NASCAR WCUP: Budweiser NASCAR Winston Cup Race Preview, Richmond
6 September 2000
Posted By Terry CallahanMotorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
Quotes from Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the Budweiser team are eligible for the Winston "No Bull Five" program this weekend at Richmond. The set-up is simple: if Dale Jr. wins the race, the Dale Earnhardt Inc. (DEI) team will pocket an extra $1 million. A lucky fan (who will be selected at a ceremony Thursday morning at Langley Air Force Base) will also win a million with a Dale Jr. victory. The team became eligible for the promotion when they finished fourth at the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte last May. Dale Jr. won the Winston Cup race at Richmond last May, his second career win.
"We won there in the spring, but with the Winston "No Bull" deal on the line, we decided to test for two days to see if we could find some more speed. It's always been a good track for us -- we won twice there in the Busch car -- and I think the test helped us find an even better set-up for the race. We were second fastest among all of the teams that were there testing, but we did that with our race set-up. We never even made a qualifying run, so we were pretty happy with the results."
"I am excited about the "No Bull" bonus. This is the first time for me and Matt (Kenseth), so we're both pretty excited. Guys like my dad and Bobby Labonte have done this thing umpteen times, but this is new for us rookies. Pairing up with a race fan for the bonus money is a little bit more pressure. I had a similar deal with Bud at Bristol, and it was kind of weird meeting the winning fan. Hey, I can win them a million - but I can also be the guy that they'll always say "damn, he coulda won a million for me if he didn't lose that race'"
This Week's Race
What: Pontiac Excitement 400, Winston Cup Race 25 of
34
Where: Richmond International Raceway, Richmond, VA
When: Saturday, September 9, 2000
Watch: ESPN, 7:30 p.m. Eastern
BUD Pole qualifying will be seen live Friday afternoon on ESPN2 at 5:30 pm Eastern.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Richmond
Previous Winston Cup starts: 2
Best Start: 5th
(Spring, 2000)
Best Finish: 1st (Spring,
2000)
Previous Busch Series Starts: 4
Best Busch Series Start: 2nd (Fall, 1998)
Best Busch Series Finish: 1st (Fall, 1998 &
1999)
What to Watch
Richmond has been a superb track for Dale Jr. In four Busch Series races and two Winston Cup starts at the .75-mile oval, Dale Jr. has won three times, and has also finished second and tenth. Only once has he finished outside the top ten at Richmond. When he won the Winston Cup race here in May, he became the first driver this year to win two races. It is also the track where he gained his first career top-ten finish in Winston Cup competition. (He finished tenth at Richmond as one of his five Cup races entered last season.)
Text provided by Budweiser
Editors Note: To view hundreds of hot photos
and racing art, please visit The Racing Image
Galleries and The
Visions of Speed Art Gallery .