Quotes from Dale Earnhardt Jr. / Driver, #8 Budweiser Chevrolet:
"There's so much that comes to mind this week heading to Daytona. First, it's Daytona - which is always a special place for me, no matter what. Then, we're getting Tony (Eury) Jr. back as crew chief. We've done really well without him - Tony Gibson (interim crew chief) did a great, great job for the last six races, but it's Tony Jr's team and I'm looking forward to having him back in the pits and on the radio. We really have a lot of momentum going right now and have been running strong every week so I don't expect that to change. Martin (Truex Jr., DEI teammate) led during the (Daytona) 500 and there's no hotter team than those guys right now, so I'm anxious to get out there and see how we work together. It's good to know you've got a teammate that will run up front with you. And, we're running the special red, white and blue paint scheme, which I think looks pretty cool, and I've done pretty well at Daytona before with different paint schemes. (see notes below)
"But, on the other hand, we weren't a very strong team in the Daytona 500 (in February). We were OK - but OK isn't what we expect or what we're used to at the restrictor-plate tracks. Some of that is almost by design. We used to put so, so much focus on the plate events that we struggled at the intermediate tracks. So, we all made a conscious decision that we needed to step up our effort at the 1.5 and 2-mile tracks. With only so many resources, time and people to go around, we improved a lot in the last year or so on the intermediates, but it meant we weren't as dominant as we used to be at the superspeedways. It was like selling your soul to win all of those restrictor-plate races and then trading some of it back to be better everywhere else.
"The night race is much different than the 500. When the sun goes down, the track gets faster and it gets a lot more grip. That means a lot more guys are packed tighter together and every move seems that much more critical. I'd like to think that will give us a better chance to win another one of these. I'm not running the Busch race because we want to focus everything on winning the 400 Saturday night."
Dale Jr. and the No. 8 Bud Team at Daytona International Speedway:
Previous Starts: 15 (points races only)
Best Start: 2nd (Daytona 500, 2003)
Best Finish: 1st (Two victories: July, 2001, Feb. 2004)
This Race, Last Year: ST: 35th / Fin: 13th / Led: 8 laps
Top-Five Finishes: 6
Top-10 Finishes: 9
Laps Led: 319 laps in 10 races led / 797.5 miles led
Top-10 Starts: 11
Average Start: 11.87
Average Finish: 12.8
Career Winnings: $6,426,697
(Career best of any track -
includes non-points races)
Non-Points Victories: Dale Jr. has three other Cup victories at DIS:
the 2003 Budweiser Shootout, and Twin-125 Qualifiers in 2003 and 2004.
Minutiae:
Crew chief Tony Eury Jr. will be back in charge this weekend after a six-race suspension following a technical violation at Darlington. After the 100-point penalty, the Bud team and Dale Jr. were in 15th place in the standings, but have recovered to 12th place, more than 120 points ahead of 13th place... The Bud team has recorded eight top-10 starts and seven top-10 finishes in the first 17 races of 2007 and are coming off of their season-best finish of fourth place at Loudon... Dale Jr. has nine total victories at Daytona... He twice won three races in a single Daytona Speedweeks (2003 and 2004)- a feat matched only by his father, Dale Earnhardt, and Fireball Roberts... He won four races (two Cup, two Busch Series) at Daytona in 2003... He won the Pepsi 400 in 2001, the first of his seven career superspeedway/restrictor plate Cup victories, and considered one of the most emotional wins in NASCAR history following the death of his father in the Daytona 500 in February of that year... In non-points events (Twin-Qualifiers and the Budweiser Shootout), Dale Jr. has 10 finishes of first or second-place in 15 starts, and only one finish worse than seventh place... His victory in the 2004 Daytona 500 was the first of the "Nextel Cup-era," while this weekend's race will be the final restrictor-plate race for this style of chassis before the Car o' Tomorrow becomes a full-time fixture... Dale Jr. will drive a special Budweiser paint scheme this weekend (see details below), and both of his previous Cup points victories at Daytona have come in special color schemes: 2001 (MLB All-Star Game) and 2004 Daytona 500 (Budweiser Born-On Date).
Primary Chassis this week: #040
BUDWEISER SPECIAL EVENT NOTES:
Red, White and Blue:
Dale Jr. will drive a special red-white and blue paint scheme this weekend as part of Budweiser's tribute to troops around the world. The paint scheme, which Dale Jr. helped design, is a companion to the camouflage paint scheme that finished eighth at Charlotte in May. Budweiser is donating all proceeds from the sale of collectible merchandise of the two special paint schemes to the Special Operations Warrior Foundation (SOWF), which provides funds and scholarships to dependents of special operations forces killed in action. For full information and photos, click to: http://web.mac.com/fingerprintinc8/iWeb/mediakit/MilitaryPics.html
Red, White and Blue, Two:
The American flag that will fly this weekend above the Budweiser Bistro at the Daytona Fan Walk area is one that has flown with American troops in Iraq.
Red, White and... Green:
Anheuser-Busch Recycling Corporation and the Daytona International Speedway have joined to encourage and enable recycling during the entire race week. More than 9000 pounds of aluminum cans and aluminum bottles and approximately 3000 pounds of plastic water bottles were collected at the track during February's Speedweeks at Daytona. Budweiser "Green Team" members and DIS employees will hand out blue recycle bags to campers as they enter the Speedway infield and the West Lot camping grounds for nightly pick up. In addition, 400 recycling containers will be located throughout the concourse, Fan Walk area, suites and hospitality tents. During the races, the Budweiser "Green Team" and speedway employees will service these recycling bins. To encourage guests to recycle their beverage containers, "Green Team" volunteers will walk through the campgrounds and reward adults that are "caught" recycling with Budweiser gear. Budweiser is the official beer of Daytona International Speedway. For more information on the Anheuser-Busch Environmental Outreach, visit http://www.ABenvironment.com.
Red, White and Greens:
Golfer Natalie Gulbis will be at DIS Saturday taping segments for her reality show, "NATALIE," which airs on the Golf Channel. Michelob Ultra, one of the many Anheuser-Busch brands, sponsors Gulbis on the LPGA tour. Check out more about Ms. Gulbis at http://www.nataliegulbis.com.
Race Details:
Pepsi 400 / Daytona International Speedway / Daytona Beach, FL
2.5-mile oval / 160 laps / 400 miles
Saturday, July 7, 2007
TV: TNT-TV, 8:00 p.m. ET
Radio: Motor Racing Network (MRN) / Sirius NASCAR Radio
Online media and fan guide for Dale Earnhardt Jr, and the No. 8 Budweiser team available at www.fingerprintonline.com. (Click on the Budweiser bottle cap.)
Thanks to Jade Gurss from fingerprint inc. for sending the race reports and updates.
fingerprint inc. -
-- Anheuser-Busch NASCAR Publicity
-- Dale Earnhardt Jr. / No. 8 Budweiser team
blogs and info: www.fingerprintonline.com
www.Budweiser.com
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