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NASCAR WCUP: Budweiser NASCAR Winston Cup Race Preview, Charlotte

3 October 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

Quotes from Dale Earnhardt Jr.

"This is a great time for us to race at Charlotte. We need a good run - we've been struggling to get a good finish, and I think this is just the place for us. You can't imagine how much it hurts to work as hard as this whole team does only to crash or have a bad race. We showed what we could do here in the spring. Winning the Winston was awesome, plus we got the Bud Pole, a track record and led the most laps in the 600. Another run like that is what we need to get back on track."

This Week's Race

What: UAW-GM Quality 500, Winston Cup Race 29 of 34
Where: Lowe's Motor Speedway, Concord, NC
When: Sunday, October 8, 2000
Watch: WTBS, 1:05 p.m. Eastern

Unlike a typical race weekend, BUD Pole qualifying will take place on Wednesday evening at 8 pm Eastern. You can tune in live on WTBS to see if Dale Jr. will repeat as the Bud Pole winner and break his own lap record.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Charlotte

Previous Winston Cup starts: 2
Best Start: 1st (Spring 2000)
Best Finish: 4th* (Spring 2000)
(*Dale Jr. won the non-points race "the Winston" in May.)

Career Busch Series Starts: 4
Best Start: 5th (Fall, 1998)
Best Finish: 2nd (Spring, 1999)
-- Dale Jr. led three of the four Busch Series races he entered at Charlotte, and scored three top five finishes.

Dale Jr's Winston Cup record at Charlotte is quite impressive. In 1999, he made his Winston Cup debut here, qualifying 8th and finishing 16th in the Coca-Cola 600. In 2000, he became the first rookie to win NASCAR's all-star race, the Winston, and then returned several nights later to set a qualifying lap record for his first career Bud Pole position at the Coca-Cola 600. Dale is the first driver to average more than 186 miles per hour in a stock car on the 1.5-mile D-shaped oval. (His lap record is 29.027 seconds /186.034 mph average.) In the 600, he led for 175 laps and finished fourth.

What To Watch (or Perhaps "What to Listen")

The unique practice and qualifying schedule at Charlotte means the Winston Cup teams are not on track on Friday. That doesn't stop Dale Jr's calendar however, as he will make a guest DJ appearance on WEND-FM (106.5 / "the End") Friday afternoon in Charlotte. Unlike a typical radio interview, Dale Jr. will be guest DJ as part of the 'Budweiser Lounge' on the alternative rock station starting at 4 pm. A known music fanatic, Dale Jr. will have a chance to play some of his favorite music and take calls from listeners.

Unable to come to Charlotte to listen? You can hear it all on the web -- tune in on the internet at http://www.1065.com

Text Provided By Jade Gurss

Editors Note: To view hundreds of hot racing photos and art, visit The Racing Photo Museum and the Visions of Speed Art Gallery.