2003 Phoenix Raceway NASCAR Cup Series Full Race November 2, 2003

flaps and miles around this one-mile track and better than 110 000 on hand as matt kenzeth the championship leader starts deep in the field at 37. [Music] brian newman gonna lead lap one second place jimmy johnson try to look underneath his teammate kev excuse me brian vickers and i tell you brian vickers of 25 car almost got the outside retaining wall coming off turn four ooh this is tight free of breath and this gets real tight right here at this dog leg kurt bush have a giveaway yeah a smart move there rusty wallace and tony stewart side by side that'll be for fifth and sixth and up front jimmy johnson for the race lead [Music] got it and remember jimmy johnson in this 48 car won both races at loudoun new hampshire this year a track one-mile racetrack similar to phoenix you see the banking on this place but believe me when you're sitting in one of these race cars this is a flat racetrack especially this corner down here three and four very flat the cars slide a lot you really have to work the throttle you can't just nail the gas you have to keep playing with the throttle because a lot of cars will push off the turn four driver driveway to eighth place as junior gets in front of dave blainey for that spot that's kevin harvick third place man in the championship working underneath casey mears in the 41. that's back for 11th and 12th and for second place brian vickers trying to get by pulsing orion newman kind of unusual for newman he looks like he might be struggling a little bit here when i talked to matt borland the crew chief on this 12th car this morning i asked how the car was he said yeah okay which meant he may slide back a few spots marty bp on lap two ryan came on the radio and said cars lose slap three said it's really loose but we saw that be a benefit to teams yesterday in the bushes race they started loose this racetrack gets tighter the longer you run that may play their hand later in the run betty let's talk about the difference in weather conditions from yesterday to today and how much that might affect the way these cars perform it could be big but a lot of teams came here and tested and you know what while the temperature when they tested 100 degrees so they might go back to some of that setup but the guys that have not tested they're gonna relying on happy hours a lot cooler so there's a lot of guessing jeff gordon going for the three-peat after winning at martinsville in atlanta and now he's going for third spot on ryan newman dave and keep an eye on where his car is best through the middle of the corner robbie lewis's crew chief told me this morning the car cuts really really good and even though jeff complained about needing a little bit more drive off the corner that cut through the middle sets up the drive off and allows him to really hit it straight coming off the corner so jessica very good this weekend yeah i spoke with robbie lewis this morning the crew chief the point for card he was pretty happy this morning they're real happy with that 24 card and when he says cut through the center that means it rolls to the center it doesn't push or slide the nose it really turns well got a car that comes down here at phoenix you're in good shape tony stewart's car apparently doing that he's the fourth place now he got by ryan newman and now dale earnhardt jr challenging the 12 there for fifth junior start at 11. maddie how about tony stewart's car quickly moving to the front qualified six a lot of changes on that home depot chevrolet this morning greg zavidelli dave rogers the engineer doctor who the shot specialist [Music] just about everything rear springs sway bar track bar wedge tony hasn't said one word on the radio which is a good sign those changes have improved the car and bp you talked about the testing those were one of the guys that we're testing here when it was hot and i talked to greg zimmerdelli the crew chief on the 20 car this morning and they worked so hard on the car yesterday trying to find the handling trying to get the 20 car to handle they did not get a chance to scuff any tires in a lot of these teams put some a couple of laps on the tires before changing them the 20 car remembered dover he complained about a bad set of tires and tires that did not match up he did not get to test those tires yesterday because of the work so they were scuffing them to try to eliminate a bad set so much to help the handling exactly so tony stewart running in fifth and now the race side by side behind them kurt busch now the one to work on pulsator ryan newman 97 car started in seventh place and i've been watching curt last couple laps around you can see the driver's gloves inside his window when his car comes off turn four he's turning that wheel back to the right a little bit and then back to the left so he's fighting a little bit of a handling problem in that car well he's probably tight in the center and then it's snapping loose off jimmy johnson the leader bill allen jimmy johnson didn't test here at phoenix but the two cars behind him did the 25 with the brian vickers and the 24 of jeff gordon crew chief chad canales for johnson's team told me those two teams helping them help that those two teams testing helped the 48 teams quite a bit right now johnson's car is just a little bit loose but chad told him save your stuff your laps are great so jimmy johnson going to lead the conclusion of lap 12 and beginning of lap 13. pay attention to who's leading at lap 50 today you could win a trip to new york city and work as a special correspondent at this december's winston cup awards ceremony it's the nascar big apple sweepstakes and remember lap 50. you said kirbush got real loose trying to get underneath brian newman and that little bet that was a couple of cars that didn't make it about didn't make it the last 50. those hands were really busy yeah [Music] so jimmy johnson leads we'll take a break here remember if anything happens we'll break out right away and bring you back here to phoenix live [Music] introducing a whole new line of over 30 power tools from ridgid that'll seriously outperform what you're using now with exact line laser precision batteries that charge in half the time more torque and the best warranty in the business but the attachment that says the most about these tools the pros who swear by them rigid powerful durable professional buy them now at the home depot i know a little something about making good moves make your move talk to your doctor about vagra today to learn more race over to viagra.com i received this wedding gift from my husband's aunt but i don't need a monkey lamp i was extremely torn i didn't know whether i should just keep the lamp or return it and risk hurting her feelings so i asked myself what would jared do i would return a lamp she really just wants you to be happy then i'd get a red wine vinaigrette club so where's the lamp the red wine vinaigrette club from subway eat fresh if you've never spent hours trying to shave seconds never felt like the head of a comet never ridden in circles to reach a destination get out of the way the all-new suzuki gsxr 1000 [Music] the legendary fall classic began back in 65. it's tough it's fast it's the rock where 11 championships have been decided 43 drivers are battling to be the final one to win the final race it's the rock the house weekend at north carolina speedway target house 200 saturday november 8th our pop secret microwave popcorn 400 sunday november 9th get your tickets now call 1-800 pit shop or log down onto north carolina speedway.com be there to rock the house nascar winston cup racing from phoenix on nbc is brought to you by dodge you can take life as it comes or grab life by the horns by the home depot nascar's home improvement warehouse by subway good so you don't always have to be subway eat fresh and by xbox this holiday xbox it's good to play together 19-312 laps complete here at phoenix international raceway jimmy johnson is out in front he's lit all but one of those laps so far johnson leading brian vickers by one and a third seconds with dale earnhardt jr jeff gordon and tony stewart rounding out the top five those five single file the race from sixth on back continues to be the interesting spot as curt bush continues to try and work ryan newman to no success he has worked underneath him time and time again he just can't get that car to fight he gets too loose when he's up underneath the 12-car ryan marty what are they saying on the 12. actually the advice is coming from roger pinskin if you're going to get some advice that's a pretty good guy but he's put it in football turns basically said when you're going into the corner where ryan's not too bad play offense but when you're coming off of the corner play defense do all you can to block him that's where ryan is experiencing the most problems loose off of the corner let's go on board kurt busch let's see what his kind of get a feel i mean obviously he's been loose when he was underneath the car but that's because you're turning the wheel more in the center of the corner and you're trying to keep the car off the other car above you sometimes the car will get loose in the middle and right now he's having trouble closing up on the back bumper of the 12 car put a lot of right wheel in it there get off the corner you see the hand when he's going down the straightaway is up at 12 o'clock so when it comes back the other side of that 12 o'clock he looks like he's pretty good at one and two looks like he's having most trouble down three and four see he enters the corner here he gets down on the bottom watch the steering wheel turning it he's turning it didn't get loose that time a little bit so kurt running in seventh and continuing to try and pursue ryan newman for the sixth position newman five and eight tenth seconds behind leader jimmy johnson i would say that car if anything i i may be proven wrong here by one of the pit boys but that car is probably a little bit tight and the reason why he's getting loose is because he's got the wheel turned too much how about the old home depot virtual garage been throwing the turn loose around an awful lot yeah you know these guys go into the corner in these race cars they turn the steering wheel they want all four tires to grip the racetrack and just turn and go around the track when that happens all four tires working together that's green but if the rear tires are hotter than the front what happens is they start sliding they start losing grip and the back end starts sliding around just like your own ice drivers use that term loose to describe that and that car can get loose getting in it could be loose when you're on the gas there's a lot of different places where the car can get loose how about matt kins if he started 37th he's up to 30th bill there's the scoring serial on kenzit he's kind of in some heavy traffic yeah it hasn't been very easy that traffic's been a problem here's how it's gone matt to robbie riser arrow tight off the turn back to robbie riser car was too loose under all those other cars matt to robbie riser car is more loose than tight it's worse and turns one and two so i think his car's a little bit loose and a little bit tight and traffic's a problem well on that last lap you could see the car got loose in three and four it's the race for second place if you want to finish that point just update this is junior trying to get by brian vickers for the runner-up spot so matt kenseth is fighting yeah it looks like he was he that last time when i saw him when uh bill was talking you could see the front tires turned to the right so uh he looks like i bet he's on a loose side right now he's wrestling it we can say that out of the desert right wrangling it wrestling and that's mike wallace 0-9 car he's going by moves into the 29th position yeah he's playing with that steering wheel off the corner trying to keep the car going in a straight line because if the front slides the rear slides that's slowing the car down that's a great shot i might not see it too much here in one or two if we can stay on through three and four i think you'll see him working that steering wheel a little bit more here he comes down in the turn three pretty smooth so far right in the center right on the center where he's getting out of gas it looks like he's having trouble just a little twitch yeah a little twitch there just when you're getting on the throttle so that little twist sorry on that little twitch doesn't look like much light little twist on the look believe me that's big over here's where he's sitting from so matt kenzer back in 29th spot now again after starting in 37 squad remember that in this race last year he started 28th and he won if we check his time i i've looked at the score monitor the 17th car is is running almost as fast as the leader and he's back in this traffic and the leader jimmy johnson out in clear air so i think if the 17 guard gets up with these guys in front he'd be able to race with him last year they took two tires on their last pit stop it's what got in the track position to get out front once he got the clean air he left he checked out from the field so we'll see if robbie reiser tries any of those kind of rabbits out of the hat sometime earlier later rather in the race bill how about your leader jimmy johnson says his car is a little loose off but obviously that's been good for him so far trying to dive inside and pick up a lap another car as they continue to make laps here at phoenix currently fourth in the championship standings only eight out of second three wins this season and as we heard in this pre-race conversation on the team radio this team has not given up all right boys let's settle and get ready to rock and roll here this is a unique place we only get to come here once a year so let's leave our mark here so these guys can think about it for the next season good also serves his head shieldy to remember he's the guy that flew off their pit wagon when his crew guys were hit on pit road he made sure his guys were okay before he checked the car and told him let's come back and win this thing and they did at new hampshire i also heard the car owner rick henry give his just a couple hey guys do well and that means a lot to these fellows 32 now 33 laps complete here at phoenix international raceway jimmy johnson has led all but one of them you're watching nascar oh got a car up in smoke turn three it's jeremy mayfield in the 19 car and the caution flag is out you know bp you and i were talking about earlier there's a lot of gear running at some of these cars these guys are turning some big rpms here i hear 9 500 97 even maybe 9 700 rpm just trying to get that jump off the corner and look at the trail of oil behind mayfield's car all up in there so that's a catastrophic failure of some kind for the 19. schrader likes to say one of those real important parts your circle was a failure the camera was moving you got to keep up with the camera that's right so quick it's hard man that oil is on the racetrack someplace yeah but now then these guys get to come in make a pit stop and make adjustments to their cars and the 17 i'd be all for trying it i don't think it's the best thing to do but if you want to try it this would be