Posted on 07/10/2005 7:36:57 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
Who would have thunk it? After a third-place finish last weekend at Daytona, Dale Earnhardt Jr. got his first win of the season Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway -- a track that has been far from kind to the No. 8 team.
Junior rallies for victory with late two-tire stop
http://www.nascar.com/2005/news/headlines/cup/07/10/dearnhardt.chicago.ap.ap/index.html
The Associated Press July 10, 2005 08:51 PM EDT (00:51 GMT)
JOLIET, Ill. -- A jubilant Dale Earnhardt Jr. broke through for his first Nextel Cup victory of the season Sunday, using a two-tire strategy and holding off Matt Kenseth to win at Chicagoland Speedway.
"I was worried I was going to go winless this year," the relieved Earnhardt said after smoking the tires on his No. 8 Chevrolet and celebrating with his crew in the infield grass. "Now, let's go out and do it again, win some more."
Kenseth led 176 of the 267 laps but wound up second after choosing to change four tires and falling behind on his final pit stop in the USG Sheetrock 400.
Earnhardt, NASCAR's most popular driver, has had a mostly miserable season and had little to smile about until he turned in a third-place finish last week at Daytona. He started 25th on Sunday and spent most of the day hovering near the end of the top 10.
The last of 10 caution flags waved on Lap 249, when Mike Bliss and Jeff Gordon crashed, giving all the leaders a last chance to pit on a day when right-side tires were blistering and causing numerous blowouts and crashes.
Scott Wimmer stayed on the track and took the lead, while Earnhardt and several other drivers took only two tires and moved ahead of both Kenseth and Tony Stewart, who took four tires after coming into the pits first and second.
The green flag came out on Lap 255, and it took Earnhardt three laps to get past Wimmer, who then faded quickly. Meanwhile, Kenseth charged toward the front, grabbing second place from Brian Vickers on Lap 261.
But Kenseth couldn't catch Earnhardt, finishing about five car-lengths back.
Jimmie Johnson, the series points leader, came back from a lap down to finish third, followed by Vickers and Stewart.
"It's been a long time coming, man," Earnhardt said. "It's a lot of emotion, more than I can handle right now. For these guys, all the darts they've had thrown at them this year. It's just awesome.
"I thought we had a top-10, maybe a top-five car," he added. "My guys on pit road won the race for me. Got me out front with two tires."
Kenseth, who has not won since March 2004 at Las Vegas, was bitterly disappointed.
"Our car was awesome," he said. "I'm trying to be a gracious loser, but it's a tough one."
The call to take on four tires was made by his crew chief, Robbie Reiser, but Kenseth wouldn't criticize him.
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"I can't really blame Robby. We were kind of a sitting duck. A lot of guys were going to either stay out or take two tires," Kenseth said. "Overall, it was a great day, just a tough one to lose."
Stewart, still aching from a crash on Friday that forced him to go to a backup car and start from the rear of the 43-car field, was also disappointed that he couldn't pull off a third consecutive victory and defend his win here last year.
"If we'd have stayed out like I wanted to, we'd have won the race," said Stewart, who has now finished third, second, first and fifth in his last four starts at Chicagoland.
Greg Biffle, second in the season standings, finished 11th Sunday and fell from 73 to 108 points behind Johnson. With his 16th career victory and first since November in Phoenix, Earnhardt moved up to 13th place, 115 points behind 10th-place Kurt Busch and 491 points behind Johnson.
The top 10 drivers and any others within 400 points of the leader following the 26th race of the season will be eligible to race for the series championship during the final 10 events.
For four-time series champion Gordon, who finished 33rd, it was his sixth finish of 30th or lower in the last eight races. He fell to 15th place in the standings, 502 points behind Johnson, his Hendrick Motorsports teammate.
Way to go Jr!
It is good to see Jr. put one together.
:-}
Juuuuuuuuunnnnyer!!!!!
I guess we can work this thread for a bit, in lieu of the race thread, Bummer, we got rained out today. ;-)
Riiiiight. You would've held off all those guys with two and four fresh tires.
Ahhhh. There we go - fixed. All better. WOOO HOOO. It's good to be back!
Now if only Rusty would win a race I would be happy.
Yes, Rusty. And perhaps Mark.
Whewww!!! good , indeed.
Im gonna link some stuff on the thread and shoot a Ping out to everything..
Well. It was his turn . LOL!
Hey Norm, I missed my NASCAR ping this morning. I didn't realize how tough it could be to watch it without the NASCAR thread.
"A long time coming - Junior Wins a race at Chicagoland"
I hear ya.. I was bummed too.
How many laps has he led [this season]?
Maybe fourteen, in total? That's got to be a record, or a near record.
Mark Martin did win The Winston . . . oops, Nextel All-Star Race.
Sheetrock 400? Where was Harry Gant? Sounds like his kinda race.
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