The Race
What: Pontiac Excitement 400
Winston Cup Race 11 of 34
Where: Richmond International Raceway
Richmond, VA
When: Saturday, May 6, 2000
Watch: ESPN 7:30 p.m. Eastern
Note: This is a Saturday evening race rather than the usual Sunday afternoon affair. Bud Pole qualifying will be seen live Friday afternoon on ESPN2 beginning at 5:30 pm Eastern.
Quotes from Dale Earnhardt Jr.
"This has always been a good track for me and for the team, plus we raced in the Winston Cup event there last fall. We finished tenth, but we had a great car and should have finished higher than that. We learned so much there last year that I think it will really be a help this weekend."
Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Richmond
Career Winston Cup Starts: 1 (1999)
Started: 21st
Finished: 10th *
*First top ten finish of Dale Jr's Winston Cup career.
Career Busch Series Starts: 4
Best Start 2nd (Fall race, 1998)
Best Finish 1st (Fall race, 1998, Fall race, 1999)
Richmond is one of three tracks where Dale Jr. scored multiple wins
during his brief Busch Series career.
What to Watch
Could this be the week that rookie Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the Budweiser team break through for their first Bud Pole in Winston Cup competition or add to their Cup victory tally?
In the past two seasons, Earnhardt Jr. won two Busch Series races and qualified in the top four three times at the ¾-mile oval. He and the Bud bunch also scored their first top ten finish in Winston Cup competition last September at Richmond.
This marks only the second time that the team has returned to a track with race experience in Winston Cup competition. Earlier this year, they raced at Atlanta for the second time, qualified on the front row and led eight laps before a problem with a rear brake line sent Junior into the wall.
Enough about Dale Jr, what about the BEER!?
As the official beer of NASCAR, Budweiser advertising is seen frequently during NASCAR telecasts. More than fifty years ago, Budweiser became the first beer company to sponsor a national television program ("the Ken Murray Hour") in 1949.
Budweiser NASCAR Publicity |
