What's one of the best things to
have in a restrictor plate race? A reliable teammate. It came
as no surprise that Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Michael Waltrip
worked together on the track today. I doubt anyone would have
predicted that they would have had the field covered as well
as they did.
Earnhardt's victory today marked Chevrolet's 7th victory in a
row at Talladega. The combination of the #8 and #15 seemed to
be untouchable. There were a few occasions when other cars got
by the pair, but it was only a few laps before the DEI bullets
shot by whoever got in their way.
Certainly, the sentimental favorites today had to be the Roush
Racing bunch. All four cars today seemed to be hitting the
mark. Matt Kenseth and Mark Martin led the race on various
occasions, and at one point, the four car team was leading the
pack 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th, with Ryan Newman stuck in the
middle of the Roush express in 3rd.
When you think of Talladega, you think of three things, speed,
competition, and The Big One. Today was no different. On Lap
163, coming out of turn 2, the exact same spot as the Busch
wreck Saturday, Mike Wallace and Tony Stewart got together and
then it was on. Seventeen cars were involved. A far cry from
the 27 cars involved in the Saturday crash, thankfully. Among
the cars collected were Kenseth and Martin.
A late race caution, and eventually the red flag, came out
with just a handful of laps to go. The race was red flagged to
clean up oil from Stewart's Pontiac. The race went back to
green with just 4 laps remaining.
There were a few attempts to pass the DEI pair for the lead,
but they failed for the most part as Earnhardt and Waltrip
cruised to another 1-2 finish. Rounding out the top 5 at the
line were Kurt Busch, Jeff Gordon, and Kenny Wallace. But upon
viewing the replay, NASCAR determined that Wallace went below
the yellow line in the tri-oval to get by Sterling Marlin, so
they dropped him down to the last car on the lead lap, 21st.
That moved everyone else on the lead lap one spot higher, and
Marlin into the top 5.
RESULTS
|
Fin
|
St
|
Car
|
Driver
|
Make
|
Pts/Bonus
|
Laps
|
Status
|
|
1
|
4
|
#8
|
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
|
Chevrolet
|
185/10
|
188
|
Running
|
|
2
|
3
|
#15
|
Michael Waltrip
|
Chevrolet
|
175/5
|
188
|
Running
|
|
3
|
18
|
#97
|
Kurt Busch
|
Ford
|
165/0
|
188
|
Running
|
|
4
|
10
|
#24
|
Jeff Gordon
|
Chevrolet
|
160/0
|
188
|
Running
|
|
5*
|
25
|
#198
|
Kenny Wallace*
|
Chevrolet
|
155/0
|
188
|
Running
|
|
6
|
31
|
#40
|
Sterling Marlin
|
Dodge
|
155/5
|
188
|
Running
|
|
7
|
39
|
#88
|
Dale Jarrett
|
Ford
|
151/5
|
188
|
Running
|
|
8
|
1
|
#48
|
Jimmie Johnson *
|
Chevrolet
|
147/5
|
188
|
Running
|
|
9
|
11
|
#2
|
Rusty Wallace
|
Ford
|
138/0
|
188
|
Running
|
|
10
|
23
|
#99
|
Jeff Burton
|
Ford
|
139/5
|
188
|
Running
|
|
11
|
12
|
#45
|
Kyle Petty
|
Dodge
|
130/0
|
188
|
Running
|
|
12
|
20
|
#23
|
Hut Stricklin
|
Dodge
|
127/0
|
188
|
Running
|
|
13
|
21
|
#09
|
Geoffrey Bodine
|
Ford
|
124/0
|
188
|
Running
|
|
14
|
22
|
#11
|
Brett Bodine
|
Ford
|
121/0
|
188
|
Running
|
|
15
|
36
|
#28
|
Ricky Rudd
|
Ford
|
118/0
|
188
|
Running
|
|
16
|
5
|
#22
|
Ward Burton
|
Dodge
|
115/0
|
188
|
Running
|
|
17
|
28
|
#30
|
Jeff Green
|
Chevrolet
|
112/0
|
188
|
Running
|
|
18
|
30
|
#41
|
Jimmy Spencer
|
Dodge
|
109/0
|
188
|
Running
|
|
19
|
33
|
#32
|
Ricky Craven
|
Ford
|
106/0
|
188
|
Running
|
|
20
|
37
|
#9
|
Bill Elliott
|
Dodge
|
103/0
|
188
|
Running
|
|
21
|
9
|
#5
|
Terry Labonte
|
Chevrolet
|
100/0
|
188
|
Running
|
|
22
|
43
|
#55
|
Bobby Hamilton
|
Chevrolet
|
97/0
|
187
|
Running
|
|
23
|
42
|
#4
|
Mike Skinner
|
Chevrolet
|
94/0
|
187
|
Running
|
|
24
|
34
|
#36
|
Ken Schrader
|
Pontiac
|
91/0
|
186
|
Running
|
|
25
|
32
|
#44
|
Steve Grissom
|
Dodge
|
88/0
|
186
|
Running
|
|
26
|
16
|
#7
|
Casey Atwood
|
Dodge
|
85/0
|
186
|
Running
|
|
27
|
6
|
#14
|
Stacy Compton
|
Pontiac
|
82/0
|
184
|
Running
|
|
28
|
14
|
#29
|
Kevin Harvick
|
Chevrolet
|
79/0
|
181
|
Running
|
|
29
|
24
|
#20
|
Tony Stewart
|
Pontiac
