Summary:
Earnhardt makes out 10th at Brickyard
Aug. 7
Dale Earnhardt got his sixth-straight
top-10 Saturday, barely. Earnhardt started 18th, and got no higher than 15th until almost
a quarter way into the race. Slowly, he worked his way into the top-10.
Towards the end of the event, it appeared as though the outcome of the race would
be determined by fuel mileage. A few teams, Earnhardt's being one of them, calculated that
they had enough fuel to finish. Most other leaders would have to come in to refuel.
Unfortunately for Earnhardt, a caution came out when Dave Marcis lost an engine, and the
fuel mileage concern was disposed. All the leaders came in to pit during the caution.
Earnhardt's crew changed just two tires, and Dale left his pit stall ready to move to the
front for a solid finish. Before he got back to the track, however, Dale ran into a tire
that was carelessly left on pit road by Jeff Burton's crew. Hitting the tire pushed in the
car's front fender, and messed up the car's aerodynamics and handling.
He moved up to sixth following the restart, but after about ten laps, he began
fading. He held on for a tenth place finish. Damage to his front air dam due to hitting
the tire during Dale's final pit stop slowed him down aerodynamically and gave the car a
pushing condition.
"The car was pretty good," said Dale after the
race. "We were running sixth or somewhere up front and the 99 (Jeff Burton) threw a
tire out wide, and I hit it with the left front when I left the pit and knocked the
valence in on it. It pushed like a plow. It was tough, aggravating. It's bad enough you've
got to race the cars on good tires. When the tires go away, those Pontiacs and Fords drive
away from you. You can't race 'em. Gordon couldn't beat 'em on four tires. I was junk
after about 10 or 15 laps. We were lucky to stay in the top-10."
A report from tn3fan, who attended the Brickyard 400:
I went to the Brickyard 400 too - what a waste of time and money - that is
NOT a track for race fans unless you call sitting looking at the people in the stands
across the race track sitting looking back at you exciting.
There were more buildings in the "infield" at Indy than in my small hometown.
Dale got very upset with the crew about not telling him about the tire on pit road and at
one point told Richard Childress to "shut up" - he also had problems with the
radio hookup to one of his spotters which could have been a disaster - Kevin was suppose
to tell him when the green flag dropped - but never did - after Dave lost his engine -
Dale kept asking if they wanted him to pit - he asked 5x before they finally answered him
- it was Dale's request to take 2 right side tires so he could "go and kick some
a**"; but then he hit the tire on pit road and it messed the fender up which screwed
the aero up and the handling - he was not a happy camper.
He did complement the crew for the good job they did on his 1st. pit stop.
The man is very competitive and it just kills him not to be able to get in there and race
with the leaders.
Earnhardt wins IROC title
Earnhardt on
the verge of sweeping success
Earnhardt: No retirement plans
Dale Earnhardt Wallpaper: The Intimidator, sans
moustache
Earnhardt looks to flex IROC muscle
Earnhardt
looks for IROC sweep
Earnhardt qualifies 18th
at Brickyard Aug. 5
Dale Earnhardt was the 53rd of 55 cars that
attempted to qualify on Thursday for the Brickyard 400 in Indianapolis. Earnhardt's one
lap of qualifying wasn't as quick as he would have liked it to be, as he had to back out
of the gas in a couple of the corners in order to keep his car in the groove. He will
start Saturday's race from the 18th position.
"From what we ran in practice, I was really unhappy with that lap," said
Earnhardt. "We went to (Turn) 1 and I thought I got the entrance pretty good and
started in and then I was tight off. It skated off. It didn't go down where I wanted it to
go in Turn 2. (Turn) 3 was OK, but I wasn't happy with it.
"Jarrett won it from 24th. I can win it from 18th. I think I've got a better race
car. I said this before ... if we ever brought this race car I probably wouldn't qualify
that well. We qualified 25th with it at Pocono and raced up to seventh. The car we were
going to bring here, I qualified 11th with at Pocono and raced up to ninth. I want a car
that will go forward and hopefully this one will be that car."
Pictures of Dale's new paint scheme
Earnhardt shows up minus
mustache Aug. 4
The seven-time Winston Cup
champion showed up at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Wednesday with a new look, a
clean-shaven upper lip. His trademark mustache was gone, a sacrifice to his determination
not to be beaten -- at anything. Full Story.
Earnhardt chases second Brickyard trophy Aug. 3
Dale Earnhardt has posted his best string
of starts and finishes of the 1999 season recently. Now, he hopes his momentum will carry
him into Victory Lane at Indianapolis. Full Story.
"We'll be going for the IROC
championship on Friday and maybe a clean sweep with four-for-four. That would be
tremendous to win all four and end it at Indy." -- Dale Earnhardt
Brickyard 400 Schedule
(Central Time)
Thursday, Aug. 5
8-9 a.m. IROC practice
10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Winston Cup practice
1:30 p.m. Winston Cup
qualifying (pos. 1-25), one lap
4-4:45 p.m. Winston Cup practice
4:50-5:30 p.m. IROC practice
Friday, Aug. 6
9 a.m.-noon Winston Cup practice
Noon Winston Cup second-round qualifying
1:45-2:45 p.m. Winston Cup Happy Hour practice
4 p.m. Start of
40-lap IROC race
Saturday, Aug. 7
11:30 a.m. Winston Cup driver introductions
12:15 p.m. Start of
Brickyard 400 (160 laps)
Earnhardt to sport new
look at Indy Aug. 2
Full
Story.
|