Dale Jr. Quotes for Darlington
“I am so confident in my guys right now. We started improving about halfway through last season, and we just keep getting stronger. We found some things that weren’t really right with our cars – and we started building new ones about that time (halfway through 2002). You can really see the impact on the results. The cars keep getting better and better all the time. The guys are also doing really well on pit lane – our stops have been good and fast, and Tony Jr. (Eury, car chief) has been making really good calls on changes to make to the car.”
“(Darlington) is one of the toughest tracks, the most difficult places we go. I’d like to get in there and get out without any scratches, but we’ve been pretty fast there in the past couple of races, so I think we will be alright. It feels really good right now (coming off of two straight top-five finishes). We’ve always pushed ourselves and seen ourselves as a top-five team, so now a lot of what we’ve worked for is coming together. We just need to keep doing what we’re doing, and we believe we can run up front every week.”
Dale Jr. and the No. 8 Bud Team at Darlington
Previous Winston Cup Starts: 6
Best Start: 10th (March 2000)
Best Finish: 4th (March 2002)
This Race, Last Year: ST: 23rd / FIN:4th
Previous Races at Darlington
DATE Started Finished Notes
March, 2000 10th 40th Lap 200 crash: driver OK – car NOT OK
September, 2000 13th 11th Led 16 laps, almost won due to rain
March, 2001 16th 34th Earned ‘Darlington Stripe’ on lap 45
September, 2001 18th 17th In third place with two laps to go:
taken out in multi-car crash
March, 2002 23rd 4th Led 10 laps, fast car and good pit work
September, 2002 15th 16th Rain rain rain
Quote/Unquote/Notes: Dale Jr. is featured in the new edition (April 2003) of FHM Magazine. He provides his comments on a variety of topics, including why he doesn’t party much anymore, why most major sports suck, and why he would agree to be seen all across the United States in the company of a yard gnome…
What:
Darlington 500
367 laps / 501 miles / Race #5 of 36 in the Winston Cup Series
Where:
Darlington Raceway, Darlington, SC
1.366-mile egg
When:
Sunday, March 16 / 1 p.m. / Fox-TV (pre-race: 12:30 pm)
Watch:
Fox-TV… You can also tune-in to hear qualifying and race action on the Motor Racing Network (MRN) on a radio station or computer near you.
Bud Pole Qualifying:
Bud Pole qualifying can be seen live Friday at 3:00 p.m. on the Fox Sports Network or heard on MRN affiliates across the nation.
(All Times: Eastern)
Thanks to Jade Gurss for this Budweiser Race Preview!
www.Budweiser.com |