the time of the race to do it i guess whatever all you guys think we'll just do that but um you know if we are going to make a chance at you know 34 laps first run would probably be a good time to see what it's going to be like for later but whatever you guys want to do is fine with me pit road is closed okay we'll do that okay guys now remember he's going to come around the 38 around the 30 and into our stall here okay guys i'm not trying to get anything i'm just you know whatever you want to try it's probably time to take a good look at it and see what we got here i mean the only problem is go backwards if we get into a long run but you know it might be the time to try it you know if we gain 10 or 15 slots or give us a little cushion at least in case we get another 30 laps of caution [Music] my mos is 51 tango it is oh you're hitting the chip at all that run none at all who blew up 19. you will have some jet dryers up against the wall just past the dark lego dog leg up your bike for what's been running uh i'm going to say probably 2 30 2 35 or this piece of paper on the top grill right now we're going to have to get spent like that during the while you're [Music] running [Music] nbc tonight nascar on nbc from when jeremy mayfield's car lost an engine and dropped oil on the racetrack pit road not yet open so let's take a flashback with our nascar bush series update bobby hamilton jr won a rain delayed and rain shortened race yes rain here in phoenix his series leading fourth win of the season he outran kevin harvick among others to score the victory championship standings with another shuffle you see ron hornaday brian vickers championship contenders with top five finishes but david green finished well down in 14th place so now riggs the new leader 60 points to fifth place two races to go rockingham next saturday on tnt craftsman truck series raced friday here in phoenix kevin harvick outlast to ted musgrave for the win brendan gone the championship leader had late engine troubles and finished 12th so 39 points first to fourth for the craftsman truck series one race to go part of four championship weekend a few weeks from now in homestead florida man what a weekend that's going to be oh those truck guys got to go two weeks trying to get ready sweat it out make sure that nothing breaks talked about rockingham we checked our wendy's race menu the nascar bush series action will be on tnt saturday then we follow the race for the winston cup championship next sunday on tnt 12 30 eastern time we start with discover card countdown to green then the season finale homestead florida nbc november 16th noon eastern time the high banks of homestead we can say now talk about that a little bit later in the broadcast but a few guys doing a good year tire test there this weekend with generally favorable remarks on the new 18 19 and 20 degree banking pit road's going to be open this time bill jimmy johnson will lead them down pit road his car is a little loose off but he wants them to free it up a little bit more they're going to do that with air pressure and a slight wedge adjustment he has an easy out but his crew chief chad canals warned him a lot of cars on the lead lap here so be very careful when you leave pit road johnson heads for his pitch now four tires fuel air pressure and a wedge adjustment today gas man jeff craven is going to stick a wedge wrench in jeff's car make an adjustment and then grab the fuel can they'll also make a track bar another wedge adjustment on the right side the car tied in dead sideways off loose off the corner matt dave daler and our junior steps a little short in his box for an easy exit around the 43. he said the car with a little slick on that run he couldn't get up off the corner like he liked lucid stuck and loose off but just like he likes it junior's down and away marty pulls it to ryan newman now six matt on pit road he describes it as four loose off of turn four one half works off for turn two two rounds down and left through wedgeville and newman with that first pit stall i think he won the race off pit road no no no no somebody got out about three four five seconds ahead of him marty i believe kurt busch just got two tires because he's gone and i also know that matt kenseth the championship leader just took two right side tires bill you're exactly right it is two right side tires for the 17 of matt kenzit they said they wanted to try this early in the race to see how the car would handle but it did not work did not work for kenseth yesterday in the bush race this morning robbie reiser told me he didn't think they would try it but they were forced to dave the 97 car of kurt busch was very very loose they wanted to get spring rubbers out of that right rear and also only change two right side tires that's what they did speedy off hit road ricky craven is not pitted yet so he's the leader curt bush first off the pit lane he's second you're watching nascar on nbc we didn't just give the new ford f-150 more horsepower we gave it the most low-end torque why did we push farther than anyone else so you could do more than anyone else only this truck earned the right to be the next f-150 if you haven't looked it forward lately look again when i need to get serious i get back to basics and when i'm looking for a serious boost of energy i need to feel the sting for an extreme boost of energy and three great players you've got to feel the spin yj stinger made exclusively by the manufacturers of stacker 2 the world's strongest fat burner feel the sting meet rookie jamie mcmurray and this it's 800 horsepower v8 monster protected by motor oil the tablet can handle this much power even if your tv can't avalyn sorry you want to know why i ran from enterprise because having the right car can make all the difference pick enterprise we'll pick you up people are strange they'll surprise you looks can be deceiving in fact i found true i stare all day people watching is key but wait a second they're checking me so what is mine the griddles get some looks it's like get here [Music] [Music] you are watching the checker auto parts 500 from phoenix international raceway on nascar in car on in-demand oh come the train get ready [Music] so [Applause] [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] that corner inside inside inside inside [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] god side inside and it took a long time to get it back to pit road and filled up and back out and caught up he wound up finishing fifth in a race where he led almost a third of the distance actually a little over a third of the distance they came here friday morning with a different setup than last year trying to get better and the car was jumped so they finally just took all that stuff out but the same setup they had last year under this car and looks to me like tony yuri jr and senior junior all these guys made the right decision looks pretty good yeah very good going for second here on newman newman didn't give much room there pinched him down of course now the end of last week's atlanta race five laps to go remember these two tangled racing for sixth position wound up with newman in the wall and um pretty hot and pretty angry about it now here they are all over each other again early in phoenix so when you talk about newman holding junior down you think that's on his mind yeah he's not going to give junior too much room because he feels like that the eight car can't afford to go up there and hit him again and crash him so he's just not going to give him a lot of room kirk bush has just led lap 50. you need to know that information to enter to win a trip to this year's winston cup awards ceremony where you could serve as a special correspondent it's the nascar big apple sweepstakes on nbcsports.com or nascar.com for rules and your chance to register junior started the slide job on him but he had to jump out of the throttle or he was going to slide into the 12. oh some contact there you get that right front fender on junior's car enough to damage it i think there's a little dent there i do too and these cars oh did he did he pay him back and now junior's getting a challenge from jimmy johnson to the 48 car and bp alluded to it earlier arrow is important here i mean as much tape as you can run on the front of these cars helps pin the front of these cars so that little damage on that fender will affect it [Music] wally i think that was payback ryan came on the radio right after he made a little contact with the eight they don't know if we're keeping score or not but i think we're even cool you talk about downforce i noticed on the 48 pit stop they're running a little bit warm and water temperature had to take a strip of tape off the grill and someone told me 15 inches of tape one inch wide is like 50 pounds of downforce a ruler a one foot ruler is like 50 pounds of downforce it really really affects these cars here we tried in fact yesterday in the bush race we didn't even open anything for the brakes because we wanted to have that front and nose closed as much as possible and curt bush is loving this he's pulled away from about almost two seconds we talked about last week at the end of the atlanta race with uh newman and dale earnhardt jr actually this was monday if you didn't catch it here's what happened closing laps junior didn't actually hit ryan until he was sideways but the whole packing air under the rear end thing basically junior was close enough to ryan that ryan felt he got him loose and then hit him well i you know junior didn't do anything wrong on that one ryan differently of course he does so we get to the carryover week wow jimmy johnson yeah [Music] that's just that strip of tape made a difference on the 48 car appears to be like so this is fourth and fifth spots here with johnson in fourth gordon in fifth and let's throw michael waltrip into this race for position two and sixth in a 15 call [Music] meantime uh championship leader matt kenseth came off hit road in 14th billy's running 17th now yeah with just the two right side tires and robbie reiser told me in the garage this morning they really didn't want to try this strategy because it didn't work for matt yesterday in the butch race so i ran down there and asked him i said some guy in the garage told me there's no way they'd take two tires you go sometimes you just gotta try it it's not working out too good for him right now and the other car that was pitted back there was the 38 of elliot sadler and they did take four tires had a very quick stop and that helped them out as well allen okay scratch him off the list then so elliott sadler running 15th and kenzith running in 17th spot as michael waltrip takes the long way around just blows by jeff gordon on the outside while i say low climb here comes gordon back but michael will take that spot moves into fifth position remember michael had a chance to win the race at new hampshire back in september we talked about the similarities between this track and that expect the strong run today out of this 15 car kirk bush is the leader left 57 of 312 in the books is ryan newman and dale earnhardt jr splicing it up in the early laps [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] from subway it's all right to indulge now and then try our delicious [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] 25th place kurt busch out in front 1.009 seconds over ryan newman dave earnhardt jr closing in on newman newman is getting a little bit closer to kurt bush but as junior gets close to him now he probably will have start playing a little bit of defense and that could cause kurt bush to drive away again for second place get after the gas can't get after the gas hard that's a problem right where junior was because if you get on the gas hard where he is you slide up and hit the 12 car so you really got to kind of work the throttle now you got to clean this time this time ryan newman cuddy mcgregor said okay i'll let you go just remember that will you [Music] i think he'd like to dog him for a lapras just to worry about now is when the 97 car is going to look up there and go oh yeah because i think he's starting to slide around on those tires a little bit more than he'd like to you see just that little wrinkle in that right front fender on where they made contact before if you look right down at the bottom when we see it you can see that lower side left to the same foot the way that's wrinkled that doesn't hurt it's almost like a little wing out there got some front wing in that car benny's [Music] you know that's going to actually give that car maybe a little bit more down for it and he's lucky that he's got that if you could just figure out how to do that this weekend so dale earnhardt jr goes to second place and is about a second and a half behind kurt busch matt saw greg bibble hit the wall a little bit ago what's up there speaking to greg this morning the team felt like that they had a really good race car and they were very close on where they needed to have that race car for today's event but breaks it back on lap 57. we just knocked the front out of it i hit the wall very hard with that right front guys can't really fix that too much you know and how about our championship leader matt kansas he's in 18th place looking at the point leader leads us to our stacker to nascar winston cup track fact championship leaders finished in the top 10 and 11 of the 15 nascar winston cup races held here in phoenix so it's been a good place for guys trying to win a title over the past five years the driver leading the championship coming into this race has finished no worse than eight did you see mcmary how much apron he used up in three and four trying to get that 42 car loosened up and get it to turn a little bit of grip down there on the apron if you can hit the apron and not upset the car to where it really does jump loose normally they just touched the air but once mcmary is he simply drives almost entire car over the yellow line just explain that graphic the numbers in parentheses are where they started the day in the championship standings so you see that for now third and fourth places so close together have changed as they run on the racetrack and the gap from first to second starting the race was 258 points kenzik is running 18th in the race and kevin harvick is running seven dale jr is running second what with murray again i wonder if his car is tight that's why he's down on that apron haven't talked much rusty wallace today he's trying to take ninth spot away from brian vickers there in the two rusty one of the former winners in this field here at phoenix the 98th winner in this race four top five finishes in the last six years here at phoenix so kirk push out in front after 73 now 74 of 312 laps through the field when nascar on nbc returns to phoenix [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] 80. [Applause] [Music] they're all around those towns from 15 back to the eighth [Music] starts friday november 14th rated pg the drama of nascar is on tnt next weekend matt kinsey ryan newman and the superstars of nascar return [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] still there still down there still there inside still there so there quick [Applause] [Music] he said nothing bad about the chassis