|
76/0
|
180
|
Out of Race
|
|
30
|
35
|
#17
|
Matt Kenseth
|
Ford
|
78/5
|
180
|
Running
|
|
31
|
19
|
#77
|
Dave Blaney
|
Ford
|
70/0
|
180
|
Running
|
|
32
|
13
|
#25
|
Jerry Nadeau
|
Chevrolet
|
67/0
|
179
|
Running
|
|
33
|
2
|
#31
|
Robby Gordon
|
Chevrolet
|
64/0
|
176
|
Running
|
|
34
|
41
|
#1
|
Steve Park
|
Chevrolet
|
61/0
|
174
|
Running
|
|
35
|
27
|
#26
|
Frank Kimmel
|
Ford
|
58/0
|
172
|
Running
|
|
36
|
29
|
#19
|
Jeremy Mayfield
|
Dodge
|
60/5
|
167
|
Running
|
|
37
|
17
|
#6
|
Mark Martin
|
Ford
|
57/5
|
166
|
Out of Race
|
|
38
|
26
|
#43
|
John Andretti
|
Dodge
|
49/0
|
164
|
Out of Race
|
|
39
|
7
|
#10
|
Johnny Benson
|
Pontiac
|
46/0
|
164
|
Out of Race
|
|
40
|
38
|
#21
|
Elliott Sadler
|
Ford
|
43/0
|
163
|
Out of Race
|
|
41
|
15
|
#18
|
Bobby Labonte
|
Pontiac
|
40/0
|
163
|
Out of Race
|
|
42
|
40
|
#33
|
Mike Wallace
|
Chevrolet
|
37/0
|
162
|
Out of Race
|
|
43
|
8
|
#12
|
Ryan Newman *
|
Ford
|
39/5
|
141
|
Out of Race
|
*Kenny
Wallace was penalized for going below the yellow line on the
last lap and moves to 21st.
FRANK
KIMMELL-26-Advance Auto Parts Taurus-"Broke a right-front
shock. They kind of put me three-wide there pretty early and
moved me to the back, which I kind of expected. Kind of riding
back there with Jimmy Spencer and those guys and just biding
our time, and drove off in the turn and the thing started
bouncing across the race track, and I knew I broke a shock."
RYAN NEWMAN-12-ALLTEL Taurus-"Something happened in the motor.
We just dropped a cylinder and then another one, and that's
when it started smoking a little bit, so I brought it into the
pits."
ELLIOTT SADLER-21-Motorcraft Taurus-"I didn't really see
anything, I just looked in rear-view mirror and I saw the 33
sideways, I don't know what happened. And then all of a
sudden, somebody clipped me in my left-rear and sent me
head-on to the wall. It's about the hardest his I've ever
taken, so I commend NASCAR again on the safety of these race
cars, what they make these teams go through. My HANS device
did great. I'm just going to have a little headache in the
morning. Just tough. The Motorcraft Ford Taurus was running
good. I had a lot of fun out there." MORE ON THE WRECK. "I
just don't know what happened. All I know is somebody got in
my left-rear and turned me head-on to the wall." TAKE YOUR
BREATH AWAY? "It took my breath away. That's probably the
hardest hit I ever had." ARE YOU OKAY? "Yeah, I'm okay." THE
DRIVERS WERE PATIENT FOR A WHILE. "Like I said before, I did
not see the wreck, I don't know what happened. Again, that's
the last pit stop. Everybody wants to be up front. We were
running pretty close up there, but that's what the fans want
to see, so they got to see it today."
KURT BUSCH-97-Rubbermaid Taurus-"It was just an awesome run.
This is so much like a college course. You go out there and
you go attempt to take the test, and I didn't fare very well
in college. Luckily, I got an opportunity to race race cars
for a living, and that's what this was, it was a big mind test
today, to understand what to do when, and this was just a pure
education that I have received from these guys. We were best
in class today. I believe that the Fords really balance with
the Chevys. It seemed like the 12 could run real strong. He
had engine problems at the end. But there's no stopping the
DEI cars. They're strong, we're missing something, so we have
to go and find it." BUT YOU WERE STRONG, TOO, ALL DAY. "We
were a good Ford. We could do things. We just weren't able to
break the draft and lead." ON HIS THIRD-PLACE FINISH. "It was
an awesome run for us. This is like a college course right
here. You go out and try and learn from all these guys, try to
make the right answers and the right decisions on when to
draft, when to rub who, when to go with what lane, and I
believe that I've learned from the best. These guys are good,
you just got to be smarter, and that's the only thing that you
can do. These cars are so equal. I believe the cars were
balanced with the Chevys, the Pontiacs and the Dodges, but
there's no stopping those DEI cars. They were strong.
