Dale Jr. Quotes for Talladega
About going for a fourth consecutive victory at Talladega: “They (the media) can say or write whatever they want, but I’m not going to talk about winning four in a row. I talked too much at Daytona (where he won three races in seven days before suffering a failed alternator while leading the Daytona 500) and it jinxed us. Our record speaks loud enough at Talladega.”
“I keep expecting the rest of the field to catch up to us, but we’re not sitting still. We’ll be fast. We’re working on our restrictor plate program just as hard as we always have. The Daytona race still bothers me, but we’ll have a new alternator in the car, I promise.”
Dale Jr. and the No. 8 Bud Team at Talladega
Previous Winston Cup Starts: 6
Best Start: 3rd (October, 2000)
Best Finish: 1st (Three times: October 2001 / April 2002 / October 2002)
This Race, Last Year: ST: 4th FIN: 1st Led: 133 of 188 laps
-- Dale Jr. and the No. 8 Budweiser team have won the last three Winston Cup races at Talladega and enter the race in third place in the Winston Cup point standings. This is the highest points position for Dale Jr. and the Budweiser team since they were second after the first race of the 2001 season.
-- Dale Jr. shares the record with Buddy Baker for most consecutive victories at the Talladega Superspeedway. Three consecutive victories at a single track is the longest current streak in Winston Cup.
-- In six career starts at Talladega, Dale Jr. has led five races for 392 laps, nearly 30 percent of the total laps completed during those races.
-- At this event the last two seasons, Dale Jr. led 240 of 376 total laps – just shy of 63 percent of the total laps.
-- The No. 8 Budweiser team twice won a $1 million dollar bonus at Talladega from series sponsor Winston, winning the fall race in 2001 and 2002.
-- The only Winston Cup race Dale Jr. did not lead at Talladega was his first (April 2000), when he was caught in a pre-race accident after a car ahead of him missed a shift as the field rolled to the start. The Budweiser team has started in the top-10 at four of six Talladega starts.
-- Dale Jr’s first experience behind the steering wheel of a NASCAR Busch or Winston Cup car took place during a test session at Talladega. Dale Jr’s father gave him several hours notice that he was going with the team to test engines. While his legendary father offered scant advice (“Don’t let off the throttle in the turns or you’ll crash.”), veteran driver Dave Marcis coached Dale Jr. on the correct line around the 2.66-mile race track.
What:
Aaron’s 499
188 laps / 499 miles / Race #8 of 36 in the Winston Cup Series
Where:
Talladega Superspeedway, Talladega, AL
2.66-mile oval
When:
Sunday, April 6 / 1 p.m.
Watch:
Fox-TV (pre-race: 12:00 pm)
Bud Pole Qualifying:
Bud Pole qualifying can be seen live Friday at 4:00 p.m. on the Fox Sports Network. You can also hear qualifying and race action on the Motor Racing Network (MRN) on a radio station or computer near you. The programming is also heard on the 24-hour NASCAR channel on XM Radio. (All Times: Eastern)
I have only one superstition. I touch all the bases when I hit a home run.
Babe Ruth (1895 - 1948)
Thanks to Jade Gurss for this Budweiser Race Preview!
www.Budweiser.com |