really moving to the front bill jimmy johnson in the 48 car complaining now his car is tight that's after they tried to free it up on the last stop they will add two turns in the right rear for their next stop as for his teammate and co-car owner jeff gordon in the 24 chevy jeff says the car is just way too loose to compete right now marty bill back on lap 30 kevin harvick brushed the wall but not bad at all since then he has said nothing about the chassis they have been better on the longer runs today matt tony stewart tested here but fighting the same problem today he's fought all weekend tight in the center free on exit and absolutely no forward bite they pulled a spring rubber out of the right rear and made a chassis adjustment and has it held up front here's junior for the lead this big road guys can handle anything they can come in and out of these through the fields let us handle things on the racetrack then we can go back to him and get the further updates and all the traffic the piece of debris is gone off the grill of the 97 car but it probably slowed him down because he lost some of the downforce in the nose when he blew away tell you what this 97 car on just the right side tires that's got to be getting some people's attention but the car was real loose so the debris off auto balance it out a little bit right should have helped it dave you're right but he's getting past once he came off so junior buy new leader first time he's left today kirk pushed back to second and we were going through the field matt you are saying about mr rusty wallace and mr rusty wallace started fit trying to end that 95 race winless streak currently runs in the ninth position the car was tight they tried working on it with a chassis he hasn't said a whole lot if it's improved his biggest concern the car is starting to get warm there is some debris on that grill meanwhile running in the 10th position brian vickers the young 20 year old continues to impress trying to do something that kevin harvey did back in 2001 run boat the bush and winston cup series here at the end of 2003 he said the biggest thing multi-tasking and time management oh it's it's been tough you know the time management has been really hard on me and and you know that is the key is just figuring out how to fit all of it into the day i mean uh not only the physical part just from racing both races racing both practices qualifying all that stuff but just physically just i mean mentally just getting it all in the day and uh and making it all work without getting you know without losing focus on one side or the other because we definitely want to keep our focus on the bush side as well and not lose lose sight of that championship although physically and mentally a challenge the on track experience is helping the car the same problem they had yesterday in the bush series race it is starting to get tight from the center off bill mack kenzit then the 17 car 16th in the order last time by took two tires on their first stop and after that two tires stopped the car is now just too loose so they were able to gain track position once they took the two tires but on the track matt has not been able to take advantage of the situation you know bill what i'm thinking here and looking at that is they haven't lost anything really though since they took the two tires so it's definitely been a plus quarter i agree and i think that this is robbie riser as we talked about said you have to try it sometime so let's see if we don't get any worse and it didn't get any worse they came to those positions now they're back in the middle of the pack to take four next time have a good stop see what their guys can do on pit roads back into on this round check it out last lap he was faster than dale earnhardt jr talking about some guys with some hot dog wrappers or pieces of paper whatever they might be on the grill of the car ryan newman has a little piece of uh stuff in there marty yeah the concern in the 12-foot starting to build even since we talked about him and through the field the temperature has gone up 10 degrees since then it was 2 30 at that moment now 240 in the 12 car for ryan newman on the water temperature he's trying to use flap cars getting behind them so they can disturb the air maybe that'll make the rapper or whatever it is drop off but right now it is causing major problems inside the 12th car well anytime you get 110 000 people around they sell concessions and the wind picks up looks like we probably have a 10 to 15 mile per hour breeze today it starts moving those hot dog wrappers hamburger rappers around and bam they run in the grill the race car and stay there payback here pal you were the one trying to draw the moving car there okay and you know betty 240 degrees is not going to be good no that's not going to get enough let's go back to the home depot virtual garage and talk about that tape on the grill of a car and what happens when something plugs up that little opening that exists well go ahead there you see the areas going through the upper part of the grille the bottom part of the grill they tape off the bottom because that makes the car faster but the more tape you put on at least the less amount of air you go through then that hot dog wrapper gets on there and pretty soon no air going through the radiator car just simply runs too hot so ryan newman still not able to get that knocked off behind any of these cars and now michael waltrip up to third spot and newman running in fourth just ahead of jimmy johnson dale earnhardt jr fifth different leader of the checker auto parts 500 in phoenix you're watching nascar on nbc [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] 29087. [Applause] [Music] so [Applause] 29-19 that's about a tenth and a half better than the last few laps [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] all right clear clear [Music] [Applause] [Music] on hand at phoenix international raceway watching dale earnhardt jr out in front he leads kurt busch by eight tenths of a second with michael waltrip ryan newman and jimmy johnson the top five rest of your top ten are tony stewart jeff gordon kevin harvick rusty wallace and mark martin championship leader matt kendrick is in 17th position we've had just the one caution flag so far when jeremy mayfield lost an engine back at lap 35. it was pretty impressive stat we put on the screen that junior has led 24 races this year more than any other driver in nascar winston competition in fact he's led the last eight straight races vp mighty impressive of course junior second in the championship 100 it should be 258 points behind matt kenzit starting the day this phoenix international raceway is one of the tracks that only hosts one nascar winston cup series race per year with all the talk about realignment 2004 and beyond a lot of these one race per year tracks are angling for a second race and so our singular wireless race talk poll today if you had to pick from among these four tracks which track would you like to see get a second race each year phoenix vegas texas kansas give us your vote we'll tell you our opinions let's see okay i got mine i got mine okay oh that's a tough choice it is a tough choice it really is i agree wholeheartedly dylan hart jr started to put some cars a lap down and just put 34th place casey mears a left behind kenny wallace ricky craven todd bowden tony raines kyle petty steve park ken schrader larry foyt also overtaken by the race leaders in this little run of the race we went back to green to black 43 with everybody on the lead lap and it's been a long run here pit stops by the way say 25 laps away if we don't get a caution ryan newman the 12th car looks like he's trying to get the handle back trying to take over that third spot frying back from michael walter we don't have to worry about making contact with between these two cars because they're running entirely different lines around the racetrack working around ricky craven filled in for you up here in the booth yesterday ricky doesn't look like he's uh having a very good day so far he's not having fun how about our broadcast pal from yesterday mr webber three words alan not too good very good they need to really free it up in the middle of the cars very tight so when they stop they uh adjusted on the track bar and they did a little wedge a little air pressure and gave four tires of fuel it hasn't helped a whole lot so you know we had fun yesterday but how much fun today uh ricky and his team matter of fact haven't had a lot of fun this week bill they are one of the pontiac teams and i guess the big headline of the week in nascar racing off track was pontiac's announcement on tuesday that they would not back racing for pontiac grand freeze anymore after the conclusion of this season the pontiac teams themselves had no inkling this was coming at all a reaction from them basically if you have a contract with general motors in a good contract for beyond 2003 you're probably going to be running a chevrolet and you'll be okay if you don't and you might be shopping around a little bit the reaction from the grand three teams that i spoke with here during the weekend i think most of the guys aren't going to ricky told us yesterday that the cal wells team the titan ride wouldn't be a chevrolet next year and probably the disappointing thing for most of the teams is that at this point in the year they've besides losing the back of the pontiac we've been a supporter of this sport for so long the fact that a lot of these teams have built cars already for 2004 they've got two or three or four race cars already done and they've got to go back and start again and make them chevrolets here's a great drive so far today by the seven car and jimmy spencerville really made a nice charge up through the field sure has alan coming in off the good finish last week tommy baldwin is crew chief big smile in the garage when they stopped the first time jimmy said the car was tight so they made a track bar and air pressure adjustment now car is turning times as good as the leaders jimmy's saying he's still a little loose third to win a round 125 spitzer looking for two solid weeks back to back in that mess right there with the rusty and the 29. we'll keep an eye on that set it today and bill allen was just talking news events here this week i was handed a press release this morning from roush racing stating that mark martin's crew chief ben leslie would be moving on but to another roush related team that to the wood brothers team of ricky rudd and ricky rudd's crew chief well he'll be coming over to the sixth car of mark martin and when will that all happen effective monday he'll get a head start on next year matt billy woman in his second season in the coochie bonds the blue deuce here says the car is tight for the center off he's trying to figure out what adjustments they want to make one option you're looking at is a track bar adjustment wedge and possibly even an air pressure adjustment on rusty's dodge the car is slowly moving up now eight marty kevin harvick's been fighting tight in the center of the corner loose off of the corner for most of the day matt his problem is they want him to run half a lane higher he said when i go up the other car just way too loose but that seems to be the faster way for many cars just half a laying up from the bottom groove so that's the story the guy's running eighth ninth and tenth right now and farther ahead brian newman has gotten by michael waltrip to take third jimmy johnson starting to challenge the napa car for fourth and look how high michael waltr is on the racetrack in relation to the 48 cars jimmy johnson earnhardt jr out in front took the lead away from ryan newman in that 86 for about 112 now here in phoenix i received this wedding gift from my husband's aunt but i don't need a monkey lamp i was extremely torn i didn't know whether i should just keep the lamp or return it and risk hurting her feelings so i asked my [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] clear all around [Music] here two more two 48. therapy feel there corner clear clear [Music] three out the back hey how are you surprise can a guy like this get a girl like this oh yeah average joe premieres nbc monday 10 9 central seated all around this phoenix international raceway even on the desert hillside overlooking turns three and four watching dale earnhardt jr lead caution's coming out got a car up and smoke and turn three it's casey mears and that caution is going to be devastating to jimmy spencer we just told the story of spencer just before we went to the commercial break and then he had to come on pit road for a stop under the green flag and bill now he's going to get trapped a lap down what happened with the seven in that green flag pit stop there bill jimmy said he's out of gas and tommy baldwin said no there's no way you can be out of gas jimmy said i'm out of gas i'm coming in it only took a can and a half so tommy told her it must be something else so maybe that's fuel pickup or something like that it sounds like they're not picking all the fuel up in the gas tank also joe nemechek in the army car had made a pit stop was on pit road so he's now locked down dog kevin page nice break for the fourth team after that great run they had in atlanta last week finishing 14th started 12th stayed up there all day now he's going to get back on the lead lap here they come to pit roads stops will be at lap 120 bill jimmy johnson will hit first cars too tight so it'll be a wedge adjustment four tires and fuel then he'll be on his way trying to get back to victory lane track bars what they're going to work on dave kurt busch loose off four wants a track bar adjustment little air pressure adjustment on those left side tires he'll take four matt dale earnhardt jr says the car is just slightly tighter than the last run but he likes it no adjustments for driver eight marty second place ryan newman loose off of the corners matt they go down one round on the track bar they also put one round of wedge in you see the wedge ridge being pulled out right there they're going to clean the debris off the grill that's the most important thing water gotten up to 243 and oh that's a close race off pit mid-road alan i guess 97. good stop let's check the camera at pit out shall we brian newman in that first pit stall just has to dump the clutch to try to get to that line got their third ryan newman was pretty good on two tires let's see what he can do on four tires bill well matt kenseth was on pit road this time he got four tires the car was good at the end of that run half round down on the left rear so they make the wedge adjustment four tires and fuel for the 17. as for jeff gordon robbie loomis said the car was just a little bit loose four tires and fuel for jeff gordon looking for his first win here in phoenix and his third consecutive win so jeff gordon running in ninth matt kenseth running in 14th as they came off pit road after the stops curt bush back out in front here in phoenix we're pretty good here [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] gonna get no easier than what it is right now getting into the stall so gotta get it gotta make it happen tier four [Music] all right lucky dog be the four car he'll be coming outside