Welcome Dale Jr fans! What's new with Jr? Second Winston
Cup race this weekend wasn't so great. Started next to Dale Sr in
row 7, had some good bumps and rubs with his dad, but had engine troubles
and retired not even 50 miles into the event. He'll be up next month
for the Busch/Cup weekend at Michigan, and then he's got two more dates:
Sept. 11th at Richmond, and Nov. 21st at Atlanta.
BUSCH SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP RUN NO.
2 NEWS
This season for Jr. started off with such high expectations no
one thought he could live up to. Starting off, he didn't live up
to them, failing to finish a race with all his sheet metal in contact in
the first few months was pretty usual for him. Then there was the
near win in March at Bristol, which revived the team. From there
they went out to string up good finishes but up until last month, no wins.
Rival Matt Kenseth was leading the points and was winning races quite often
while Dale was struggling to finish. Nazareth was a big controversial
race that most of us would like to forget and move on from. However,
back at Dover, he picked up win number one. A week later, he won
race number two with a wild one at South Boston. Then, a week later,
he prevented Ron Fellows from picking up a sweep of the Watkins Glen weekend
(he had won the Trucks race, the Busch pole and nearly the Busch race)
by making a late race pass and showing that his name, Earnhardt, means
something with a few bumps and hits. With one hand on the wheel and
one on the shifter, he picked up his third straight win.
Appearing on Inside NASCAR Winston Cup on Speedvision, he talked
about how Fellows was such a good driver at the road circuits. It's
obvious from watching him on TV and reading what he has said, he has learned
a lot over the past season and a half, and has picked up a few pointers
from his dad when on and off the track.
Right now, Dale is in a good position to pick up his second Busch
title and go onto the Cup 2000 season with a successful 1999 behind him,
as well as a 7-win 1998 still on his mind.
UPCOMING RACES
Jr. is undeniably good at the short tracks, taking after his father,
so watch for the 3 car this weekend at Myrtle Beach. The following
week the Busch series tours Pikes Peak, a race track he and Tony Stewart
bumped a few times at last season. The next week the series travels
to St. Louis for the race at Gateway, where Jr. will defend his win last
year. The next week, I will be in town to watch Jr. at IRP!
I'll be there for the Brickyard 400 weekend and see the Trucks, Busch,
IROC and Cup in the circle town of Indianapolis. He won that race
last year, so watch for him to be in victory lane again!
MULTIMEDIA
There's tons of places to find Dale Jr. screensavers, backgrounds
and so forth. But here are a few things I've made for your desktop
viewing pleasure:
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