jr. has led 1,159 laps out of a possible 5,500
(21%).
-- On short tracks (less than a mile in length), Dale Jr. has a 2004 record of two wins
(Richmond and Bristol) and four top-five finishes in five races, the most of any driver.
His only finish outside the top-three was an 11th in the March Bristol race … The No.
8 Bud Chevy has led laps in the last seven (total of 759 laps) races and in nine of the
last 10 … Dale Jr. has earned 860 points on short-tracks this year, 111 more than
closest competitor Jeff Gordon with 749 points … The Budweiser team scored more
points on short tracks than any other team in 2002 and 2003.
-- At the halfway point of the Chase for the NEXTEL Cup, Dale Jr. is in second place,
trailing the leader by 24 points. This season the Bud team has scored five wins (tied for
series best), 15 top-fives and 20 top-10s. A third place at Charlotte Saturday night gave
Dale Jr. a career-best sixth consecutive top-10 finish. Dale Jr. and Kurt Busch are the
only drivers to record top-10s in all five “Chase” races.
Race Details:
Subway 500 / Race No. 32 of 36 in the Nextel Cup Series
Martinsville Speedway / Martinsville, Va.
.526-mile oval, 500 laps, 263 miles
Sunday, Oct. 24, 2004
TV: NBC, 1 p.m. ET start (12:30 p.m. pre-race)
Radio: Motor Racing Network (MRN), XM Satellite Radio.
Bud Pole Qualifying: Friday, 3 p.m. ET (SPEED Channel).
-Budweiser |
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