or car [Music] all right bail tight one to go when you get here [Music] [Music] reaction call 1-800 pit shop or visit homesteadmiamispeedway.com 123 laps complete here at phoenix kirkbush still in the lead and speaking of men to know things about things that are going fast cedric bonner the quarterback for the arizona rattlers you're used to footballing half of a field very fast there what a nascar fan uh you know what i'm becoming a fan more and more this is incredible to watch the kind of teamwork that goes on down here it's just awesome down here big adrenaline rush right now afl kicks off february 8th on nbc now your team's been to the last two arena bowls but didn't win and he said you know we're trying to get it done finally get another championship ring just trying to complete the mission and take care of business third all-time passing leader in the afl also third all-time in touchdown town you've seen him play a couple times have you yeah look forward to it next season the afl on nbc starting february 8. [Music] jimmy spencer in that seventh car did not hit under this yellow remember he stopped on the green so he is tail end of the lead lap the zero one car joe nemechek benny mentioned stopped under the green he's actually tail end of two laps down for taylor yeah two two laps down that the 97 has gotten by him so it is spencer last on the lead lap in 32nd place right in front of kurt busch yeah he's about to go a lap down here got the wall off turn four that time and now he needs to stay one lap first guy he could be the lucky dog if something does happen [Music] you want to say that jimmy's not knuckle and understand you can see they're showing the love for each other right there it's going um this is going to be so easy right behind them [Music] altercation the two had in michigan after an on-track high-speed bumping session here's junior trying to make a run he's alongside the 12. ryan is he going to play tough again yes [Music] a lot more than last time [Music] and that's for third place they're racing for now newman gonna jump down in front of junior to try and get by the lap car of joe nemechek in the army machine [Music] back straightaway here in phoenix about 400 feet longer than the front stretch because of that dog leg and so they really wind the rpm out of these engines when they get into turn three i'll tell you up front jimmy spencer is giving it all he's got to stay in front of the 97 car kirk book [Music] jimmy johnson creeping up in the back of kurt bush for the race [Music] that was kurt bush's radio 97 is getting held up a little bit by jimmy spencer that's let jimmy johnson close the gap and that's why the kurt has to try to go on as much as he can because if he just says okay i'll try to follow jimmy spencer guess what the 48 is going to try to pass him and maybe get by for the lead but you know letting somebody buy and settling for the lucky dog things just got to be contrary i don't think anybody's saying that i mean jimmy's jimmy's doing everything he's got to do here well i think that's what kurt's saying the radio transmission you know hey look let me go he's going to be in line for the lucky dog he's just holding me up right now and i'm the leader but that's just against your instincts as a driver [Music] here's jimmy johnson the 48 car looking on the inside of curt bush you know if i if i'm kurt again goes against your instincts but i might just say all right jimmy i'll let you leave for a bit see if you can get by this guy and i'll follow you through you know kirk's frustrated right now there's no doubt about it so he's gonna have to regroup here a little bit give a little time and you're right if the 48 gets by him and the 48 gets by the seven card jimmy spencer it may lead a hole big enough for both of them to get through it but spencer's got him pretty fast how about 97 there dave kurt trying to keep himself collected he radios to his crew i can see that there's no other challenge here than the 48. bill chad cadass told me this morning this car has been very good since they got it here a little free all the way around there's a bump in turn four that was giving them some problems but they've worked through that had a good stop and now trying to get to the front of this field inside of the 97. bill jack announced told me this morning i said how's things going he said see you in victory lane really yeah they were confident weren't they they sure coach were singular wireless race talk poll earlier had to do with the races that have one race now that would like to host the second stop by the nascar winston cup circuit we took your ballots from among these four nominees that we put up wow look at that texas 44 that's all i thought would win bottom line they're all great candidates for a second race but they are there are only so many dates on the calendar a robbie gordon singular wireless driver we asked him for his take on this subject here's what he had to say there's one winston cup track that deserves a second date i'm gonna have to pick las vegas the reason why it's a great place to bring your sponsors and entertainment fun race track to drive on also i'm right well that was not my pick the majority was not my favorite guy the fans at kansas has just been terrific i mean you know they bought all the tickets they go to the irl to the truck races so uh that was my pick this is still going on between ryan newman and dale earnhardt jr and this for third and fourth places matt allen right before the restart junior radioed his spotter ty norris has said as the 12 spotter how that team wants to race it they haven't done anything dirty yet but i can really tell that ryan is pushing that hard when i try to work the bottom line underneath him marty matt ryan was pushing a little hard because his car was not handling as well on the last one and this is this run matt boylan just asking how's the car he said the chassis is much better balanced pretty good more importantly water temp down to 220. got the hot dog wrapper or whatever it was off the grill there [Music] 136 laps complete now 137 for leader kurt bush out in front of jimmy johnson by two-tenths of a second here at phoenix international raceway [Music] brought to you by wendy's here's the pitch and it's right down the juicy part of the plane juicy boy that one had a lot of mustard on it i like mustard [Applause] [Music] [Applause] wendy's has a better way to satisfy those late-night cravings we make every classic single and double fresh right when you order it and here's the throw oh cut stealing wendy's it's better here let's say this is you yeah you're the king but being the king isn't always easy so when you're with more trouble back at phoenix international raceway live ricky craven has just gotten into the wall in between turns one and two caution flags out craven running 35th at the time there's a pack of those guys together i don't know if you got any help over there but there was a bunch of them boxed up in uh one or two there and jimmy spencer that seventh car stayed in front of the leaders now back on the lead lap tail in the lead lap but he's on the lead lap and somebody else is going to get the lucky dog because spencer was able to stay in front of curt bush check it out craven left to your screen does that pack luck he's just going to break loose there and matt kenseth in the vicinity of the crash your championship leader ricky's been struggling all day like he just when he got on the gas there actually looks like he got loose before he got on the gas looks like just about the time he turned the wheel and make the car go the other direction the back end came around all right last pit stops at lap 120. only been 19 laps we're going to see some two tire stops here we're going to see a bunch of guys stay on the racetrack look at this 10th place kevin harvick the only one of the leaders that comes in let's go finish our commercial break [Music] [Music] i can laugh right here gabriel get this fender at the bottom hard all the way out kevin all the way we're in trouble [Music] just help him out [Music] [Music] at least four lifetimes craftsman 1600 hand tools are guaranteed forever and made in america craftsman at sears notre dame looks to continue its dominance of navy it's too slow on my pace i keep my face up a bit [Music] for example i ran the first run probably the hardest the second run i backed it up a little bit so i could save it because i figured it'd go run right there i was uh i was limited by what only what my car could do coming outside you hear the 74. [Music] [Music] wow he's listening to us right now and you know he's the biggest race fan in the world and dad i hope that you're liking this race because it's been a pretty good one so far and see you tomorrow good boy hp how about the leaders pit crew dave checking in with jimmy fennig you know just seems like challenges keep coming kurt's way are you glad you didn't have to race around the seven yeah i mean uh kurt did an awesome job there racing you know he just just watches having there you know and uh today's been pretty good that uh rubbermaid paper crew's been doing an awesome job and kurt's doing an awesome job on the racetrack we'll just see what happens at the end thanks jimmy bill with chad canal's crew chief for jimmy johnson how's your stuff not too bad the car is real good down to one and two you know i'll tell you what i can't say enough about this lowe's team these guys have fought hard this week we didn't run real well here last year we've really stepped it up so i'm really proud of these guys jimmy's done a great job going to try to stay in the top five make some more adjustments and see we got at the end okay going back to green here in a second jimmy johnson running second behind kurt busch kevin harvick the first of the drivers to pit under this caution flag gave up 10th came out 20th other guys who pitted besides harvick on the lead lap robbie gordon dale jarrett ward burton greg biffle bill elliott uh most of the guys toward the back of the lead lap besides harvick he was the only one about the top 20 that pitted yeah but from 20th on back they all dove in and got those fresh tires that's what's going to be interesting to see here bp now harvard's got 20 lap fresher tires than these guys in front of him and we'll see what kind of ground he can make there's a lot of track position to make up this racetrack lucky dog on that last caution was tony raines he's back on the lead lap in 33rd place [Music] and it's kurt bush leading the field back up to full speed let's talk about that 29 decision to committed kit marty yeah allen in essence they were running 10th and uh came out 20 and so they gave up 10 spots for 20 lap pressure tires we'll see if it works kevin coming down pit road by himself said this is not a good decision but time various point to me was we were going nowhere the way we were we were way too loose off they made a big adjustment we'll see if it works junior about to lose a spot as he tries to get by this lap traffic tony stewart drives on the inside does junior know he's there looks like ty norris told him he was there but here comes tony again yeah junior had to hesitate a little bit with the 54 car top of a dime which that let tony stewart make up a lot of ground and fill the hole michael waltrip there in the mix and the 15. didn't pull it off though junior did not give him a lot of room down he wanted to he kept the 20 card down on the bottom part of the racetrack man what's junior saying now under that caution dale jr said on the first run he was working the car really really hard the second run it backed up a little bit but it's gotten progressively tighter he said in the third run he is limited by what this car will do tony stewart who was working hard on dale jr says the car is tight in the center three-handed free off but he's really concerned about the tightness center greg zabale wondering and thinking about what they're gonna do to that race car on their next stop to get smoke back to victory lane here in phoenix tony stewart the 99 winner of this race running in fifth place trying to hold off michael waltrip as he's falling back one through two from dale earnhardt jr's back bumper third third fourth first third second tony stewart's last six weeks on the winston cup tour hot he's been terrific sure has and last week in atlanta i think about everyone expected once they came out and jeff gordon leading the race and tony stewart right behind him that tony would go by the 24 but guess what didn't get it done jeff gordon up to the in there in task position you know everybody wants a piece of the action bp everybody wants to do what we do every week let me show you what i mean why does minnie get to have all the fun i want to cue the doctor hey benny you get to have the fun every week i want to do it this week hey benny you get to always have all the fun but this week i'm going to do it hey man chew that duck cue the duck time for the aflac nascar winston cup trivia quiz the only championship leader that failed to finish a phoenix nascar winston cup race who is the only champion [Music] 1994. earnhardt had already clinched the championship when he came in here to phoenix he won it the week before it rocking him he ended up scoring his worst finish of the season here when he had an engine failure after 91 of the 312 laps and finished 40th so there you go the duck have been queued thank you guys appreciate the help kurt busch leading jimmy johnson brian newman dale earnhardt jr and tony stewart rounding out the top five 33 of the 43 starters on the lead lap only drivers out of the race casey meyers and jeremy mayfield done for the day with engine failures vicky craven's car back in the garage being repaired after a trip into the turn two wall a few laps ago how about our championship leader bill where's he at he's doing all right now cars just a little bit loose he says not bad they're gonna try and make a wedge adjustment when he comes in next time but the four tires have helped out so mckenzie up to what is he 13th right now you got it okay so going the right direction remember that kenza took just right side tires on his pit stop at lap 39 was 27th at the time moved up to 14th and only fell back to 16th in that next green flag run until he came in with everybody else and got four tires and back on equal footing so that was a big plus that was a good move as on this racetrack [Music] mark martin there for the 12th position and i think these two guys are chasing cars jamie mcmahon and the 99 of jeff burke who just changed two tires on this last pit stop but they're able to stay up early start maybe wrong but mcmurray is still using that yeah apron down there and there is there's some grip down there you know on those aprons and then one or two and three and four but you just got to be careful if you're sprung too soft and you hit that apron it'll snap the car loose so you just got to make sure that you can work that apron in practice if you're going to use it in the race greg biffle on pitt road just in halfway matt uh heartbreak for greg biffle came on the radio he says i've got a flat tire the last time by doug richard the crew said it looks like the left sides are up you want to only go two he says i just don't know which one it is so at this point gonna go right sides only okay so that's tough people trying to chase down jamie mcmurray in the race for the my bestest rookie year title and that's going to be uh tough for bethel today as he's on a green flag unscheduled pit stop and mcmurray is running just outside the top 10. we're just past halfway in the checker auto parts 500 in phoenix kurt [Music] clear bush [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so would you a half back [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] sure [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] so [Music] guys have one motto what goes around very clear [Music] very clear [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] we just sucked it over there [Music] [Applause] back down to 60. