Dale Jr. Quotes: “I owe this finish to my team - Tony (Eury) Jr. and Tony (Eury) Sr. - those guys gave me a good car and they made great calls on the pit stops. Our strategy was perfect and I need to thank the Bud crew for all of their work and all of their help. Y'all were awesome. The car was OK - not great, not bad. It actually started off as a good car but we lost our way somewhere there in the middle of the race. I asked for a little more than I could handle on adjustments, and the car got away from us a little and we got behind eight ball. We worked hard. We just tried to dig and keep what we could keep and do what we could do. We gained some ground on the guys ahead of us in the points, so it was a good day.”
“I'm happy for Ron (Fellows, DEI teammate). He's a legend in road racing, and a great guy. You know, I owe a lot to him and Boris Said and Andy Pilgrim for helping me with my road racing skills in the last four or five years. They're all great guys and it's a privilege to know 'em. I guess I was more proud of last year's finish here (a third-place after leading 11 laps) than my run today, but I'll take it. I have a lot more to learn though. I watched Ron go past me late in the race and I said 'why can't I get my car to do that too?' He really can get around this place.”
Best Radio Chatter:
Dale Jr. restarted the race behind points leader Jimmie Johnson on lap 8, and nearly crashed into the back of Johnson's car on the front stretch. The incident would eventually lead to Johnson's withdrawal from the race with transmission troubles. Dale Jr: “Whoa man. Jimmie must have gone from first (gear) to second and then back to first instead of third there. I almost got into him.” (note from WCG that is exactly what happened)
The middle laps of the race found an impatient and hard-charging Dale Jr. held back by another young driver. Dale Jr: “I'm not puttin' up with that boy's (stuff) today! He does that every time I try to pass. He just cuts me off! I'm tryin' hard not to turn him around, but I'm tellin' ya I may have to soon if he doesn't stop." Tony Eury Jr. (car chief): “Just cool down a bit. Just hit your marks and you'll be OK. He was slowing you down by a second a lap there, so just run your race and we'll just worry about ourselves here.”
Before the final restart of the race: Tony Jr.: “OK, Hot Rod. There'll be 15 laps to go when we go green. Keep doin' what you're doin - you're doin' great.” A few laps later as Dale Jr. climbs to fifth position: Tony Jr: “You're doin' good. 11 to go. Keep doin' what you're doin.” Dale Jr.: (trying to concentrate) “OK! Keep quiet!”
---- Today's Stats
Started: 3rd (based on Nextel Cup points) Finished: 5th (second career road-course top-five for Dale Jr.) Points: 3rd (-128 to the leader) Laps Led: 1 lap (lap 60) Best Pit Stop: Pit stop number two of three / four tires and fuel / 14.48 seconds
Budweiser, The King of Beers
Jade Gurss
-- fingerprint inc.
-- Anheuser-Busch / Dale Earnhardt Jr. Publicity
And the winner was......