Congratulations to Junior and Waltrip. I tried to get rid of
Waltrip, because I knew he was an alias for the 8 car and it
was such a tough row to hoe. But a third-place effort, it's
awesome, we matched what we did here last year. This
Rubbermaid team is for real. We're doing it."
RICKY RUDD-28-Havoline Taurus-"It was a typical
restrictor-plate race for us. We couldn't get any track
position at the end of the race. We're happy that the car is
in one piece. We had a really good car at Daytona, but lost it
in the wreck down there. Now we got something here that we can
take back to the shop and work on. We drove right through the
big wreck. I was down on the grass and hurt the valence, but
nothing too serious there. I think I got hit just a little in
the back, but that was it."
DALE JARRETT-88-UPS Taurus-"Our car was good when we had
another car shoved up behind us. Otherwise, it was like
someone threw a parachute when we were out in front with clean
air. But we were able to get a good finish out of it and we're
happy about that."
GEOFFREY BODINE-09-Miccosukee Indian Gaming Reserve
Taurus-"Well, we missed the wreck again. We were looking like
we were going to have another good finish like Daytona, but
the caution re-start, then we got ganged-up and just couldn't
get in the right place. Nobody wanted to help me. Of course,
everyone's working for themselves at that point. We're still
happy with it. The car's in one piece, we'll take it back to
Daytona and try again down there. I'm just glad we missed the
wreck. I hope nobody got hurt, I haven't heard. It always
happens, doesn't it?"
JEFF BURTON-99-Citgo Taurus-"I don't know why anybody should
be surprised, we couldn't run at Daytona with them, and they
gave us more spoiler coming here. I mean there is no way we
can run with them. It's common sense. We couldn't run with
them at Daytona, they took the spoilers off so we could run
with them, then they give the spoiler back and they want us to
run with them. Chevrolet never comes on the short end of the
stick. They never have. I don't know why. They never have. And
you couldn't win. There wasn't a Ford in the field that could
win. No way."
KURT BUSCH Press Conference
"We're ecstatic about it, and we've got heavy hearts in the
back of our minds, trying to continue forward. Jack's just an
incredible individual. He's given me so much in my career, the
least I could do would be go out and win a race for him. So,
we're going to continue to press forward. Things were great
today. It just seemed to flow together. We learned some things
in the draft, obviously, from 2000, 2001, and it's just been a
matter of time, working with these guys, developing the
repoire and working towards the front. I knew we had a great
car. The Fords seemed to be balanced with the Chevys, the
Pontiacs and the Dodges. They just weren't balanced with the
DEI cars. They're strong. We've got to figure out what they're
doing. I tried to get rid of Michael Waltrip about 30 laps to
go, maybe it was 60, 70 laps to go and Dale Jr. ran the top
line, everybody gathered it back up. It's just a hard race.
You're just trying to take away aliases out there, and that's
teammates, and we even struggled with our teammate at the end
of the race, he just didn't seem to want to go with me to help
out, and so I tried to put things that I've learned together
and move forward and we ended up with a third-place finish."
WAS IT ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO GET UP TO THE 8 CAR TO CHALLENGE
HIM? "It wasn't impossible, it was great part on DEI
workmanship to get those cars up front and for this cat here,
Michael Waltrip, to stick behind him and have the 98 up there
messing around with them. It was something that could be dealt
with. I ended up roughing up Michael a little bit. I
apologized for that, but I'm trying to isolate one of the DEI
cars out of there so that Junior could be worked upon. And it
was just a struggle to do that. Those guys are strong, they've
got it figured out, and like I said, there was a balance
between all the four cars."
YOU GOT TOGETHER WITH DALE JARRETT NEAR THE VERY END. HOW MUCH
DID THAT HURT YOUR CHANCES? "It's tough for me to recall that
event right now. With six to go or four to go when the green
dropped, I knew what my objective was, I understood what I had
to do, I didn't look at any particular car, except for the red
one and the blue one up front, whether is was a white one or a
yellow one next to me, I don't know. And what I was trying to
do was stay attached to those two Chevys. I don't remember us
getting together. It didn't seem to slow either one of us
down. He still finished top-10, he may not've. I don't think
he'll be upset with what happened. I don't really recall that
event. It really wasn't anything that led to the final
outcome, I don't believe."
WHERE WERE YOU WHEN THE WRECK HAPPENED? "I was ahead of it. I
saw the 29 and 31 together the lap before. I really don't know
what happened. My car, I was positioned on the inside lane,
which might not end up being that good when the cars swerve
off the wall and come down low. For us, we were lucky to get
through unscathed."
ON THE FORDS WORKING TOGETHER. "It was awesome. I saw the 12,
the 6, the 99, the 77, we just all lined up and went, and I'm
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