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] on the next stop [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] over the last few years too wally in my opinion number one the dependence on aerodynamics you can't fix aerodynamics here at the racetrack for the most part and the other thing is practice time is very limited here that's right you only get a couple hours of practice on friday and when they come in on friday all that is getting ready for qualifying which is so dramatically different than getting ready to race so friday's it's just a qualifying shot the whole day a shot yeah exactly just qualifying and then saturday you get ready to race kevin harvick started to make some progress on those four fresh tires marty's moved up to 15. he's made half of that ground up allen he's made up five spots since he restarted chassis much better kevin happier with it now the one point that we were talking about during the break they can make it on one stop todd barrier says that's by accident not by design they were hoping everybody else would pit with him but you know if it works out he said you know i'll just be lucky and that'll be fine with me todd barry is so cool isn't he okay jimmy spencer have all crashed [Music] [Applause] boys no he's not okay he's got the air and knocked out of him yeah all the air is knocked out of his body apparently kevin lepage getting in the oil from spencer's car you heard the crew chief tommy baldwin say the engine blew up and he backed it in see jimmy moving there in the car trying to get his breath and the hard hit boy it was boy they never blow coming off the corner do they better go in there dude when you back off the throttle maximum speed maximum rpm that's when they decide to blow up and we talked about earlier the back straightaway being the longer of the two they're really twisting these engines tight at the end of that back straightaway here in phoenix let's see top of the screen oh yeah close the engine [Music] well the page didn't get it too bad but spencer boy what a hit and folks that's in slow motion and biffle goes sliding through barely missing the seventh car he just slipped in his own oil sure that thing grenaded as we say and ward burton getting in the oil and catching the wall in turn three as well pit road is closed that's word's got a helmet off and the pit road is closed because of where jimmy spencer's car sits in turn four apparently oh this is not going to be pretty that oil fluids and the engine gets on the racetrack on the asphalt surface and these tires hit it and it just absolutely like he didn't ice if you've ever driven your car and hit a patch of ice you know what jimmy's spencer felt like you see jimmy out of the car there just kind of hidden behind the corner of the ambulance yeah and walking away taking off his head and neck restraint and there's ward burton out of his car there's jimmy walking over toward the ambulance yeah yeah yeah i'm okay just barely i want to go home yeah exactly man has a hard pick so thinking back to racing for a minute now that we know jimmy and ward are okay kevin harvick two tires on this pit stop to get some of that track position really back i would think so probably he stopped at lap 140. it's one uh i don't know yeah i think he's gonna stop but those guys are pretty fast down there in that 29 pit let's see and get away with it sorry see where all the rescue equipment is so that's why pit road remains closed so let's take our break here we'll come back for the start of the pit stops in a minute be interesting to see what kind of strategies are played out on pit road caution flag is out for the fourth time today here in phoenix in demand you don't have a clear shot coming in but the four will be coming around they're gonna stop it as deep as they can and we're gonna stop you as short as we can and get you out of here [Music] [Music] pit road is still closed [Music] [Music] [Music] pit road will be open this time we got a couple of blowers up here just past the dogs against the wall michael pitt road will be open 4200 seconds [Music] hey bud stop on the side nice and easy nice and close the track's starting to tighten up as well he's good in one and two but is having trouble at three and four he cannot get the car to rotate down there so what he's been doing he's been using the apron to help him turn the car they're gonna make an air pressure adjustment and a chassis adjustment to try and help johnson get out and get by the 97. so he's on pit road the crew goes to work four tires chassis adjustment and fuel as we turn to lap 173 dave leader kurt busch was just a little bit free off the corners a little bit tight in the center of the turns on fresh tires once a track bar and their pressure adjustment matt dave dale earnhardt jr says the left front just not working he needs to wait on the car he needs it to be picked up about half a car length back in the throttle marty for the first time all day ryan newman's car is tight ryan newman made the call two tires two rounds of wedge in the right rear car wins that race off pit road oh we had a few guys get just right side tires there marty i want you to follow up and check for me but i believe rusty wallace and kevin harvick also just got two tires i know jeff gordon did a little bit of a long jam at the end of the pit row this is the race for third look at this harvick and gordon give that one a heart army barely so the 29 took two yes like i talked about yeah i bet he might do a pretty good call there by todd barrier we'll reset the running order for you after this you're watching nascar on nbc [Music] the first one with four tires not sure kevin even if we give up a few spots right here we're gonna be better off yeah you'll do good i know i think rusty might have just took two pretty sure he man that's well picked too we'll be okay i think the 24 behind you did also his tires look a little better wheels yeah i just checked with them 24 take two [Music] it's no surprise the home we've got fresher left in my other cars anyway we got tip four [Music] bye [Music] to take the two tires it was a great decision but here's the seven men who got him out first matt borland crew chief haslam michigan michael nelson windshield anderson south carolina ray ocean front tire care salisbury north carolina dennis terry front tire changer morrisborough north carolina chad norris jackman concord north carolina trent sherry rear tire carrier dundee ohio joe ps rear tire changer wausau wisconsin steve burner gas man colorado springs colorado jerry moody catch can history north carolina those guys have done a terrific job all year long on that 12 car i mean after all is what easy one nine time night time caution just about to wrap up after jimmy spencer crashed over in turn three dave let's take another look at the accident to put us out of the caution my bad i don't know if i want to see this anymore what about you hard hard contact with that outside retaining wall by all right dave go ahead guys we're gonna jump in with jimmy spencer here real quick jimmy just gotta tell us about what happened there we saw the ride pretty rough go for you really was it was a hard hit you know but uh we had terrible gas mall something happened to the pickup in the car and we wanted to run 80 laps and as we ended up losing a lap we got it back it's fun racing kurt there uh i'm sure it wasn't for him i knew that we had an opportunity to win the race and then finally something looked at the bottom end of the motor and busted the oil pan underneath the car and pulled all up you're okay i'm fine rusty wallace kevin harvick jeff gordon the first four just right side tires on their pitstop then jimmy johnson and kurt bush the two leaders before ordered reverse though johnson off the road ahead of bush followed by earnhardt jr tony stewart michael walter and sterling marlon off to tenth place and nima checked in front and brian hard trying to get one of those laps back he's two down right now rusty wallace has getting all he wants and kevin harvick right behind him i know this might be very seldom this year have we seen the penske cars the 12 and two running one two rogers here today he must be very happy he looks down and he's on the scoreboard his two cards running first and second you know i talked with roger penske uh about ryan newman and he said you know we've got to start giving this young man more credit for what he's accomplished this year he said everybody keeps talking about the fuel mileage thing and the strategy thing but this young man has gotten up on the wheel and driven the wheels off this race car and he deserves more credit for the success that he's had this season i would agree with that but when you talk to the guys inside the garage area they don't talk about fuel mileage they talk about the talent that ryan newman has they all understand that jeff gordon one of seven drivers whose teams just got right side tires on their pit stop he's locked up in a fight there with kevin harvick and kurt bush behind them all looking for a way through this would be for third fourth fifth sixth seventh oh wow look at them all johnson down there following his teammate a fleet of chevrolet's balance for the what is that third spot yep you gotta pour it in there oh that's right kurt bush is in there the lone ranger stacked up two by two he's gonna wait till it sorts out gordon locked up in this fight bill yep allen and just on those two right side tires as you talked about jeff said that's the only way they're gonna get to the front is by taking the two tires for track decision so let's see how long they can stay there that's why i love this race pack and i mean i love this racetrack and that's why it's so fun to drive here because of that right there you run side by side there's plenty of room to race they keep running like here many laps they're going all of a sudden somebody's gonna be fighting for the same amount of racetrack that's a slide job so gordon in front of harvick for third now kurt busch there remember [Music] next corner [Music] we're all around we're all around turn three caution's out turn three not hard to believe that there had been some contact there and all that traffic after the restart that might have cut that tire out and i guess he couldn't get to pitt road might not be any suspension bolts left on that thing by the time he drags around here for a while they don't have an inner liner here do they no it's all it's that's right tubeless tires here so he's on basically on the rim and look the tire is wrapped around this is the tire back here part of the tire smart circles need some work let's do this benny driver see the tire that's how you gonna circle in here so this is the fifth caution of the race and it comes out with 126 laps to go don't suspect we'll see many pit stops here except maybe some of the guys toward the back of the pack i said jeff gordon put the slide job on kevin harvick so the caution flags out they're slowing down the pace car comes up kevin harvick probably agreed with me on that one yeah he comes up and uh trying to get jess jess doesn't want to look at him he pulls up behind beside the two car finally they get together whoa [Music] okay so that was harvick was the back end of the double header there say they're not happy with each other fours boys boys okay so let me write we got 12 and eight and 97 earlier now we've got 24 and 29 marty who else you got 99 and he is leaving pit road he said he got into us i don't know who he is yet i will effort that uh he said he did not hit the first time because he thought the left rear would not do any damage to the car and i looked pretty uh pretty clean he said someone did cut the tire when they came around it's a shame because he just came on the radio and said way better way better the chassis very good but these guys have just had awful awful luck this year yeah he didn't lose a lap no but he's going to be back in 30th place after the caution flag for his tire that went down yellow flag 125 to go in phoenix do you have the right truck the 2004 chevy silverado now available with power [Music] [Applause] back [Music] looking at that left front danny but uh it ain't rubbing now when did that happen kevin the yellow when you come over here and come up on me [Music] i mean i can see the tire right there at the top i mean it's in a good little waist um if it don't rub we'll be fine we should be rolling over right there you know when we're coming off a corner i mean you know i don't know to play it right we ought to come in here pull it out put four tires on it enemy alright here's our lead lamp yeah i don't think so [Music] you're breaking hard when you're turning off the wall so just be prepared for [Music] we got left cars that coming inside the first one being 45. [Music] midshipman in south bend next saturday 2 30 eastern nbc 100 pure official products and [Music] star's off [Music] [Applause] we're clear outside outside outside surviving at 97 [Music] defeated [Music] championship [Music] one lap down in 33rd place he turns that wheel so far that's when it hits that fender and you're hoping right now when you're sitting there driving that thing you know you're rubbing the fender you're hoping man i hope this thing doesn't cut and blow a tire kurt bush inside of jeff gordon looks like junior's car smokes worse than turn three that it doesn't turn one that's digging in there pretty good kurt busch trying to pull the slide job on jeff ford is third place we're watching here curt four tires on his pit stop gordon with just the rights has led the most laps so far today two times for 98 for the 193 laps that we've completed when you don't want to be on the outside of that eight card he does have a left front tire go down yeah danny cutler spotter 29 come to back up well they're not going to do that they want to get in front and get away almost flagged his right side out on the wall there kevin harvey is driving his heart out right now in that 29 car i don't think he's quite as good as some of these other cars he's trying to make up with talent so junior by harvick that'll be fifth place a lot of guys on the revit limiter back there [Music] slides up the track and there's another spot here a couple spots 48 gets underneath them johnson and here's sony stewart up behind him [Music] but he's not winning at this point yeah nothing really wrong with the chassis though allen kevin came on the radio during the caution and said we may get beat up here for just a