Dale Jr. Quotes for Michigan
“Did anyone watch the Arturo Gatti fight Saturday night? He’s one of the boxers sponsored by Budweiser, and he’s always been my favorite. But now more than ever, because he won the fight after breaking his right hand early in the fight. Man, that was baaaaad, because he had to win by primarily using his left hand. It shows how guts and determination can overcome a lot of things. I have had that kind of feeling about my team before we turned a lap in testing this year: nothing’s going to stop us. You can knock us down, but we’re gonna keep coming back, pounding you any chance we can get.”
“You know what else is kind of cool? We had the brake problems at Charlotte, then had to start at the back at Dover with a car that hadn’t made a lap, but we came back to finish 11th. Neither of those were good results, but a lot of people this week said 'man, your team is really struggling.' I think that shows how far we’ve come: that the media and the fans and especially the other people in the garage expect us to be at the front every week now, and it’s a big surprise when we’re not in the top-5 when the race ends. To get to Pocono and lead some laps with a brand new chassis at a track where we haven’t had a good record was fun. We’re getting there…”
“We have a strange record at Michigan. The team has always been fast there: we’ve won two Bud Poles, we’ve led four races (out of seven career starts). Before that, we won a race and never finishing out of the top 10 in the Busch Series. This was where I raced my dad to the line in the IROC (International Race of Champions) race in 1999. But, when you look at the numbers, for some reason, our best Winston Cup finish is 10th. We’ve had times where we’ve lost the handle on the car, or it rained and the race was stopped early. Just weird finishes that don’t show how fast we’ve been here.”
Dale Jr. and the No. 8 Bud Team at Michigan
Previous Winston Cup Starts: 7
Best Start: 1st (Bud Pole: August, 2000 and August, 2002)
Best Finish: 10th (July, 2001)
This Race, Last Year: ST: 3rd FIN: 22nd
The Budweiser team led the race early, but fell victim to a yellow-flag that
flew as Dale Jr. was exiting pit lane, leaving them a lap behind the leaders.
What:
Sirius 400
200 laps / 400 miles / Race #15 of 36-race Winston Cup Series
Where:
Michigan International Speedway, Brooklyn, MI
2-mile oval
When:
Sunday, June 15 / 1:00 p.m.
Watch:
Fox-TV (pre-race: 12:30 pm)
Bud Pole Qualifying:
Bud Pole qualifying can be seen Friday at 3:00 p.m. on Speed Channel. You can also hear qualifying and race action on the Motor Racing Network (MRN) on a radio station or computer near you. The radio programming is also heard on the 24-hour NASCAR channel on XM Radio. (All Times: Eastern)
"People who don't have passions don't struggle." -- Po Bronson, author
Thanks to Jade Gurss for this Budweiser Race Preview!
www.Budweiser.com |