little bit but we need the long run the longer we go the better we get matt marty very little conversation on dale earnhardt's radio channel they do know the tire is rubbing it's not rubbing a lot the guys are ready with tires near the wall in case he does have the duck out pit road but jeff clark the gas man just took his helmet off they don't look like they're getting ready to pit anytime soon well with the field all bunched up on a restart after a caution cautions brief cautions and maybe they get somebody else bounce off each other and get a quick yellow and get a chance to fix it but earnhardt jr locked up in this very tight fight for second in the nascar winston cup championship with kevin harvick and jeff gordon and ryan newman and jimmy johnson and it's worth what second to six is the difference of a three-quarters of a million dollars eight hundred ten thousand dollars that's a lot of money lots of money even to these guys it's a lot of money yeah 38 points between second and fifth starting today 91 points second to six is having a hard time getting into the corner you know he gets it looks like he hits the brakes and that car really starts sliding i don't know if he needs to adjust on those brakes or what but he's having a hard time getting in the corners right now there's that race for second yeah second to six 71 points matt what about tony stewart a track bar and air pressure adjustment on the last stop vp tony said the car just feels like he has limestone tires absolutely absolutely no grip he can't figure it out but he also said zippy i feel like we need another long run so these guys would start slipping and sliding all around again they don't know what to do with it but i sure do that comes from his overwhelm dirt background i'm actually a dirt track race i think tony stewart would be pretty doggone tough if they ran these cars on a one mile dirt someplace each year arca runs at one mile at springfield and de coin yeah and uh tony stewart usually wins after labor day matt you got more on stewart for us and he did win in an archer dirt race earlier this year one of the biggest wins he said for him that was a big goal he wanted to win a full fender stock car and he sure pulled it off this year but he's certainly [Music] [Applause] that's uh tony stewart getting around the lap car joe nemechek there little shuffle up in the back bobby gordon jeff burton those guys must have been racing and almost wrecked or something because they're way off the pace there 99 car saw car just driving by what happened here you see him side by side oh robby robbie robbie what are you doing there i saw those front wheels turning like he got loose under jeff and he got loose and he had no place to go and eight tires became much better than four you're right ninety-nine it's kind of looking like wally yesterday he's in a hurry isn't he marty yeah um is getting a little aggressive now he's none too happy on the radio the incident earlier that was good buddy robbie gordon and uh he's not very happy but uh he's trying to make his way back to the front after the cutting the left rear tire let's talk about ford in this racetrack allen real quick allen pretty incredible here 11 of the 15 winston cup races held here at pir ford has won including five of the last six going to that back to back wins by jeff burton in 2000 and his teammate matt kenseth winning here last year three straight for roush here pretty clear that ford is a dominant make here in the valley of the sun if you haven't looked at ford lately look again now keep in mind they pitted last on lap 190 paul andrews tells me they are not planning to stop again they can go about 100 to 103 laps on a tank of fuel that leads 122. clearly they need some help with caution but the 99 strategy right now is to stay out oh come on come on jeff burton running 27th right now here's the race for second jeff gordon trying to get around rusty wallace and dale jr joining the mix jeff gordon trying for the three-peat after winning the last two straight races at martinsville in atlanta last time jeff gordon won three straight it was actually spread over two seasons he won the last two of 1998 plus the daytona 500 of 99. these guys up front they've pretty much been up front all day as we check our little debbie lap leaders kurt busch jimmy johnson daler hart jr hanging right in there top six what that eight car still looks like it's working the best out of everybody and he just got by the 97 car kurt busch who has led the most laps to move into that four spot definitely the fastest car through three and four that i've seen how about rusty wallace running second right now he is losing sight of his teammate who is leading billy woburn told me this morning one of the best pieces of advice roger penske ever told him if you don't take a chance you'll never get a chance they took two tires on their last stop something they did several times here last year and it has helped the car a little tight in the center but very good on entry very good off they made a wedge adjustment the last stop rusty just told billy wilmer he wants that wedge put back in it on their next stop okay all right kurt busch now tries to get alongside jeff ford you'll probably get a long side but can he get enough almost while to come off the corner and beat him though can't do it not yet so jeff gordon given up third spot to dale jr now trying to defend fourth from kurt busch kurt really wants to get on the outside of that 24 car but i don't think jeff gordon's going to fall for that trailer i don't think he will either but you know kurt's going to do is going to keep working the 24 is obviously probably a little faster so he's going to try to get right to that left rear corner loosen them up maybe a little bit turn three got a car in the wall steep that's steve head on in the wall man that's a big time rig caution's out safety vehicles rolling already steve's trying to start the thing i don't think he's going to get far no it's not going to run too good steve here comes the window net down and that's just fuel in the exhaust system the exhaust system is 900 degrees 1000 degrees and the fuel that has fallen down in that steel exhaust system has to burn off some way i see here's one of the all right let's let's take a look at what happened to steve first what i'm sorry to say is see they couldn't roll the safety work cars across because these guys kept coming below steve park's race car between where the safety workers were and where his car is the nascar tells the drivers in the drivers meeting if possible go above the scene of the accident so we can get the safety trucks to the crashed car but if you're a driver you don't want to go above the accident because there's debris up there and you don't want to get debris on your tires exactly that's where the debris would be located on the outside there car just broke loose on them he and todd beaudine might have made contact just before they got into the corner looking ahead from robbie gordon all clear away shot so sixth caution flag for steve park running 36th at the time and into the wall in turns three and four now 102 laps to go at this point these will be potentially the last pit stops by the leaders of the race i would say yeah and they last came in at lap 173 so i think we'll see what do you think most people take four here absolutely oh yeah funeral absolutely closed we'll take a break come back for those crucial pit stops you're watching nascar still closed [Music] whatever else you got that's my biggest concern yeah i think about that because it got [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] will be open we'll be open i don't think we can but watch the leaders [Music] [Applause] [Music] kurt bush's car has gotten tight he wants a track bar adjustment and air pressure adjustment but only two tires matt the wedge has already been put back in rusty wallace's blue dude so four tire change no other adjustments than that marty take on the tight side for ryan newman says it can be loose off depending upon how i drive it no one has ever won this race for the pole many teams taking two tires it'll be four tires for newman on the very edge of his fuel window wow two tires man that's pushing it benny yeah that is really these guys but you have to gamble so much these days to try to win these things so let me uh add these up here as we check the camera exiting pit road yeah you do the math jimmy johnson honey seven kurt bush two tires two tires first guy on four would be not yet two tires two tires four tires two tires four tires first guy and then gordon he comes next no rusty junior then gordon oh yeah how about that two tire call bill on the 48 car pretty gutsy the last adjustment did free the car up a little bit but it wasn't as good as it was jimmy said they needed to free it up again with a different adjustment they took just two tires see if that helps some more hurts and that's a long long way to go that is bill that is 100 oh let's say it will be 98 to go five memory serves me right matt kenseth did just about the same thing last year yeah but it was just right it was later in the race though alan you're right you're exactly right all right well jimmy johnson just two tires on his pit stop can they carry him to the finish i don't know it's a long way to go [Music] nbc monday and all new las vegas it's just one of those days the guests are locked out how many rooms 400 and from the oldest gang to the wildest thieves everyone's on edge i don't know what's the matter with me another hot all-new las vegas nbc monday after fear factor deep in washington's forests bold poachers defy the law now king five exposes these illegal bear hunts monday at 10 bear baiting we find bear bait sites constantly widespread organized and thriving even weeks later the bark of this hemlock still smells like a glazed doughnut outlawed by voters ignored by poachers it's a big problem a king 5 investigation monday on king 5 news at 10 on kong 616. he thinks i'm going to the left so i'll go right he thinks that i think he's going to the right so i watch for the three he thinks that i think that he thinks i shoot the three saw pass he thinks that i think he's going to pass so i'll guard the lane he thinks that i think he thinks i'll drive so i'll go outside i think that he thinks that i think he's going to outside things get your game pack now log on quit your job and make money monday at 7. on the track these men are fierce competitors but today they are helping build the victory junction gang camp for children with life-threatening illnesses please join these and other dedicated drivers in support of this empowering camping built in honor of adam petty through your donations this dream will soon become a reality join the game the victory junction game and feel your heart race okay which one of you guys took the restrictor plate off the bulldozer i mean maybe they said stick to driver now another nascar winston cup memory november 15 1992 the battle of atlanta during the season's final race davey allison bill elliott and alan kuwicki all take turns as the nascar winston cup championship leader in the end independent driver owner kawiki clinches the title by 10 points over elliott the closest margin in nascar winston cup history 33 years of nascar winston cup racing memories and i don't think any of us were there who were there in atlanta that day particularly by the sad events just months later will ever forget that thrilling race for the championship most dramatic race i've ever seen the 1992 hooters 500. [Music] what a thrill it was so dramatic that david poole wrote a book about that race no it's unbelievable back under green here today in phoenix 94 laps to go jimmy johnson the leader kurt busch second michael walter third jamie mcmurray fourth mark martin fifth brian vickers sixth all just two tires on their pit stop ryan newman first with four tires off kid road next in line he is seventh followed by rusty wallace earnhardt jr jeff gordon and tony stewart back to 11. championship leader matt kinsen back to 18. a lot of these cars are going to have to have some caution flags if they make it on fuel the rest of the way bill 99 laps to go or when they made the pit stops what are your guys down there saying i just talked to chat canals i said can you make it i said nope i said you really can't make it he said well right now we can't so obviously they're going to need some caution lapse to get there okay and we heard jeff gordon talk about a piece of tape on his windshield visor as these cars go down this front straightaway and drive into the sun visibility becomes very poor let's uh go back and talk some more about that fuel situation story we were monitoring jimmy johnson's radio just a few minutes ago good job boys that's what i'm talking about boys and four boys way to go need fuel save fuel 104 and that sets the stage for it so obviously they're going to see if their driver can conserve fuel but [Music] 99 laps is a pretty long poke here in phoenix one car this morning when i walked through the grand jury one team told me they could run 100 one out of about 30 guys i talked to was it that one very valid question there how about kurt bush dave how's he sitting it wasn't kurt bush either bp wasn't no it wasn't okay now they get only about 90 laps so uh they're gonna need uh either a lot of caution or a splash at the end oh really probably one caution would bring him into that window now here's the race for first among the guys who got four tires on their pit stop and it's the eight and twelve side by side again we've seen this a lot today brian newman about to lose a spot marty and alan they are right on their fuel number for making it all the way they told ryan as soon as he left pit road go into fuel conservation mode now the chassis is the best it's been all day long on the run before this one and they are better the longer they run so they may wind up in victory lane again at lunch already this season making most of their strategy rpm cost you some fuel and that being said the eighth car would probably come as close as anybody because he's turning less rpms than most cars out there kevin hart kevin harvick i keep on call vickers harvick for some reason today brian vickers trying to win a nascar bush series championship while getting his winston cup career started and he's back up to sixth place after starting very well earlier today up in the front row on the outside of the front row let's hear about his car right now saving that two-tire scenario allen for late in the race that's what they were hoping for that's what they just got they did make a small adjustment but brian is very very close peter suspends those crew remember two out of the last three races here at phoenix he's had a car that nearly won finishing second he says we are very very close i've cautioned him very close that goes back to peter suspenso's days running the 12 operation for roger penske remember mike wallace in that 12th car had a runner-up finish here a couple of years ago junior goes by vickers takes over that shot how about a chevy in race leader board bow ties looking good but they got a fight on their hands right now first third sixth seventh night we got the odd number for the exception of vickers [Music] chevrolet has not won here at phoenix got a spin just to finish that thought i started to throw out their last chevrolet win here at phoenix 1994. terry lobotti that could change today wow getting a little push there oh here we go now ryan newman brian vickers oh now we've got a big crash tony stewart rusty wallace kevin harvick and bobby caution flags out they were all racing for 10th place [Music] all right kevin we'll meet you soon and some potential contenders for a top finish here today in phoenix looks like with their days severely hampered now this crash may be big enough and take long enough to clean up that some guys it will get them in that fuel window and everybody's thrown away i don't know how long it's going to take unless it's right fluid they get it's like rusty gets into the back of the 20 car and then 22 car scotland scott weber gets in the back rusty and then kevin harvick's got no place to go bobby labonte has no place to go wrong place wrong time another shot that's a chain reaction the accordion factor yeah and our championship leader matt kenzit's feud going through the accident but he can't see too much down in the sun but he does see all those cars go to the outside and mike [Music] and fortunately matt cleared who is left and now of you not so pretty this is with kevin hart danny you can't stop that quickly those cars don't have the brakes to stop that quick danny carl the spotter on the car so harvick has taken his car off the racetrack into the garage area for repairs rusty wallace on and off pit road there you see the five cars involved i don't think wimber the 22 car was involved to a great deal but rusty bobby labonte tony stewart kevin harris they had serious damage winter stayed out there tony stewart also on it off pit road already here's another look scott wimber the 22 cars right in the middle of these cars and looks like stewart he gets to the back of 22 got in the back of the two car and spun rusty when he made contact with the 20 so 22 was involved but i don't think he had a lot of damage see bobby labonte's car being towed away [Applause] oh man i can't believe that oh man they must be really really short on fuel wally they needed 16 yellow flag laps to make it to the end they didn't think they were going to get them so three and a half gallons of fuel is all that jimmy fenning has called for and then they changed their buy well let's just get four tires anyway we're the only one that came down pit road we'll put fresh rubber on it hope that'll take us to the end [Music] boy that's a lot of track position looks like the next car that i saw come down pit road was the 20th place car after kurt busch gave up second maddie tony stewart is in they're going to go to work and pull out the fender on the left front as they're going to put four tires on surveying the damage mark robertson the spotter was telling zippy what the right side damage looked like as mike lingard fell and the guys continue to work on that left front corner of tony stewart's race car rusty wallace was in twice they pulled the fenders out on both the right front and left front fender as work continues on tony stewart chevrolet so a four-car crash racing for tenth position brings out the seventh caution of the race it's a pitch strategy is going to cost kurt bush some track position [Music] [Music] how to fire up the jet to blow it off as soon as we come in i told you they were gonna do that standing i told you we're gonna have eight laps of caution well we need 16 to 17 laps of caution 10-4 i know that so there's there's no reason to really worry we're in the pickle we're in nothing ever goes right everybody outside [Music] probably about three laps down that's what's wrong with this rule that guy should have at least two laps back today so trader got his lap back so who else is there the 20 car those 20 cars still on the lead lap [Music] 23 14 31 than us [Music] i don't know if i'd change the other side losing on the lap halfway down the back no we don't need to lose a lamp come on you gonna need no good speed robbie two laps was bad i won't ever be a lucky dog we should have changed that it could side changed any of but it's history now it was better off just staying on the lead lap robbie robbie sorry nevermind go ahead go ahead remember what we talked about today on about coming to green i had to go although there are a few more cars back in the garage here we come to the restart with 75 laps to go kurt busch is 22nd after giving up second place to get and nobody else did jimmy johnson leads michael waltrip second mark martin third earnhardt junior fourth jamie mcmurray fifth followed by ryan newman brian vickers jeff gordon jeff burton scott wimmer and matt kensick 11. now they got under that caution flag eight laps of yellow from the pit stops at 99 to go those guys that aren't planning on stopping were those eight laps of yellow enough to get him to the finish well they got a couple laps of caution flag after they spit it on 99. so we're probably looking at 11 12 left my guess is some of them now will make it it doesn't look like ernheart's trying to save fuel again the eight car i know does not have as much gear ratio as some of these cars that will help his fuel monitor don't get a follow-up on that i can assure you our guns on good road i spoke with tony harry jr this morning he says they're playing it a little more conservative they feel like not as conservative but they can't take a chance on breaking an engine like they did back in new hampshire they were going to be good to go before this caution slightly a quarter of a gallon left in the tank but now they should be good to go marty vinnie i've never seen slugger labby so nervous you wouldn't believe it the man's pacing back here in the back of the pit stall michael walton's car very close right on the edge of the fuel window i asked him what kind of gear they were running his answer a lot yeah that's what i was afraid of i'm afraid the 15 might have more gear ratio in the eight car which robs a little bit of that fuel i talked with slugger this morning in the garage he said i'm worried about this thing living all day because we're really pouring the coals on the fire they want to win badly and the 15 car the napa car was very very good in loud new hampshire racetrack very similar to this and you know the more gear you run on a place like here in phoenix a it helps rotate the car in the center it loosens up the car when you get on the gas and b you don't have to use as much brake because when you have a lot of gear the engine helps slow you down into the corner so it's a plus if you can get it to lift michael waltrip just lost second place to dale earnhardt jr who's trying to close in on jimmy johnson meanwhile earnhardt jr's rival for second in the championship standings he's in the garage after that last wreck dave not anymore ellen that sound you hear is kevin harvick returning to the racetrack the crew went to work on the front of the car put everything back together that he could and that they could and they sent him back out having uh felt like all the fluids were running through the motor everything was uh good to get back out there and run a few laps by the way steve park was fine he was released from the medical center didn't want to talk to us after his wreck earlier okay thanks for both those updates dave so you see harvard rejoining the chase unfortunately for him 14 laps down in 36th place jeff gordon just drove by on the outside of the 12 car ryan newman brian vickers trying to do the same thing in the 25. so that puts gordon to sixth place next before him to catch to try and get a spot jamie mcmurray ahead of him 42 car another top 10 day going so far let's hear about him he's trying to knock down his six top ten in the last eight races i just spoke with his crew chief donnie wingo i said can you make it he kind of gave me the hand sign that we are very closest at how close he said we are extremely close but they are going to stay out curly running in the fifth position boy third jeff gordon's working him over pretty good there wasn't he on the outside and jamie's right down on the neighbor remember gordon with four tires mcquarrie with two on the last stop and gordon watt in that third straight win big i think jamie said hugo just got that high line working for him about three and a half seconds behind his teammate jimmy johnson jimmy johnson looks in history he's got company coming in the name of dale earnhardt jr brian newman now trying to get by mccarty to pick up a spot that'll be sixth place you know to me it seems like clean air has made all the difference for ryan newman's car today when they took that two tires and got off pit road first he never really got challenged for the lead but once he got back in the traffic he's just he's had to film a lot of places yeah [Applause] car remember we saw him with the flat tire earlier way back in the field got those four fresh tires when nobody else had him at that point he's made the most of it he's driving right up through the traffic how about that 99 car marty he's really happy and he was kind of talking on the last caution said man if we didn't have that one problem we could be battling for a top five right now carr is the best it's been all day according to jeff they can make it all the way on fuel jeff burton's another one of those guys that races this racetrack here at phoenix very well yeah back-to-back wins here for burton a few years ago 25 car maddie he is running an 8th working on the back of the 42 car now he did tell his crew that the car is better made a two-tire change and a track bar adjustment on the last stop they have freed the race car up the only problem they've had all day is he's breaking in a helmet it's very close to the lower jaw it's almost like when he talks like he has his jaw wired shut and had a hard time understanding him today but at this point now it's all up to him having an awesome awesome day here the 25 car just his third nascar winston cup start for brian vickers the 20 year old from thomasville north carolina jeff burton run up on the back bumper of stickers trying to get well it did get him a little bit loose getting it to turn three but vickers had a nice recovery get closer up front earnhardt jr tracking down jimmy johnson he's got it down to just a couple of carlings now how about the 48 bill well allen as the eight tries to close in on the 48 the question becomes fuel i could tell you what i know but it'd be better for them to tell you what they know when this was their conversation before we went back to green flag racing how much is this helping us now it looks like that we are one lap short we'll at least get two more laps before we go back to green i kind of had that figured in though i'm counting your ducks for the hatch or whatever they can make it and it's the same situation for their team car the 24. you know what i don't think jimmy's trying to save fuel right now no i think he's trying to stay in front of this car i talked about these guys going down into the sun watch as they come off turn four on board with dale earnhardt jr this is what they see as they start down the front almost nothing now well maybe a little bit better because i'm sure junior's got a dark visor by these guys you can run either clear visor smoke visor or really dark visor and most guys know about that sun going into one and a lot of drivers will put the darkest visor they can on like some of the earlier shots we had of matt kenseth he had a very dark visor on matt kenseth has moved into the top ten and he's trying to get knight remember robbie reiser told us matt pretty happy with the race car when bill talked to him before look at this bill he's trying to get ninth spot away from his teammate trying to work under the 99 and as robbie told us and matt just reiterated a few minutes ago on the radio the car is good he wants some clean air getting into the top ten hey benny if you had 43 guys in this race and they were all going to gamble except one and what was going to be conservative what number would that be 17. you're exactly right that's why they took four tires took no chances on their last pit stop and it's all paying off right now couldn't quite get the 99 battling with a 22. hey bill we're wondering 17 fuel to the finish are they good to go to the end he is good to go robbie told me that earlier so i didn't ask you when we talked to him but yes they can make it how about this 22 car we got to give scott wilmer a call terrific run in his what third race in this car yep did he win the bush race here last year yes he did for the lead dale earnhardt jr i'm jimmy johnson with 56 laps to go junior took four tires on his last pit stop jimmy johnson too six or seven laps ago since my car is tight behind him i'm gonna chill until i feel like it's time to go and guess what he felt like it was time to go [Music] junior runs that bottom line down in one and two he's going to try well because the 48 car decided to take his line and so junior said well i'll go high it's hard to pass it when they run exactly where you're going to try to run there's a change for fifth place i saw that fbi a couple times ryan newman trying to get around jeff gordon with 24 able to hold him off for now and up front 48 of jimmy johnson able to hold off dale earnhardt jr for now i spoke with jimmy on friday jimmy is from el cajon california in the southern part of the state near san diego an area so affected and so devastated by those wildfires and it was on jimmy's mind he said a lot of friends childhood friends the childhood home that he grew up in threatened by the fire uh he was really concerned about the relief efforts and uh making sure that people knew about the relief efforts and chipping in and doing their part that was unbelievable over there junior trying to use that apron to make that eight card turn down and three and four look like oh jimmy a little bit loose and back to this for fifth place brian newman trying and trying and trying [Music] look at jeff gordon's hands work there it wasn't quite enough enough room there for ryan to slide up in front of the point well he wanted to though yes he did he leaned on him a little great stuff you talked about the drivers on this racetrack that's why they don't have any trouble selling their tickets here either jeff gordon still hanging on outside of ryan newman and junior look at jimmy johnson with a little slide as junior got up underneath his back bumper and a little bit loose good thing to do here when you're trying to go for the lead or any position for that matter and it looks like junior's going to get him up in three and four he does 50 laps to go dale earnhardt jr to the lead and the crowd you can hear them from inside the booth as they go nuts as the a car goes in front [Music] you know as strong as dale earnhardt jr has won this season i mean he is second in the championship it's kind of hard to believe he's only won one time that was in talladega back in april and you know that he badly and his team badly want to win on a racetrack like this and meanwhile i think gordon finally said you know what enough yeah the juniors much wants to be validated as a top-notch team now saw kurt bush give up second spot for a pit stop back at lap 232 and restarted in 22nd place that was the ninth spot he just took from brian vickers on the fresh tires and the 99 just ahead of him will be the race for eighth place here in a minute dave and they've just been motivating him along kurt not saying much on the radio at all focused and now uh pretty motivated because they know they got sort of caught out on that pit stop but they reassured each other back and forth there's no way they could have made it on fuel so at some point they would have had to stop again unfortunately no one came down pit lane with them when they did the this last time now the biggest problem kurt bush has gotten besides the fact that he lost all the track position is that even though he's fast he's nine and a half seconds behind dale earnhardt jr but he was 13 seconds behind him about 10 laps ago 15 laps ago right after the green we went looked at that and he was 13 seconds so he's making up a little bit of time four seconds 47 laps we'll see 47 laps to go at phoenix in the checker auto parts 500 dale earnhardt jr in search of his second win in 2003 with you by himself [Music] i'm a little bit tight but i just can't get them underneath [Music] [Applause] [Music] fight free [Music] all right you're clear cautious out [Music] [Music] 45 percent more dirt than your typical oil filter now let's just [Music] all right ten four we'll do that definitely good with this ride delicious sweet onion chicken teriyaki sandwich made fresh with under six grams of fat so you can feel good about being good what if the 48 comes out we'll pick you up [Applause] [Music] [Applause] how bad have you got it this copyrighted telecast may not be reproduced re-transmitted or used in any form without the authorized written consent of nascar broadcasting nascar would like to thank all of our loyal fans for your continued support and we hope you enjoyed today's broadcast back at phoenix international raceway caution flag has just come out jeff green has lost an engine down the back stretch into turn three in the penny 43 and so the eighth yellow flag is waving over this race huge break for kurt busch because now he's an eighth spot he got by jeff burton now he's basically only eight car lengths behind and how many these cars will pit what do you think if i was at 97 i think i'd stay out there here's the moment of truth pit road is open as the field comes by earnhardt jr the leader not heading toward that commitment line second third fourth fifth ryan newman fakes looks like jeff gordon in sixth is going to be the first one to come in curt bush stays out matt kenseth stays out sixth place jeff gordon first one to come in with 41 laps to go bill had to make the stop balloncar just way way way too tight so they're gonna free it up make a chassis adjustment put four tires on it should be four tires at this point putting the fuel that was a good call matt go ahead and brian vickers just slid over the yellow line he had to back up they're going to make a chassis adjustment and a four tire change here with outside of the top five gonna go for some fresh tires so here are the cars that did not pit bernard jr jimmy johnson michael waltrip mark martin terry labonte newman did he come in uh ryan newman jamie mcmurray kurt bush matt kenseth should be cars and a couple of others so this sets up an interesting little twist for the finish just join us let's catch up on what happened so far today beautiful near 80 degree day in the valley of the sun ryan newman and youngster brian vickers leading the field to the green flag lap 34 first caution trouble for jeremy mayfield engine expiration dale earnhardt jr close call with jeff green's crew on the set of pitstops for that yellow flag lap 52 junior the 12 car ryan newman get together as they battle for the lead and remember last week 120 another engine failure casey mears puts out the caution flag again watch the race off pit road kurt bush here going forward two tires and squeaks out ahead of the field on that set of pit stops now lap 140 the third caution flag of the race ricky craven with a loop-de-loop up in turn two and then on lap 170 steve park i'm sorry jimmy spencer hard contact done at turn one also took the four car kevin lepage the zero car of ward bird the four car just barely involved jeff gordon with a slide job on kevin harvick that kind of got harvick um interested in discussing it with gordon under a subsequent caution yikes then later in lab 202 jeff burton with troubles he and robbie gordon get together burton eventually suffers a cut left rear tire steve park here's what you were talking about yes up in turn three heavy contact with the outside retaining wall aol chevy done for the day steve okay left 2 30. this was a race with 10th position gone bad rusty wallace tony stewart bobby labonte and kevin harvick third place man in the championship all four of those cars bounded for that 10th position scott wilmer the 22 able to get through it then dale earnhardt jr catching up to jimmy johnson johnson who got just two tires on his pit stop with 99 to go earnhardt jr got four worked his way to second and then with 50 to go worked his way to the lead much to the delight of the phoenix crowd and then this most recent caution the eighth one of the race from jeff green lost his engine in turn three so jeff gordon comes off the pit stops back in 12th place let's hear from some crew chiefs down on pit road matt you're first alan a little debate on the radio between the juniors tony and dale what what did you just tell me first off you hate this stuff don't you yeah i'm pretty nervous right now we've been in this situation a number of times this year something always goes wrong but uh you know i'm just glad we made the right call there you know kind of benefited from the earlier caution because we had some fender damage on the left side took four so it makes us a little bit better than the rest of these guys but uh hopefully he's pretty he's more calm than i am in the car so dei's last win on a non-play track was dover in the fall of 2001 this would end that long streak bill chad cadell's crew chief for jimmy johnson you stayed out wide track position's pretty much the key here you know uh we're we're going to be close on fuel but i guess that's what makes it exciting for everybody right are you racing for the win here chad or are you racing for second in points right now well we're always racing for the win you know that for sure but uh you know we'd like to gain some good points today the 29 had some trouble we're ahead of some of those other guys so we're just going to go and see what we get told jimmy to save some fuel but try to hold his position you know the low chevrolet's running great all day i hate it that we're in this position that we got to take a gamble but at that point in the season you got to take a chance with when it's there you know you just got to go for it you also told jimmy this is a big picture day marty uh slugger labia stop the pacing i believe you guys are okay on fuel now but can you catch your teammate for the win well we hope so you know our strength uh just like new hampshire has been the long run and we got 40 laps to go we have 100 laps on the tires so hopefully uh to come our way and uh d.i hasn't won a downforce race in a while through the house or eight uh hopefully won't win it so uh guys on pit road have been great all day long and i think after that first stop benny owes is 500 bucks but buff to watch the tape but uh now for chevrolet's been doing good all day long been in the top ten and cars really good right now so we'll just see what happens it's 700 and i pass the message along okay 700 we'll take if he wants to give me 102 i'll take it there you go vp i'm spending your money dave with ben leslie crew chief for mark martin you guys pitted with 99 to go two tires only do you have enough gas do you have enough tires you have enough car to win this thing i don't know you know the guys up front the eight car and the 48's awful strong um we for sure have enough gas i believe you know to finish the thing out the tires they'll be what they are the 48's on two tires also um some guys are awful strong up front i just like to hold on to a top five finish they've worked their way up there with that two tire spot now it's mark's job to hold it or improve allen talking about michael waltrip and a chance to win the race at new hampshire back in september he was in position to go for that win late pit stop the fuel can hung up when he left the pit road took the can out of the pit stall and that's a penalty and he ended up finishing 26th i'm sorry 28th in that race all right here we go can kirk bush the 97 car work his way toward the front currently he's in seventh position has better tires than the six cars in front of him oh who was that side with nipple i don't know but he was sideways got another seven laps of caution there so for these guys now fuel to the finish should be out of the question gets out of the question yes we've taken that out of the equation i believe boy jeff gordon that big bottle of traffic coming at you off turn four in a hurry on his fresher tires restarting twelfth after giving up sixth how about 48 car bills even after they went back to green chad can now told jimmy you've got to save us some fuel be conservative when you can i don't know how you do that i don't either especially when you've got the a car driving away from me the 15 closing in on you good luck yeah good luck jimmy do the best you can you know when chad talked about a big picture day bill they are locked in that fight for second in the nascar winston cup championship and it's important to them who finishes second not only just for the money there's a pride thing on the line but they want to finish that second how about the guy going to finish first in the championship wow very very close 21 car ricky rudd got in the left rear the 17 and tell you what a lesser driver might have spun but before they went back to green robbie riser and matt were talking about it and on the radio they said this could have been a mistake the guys behind us are going to have better tires we probably should have pitted let's see what happens 31 car there that he's racing bill is not on the lead lap robbie gordon is two laps down in 33rd place and he gives kenzo plenty of room next position for matt will be kurt busch just in front of him next car behind him is jamie mcmurray in the 42 there to the inside of greg bickle trying to come back up make sure with the eighth position that's all going on behind taylor and hart jr here out in front as we come up on 30 laps to go maddie junior opted for track position rather than tires before the green he told his spotter ty norris my game plan is simple listen to what i want to do junior was fifth here last year he was second in a bush car he hasn't had many good runs since we've got a crash got one going up in smoke matt another engine it looks like kyle petty caution flags out did not hit the wall but it started to let go when he came up off with turn number two you heard earnhardt talking about that it is even hearing your time sometimes is distracting when you're driving a car very very hard and all you want to do is just focus in on driving that race car and you don't want to hear anything popping your head so that's uh what he's trying to do unless it's really really good things like you're smoking the second place cart right now you're beating him a half a second hey guess what we just set a record for caution it'll be caution flag most caution flag laps in a winston cup race here in phoenix next time they come by let's you know these two cars running side by side the one of john andretti the nine of bill elliott they're telling nascar look you've got to tell us who goes in front of the other because we were side by side and nascar is telling that the nine car would be to get that position that's part of the no racing back to the yellow rule and drivers are instructed in their meeting that happens two hours before race time if you dispute a position just right alongside we'll make the call from the tower and then that's it whatever we call that's it that's final and they have made the call nine and then one so caution flag is out once again this will be number nine here at phoenix dale earnhardt jr in the middle of trying to win great job great job [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] who could come between ross and his girlfriend her ex craig kinnear i still love you too little too late okay that's it we are seeing other people a full hour of friend holy crap i hope we're sure they're gonna follow the good answers message lesson 31. championship weekend at homestead miami speedway where they had the goodyear tire test earlier this week of course homestead with the new banking added 18 19 and 20 degrees dave blaney one of three drivers who tire tested there earlier this weekend or this week i should say he gave us his opinion on the new layout hard to tell you know if it'll get a middle groove in it in it yet or not but um they you know a lot of work in a short amount of time they did a great job and i talked to johnny benson this morning he was one of the other drivers along with scott wimmer who did the test johnny said quote gonna be kind of cool that's cool and they have variable bank in there the bottom of the racetrack bank 18 degrees the middle 19 in the top 20. so that ought to make the guys want to go up higher just a little bit and catch some more banking problem is nobody's going to be getting into that part of the racetrack until one of the races because everybody's going to be qualifying and everybody's going to be down on the bottom until we get a race under our belt i don't know with all the testing that they're going to do there on monday tuesday and wednesday it'll be interesting to see johnny said they ran the middle lane in the bottom lane in testing they didn't venture to the very top lane but he said that the bottom and middle lanes they rubbered in a little bit and it was fine testing's one thing but when you're trying to make the field yeah that's a different line that's four championship weekend going to be a great fight for the craftsman truck series and nascar bush series titles right down to those final laps and of course we'll see who wins the first winston cup race on the new homestead layout and whether or not matt kinsen's title bid goes down to the final race or not after next weekend's action in rockingham a remarkable job they didn't even start this thing until may the construction project at homestead to take it from the six up to the 18 19 and 20 degree uh construction project they're telling me this this morning that frank stoddard uh scott wimmer's crew chief who was down there said every detail catch fences retaining walls even the safer barriers that are put in all done all detailed all painted the dirt they've moved has had grass seed put down and started to take he said it really has been a remarkable job that they've done well those guys have built that racetrack what four times now three or four times so they have done everything they could possibly to do to make that a great race down there tonight curtis gray and his crew are to be complimented on getting this job well done curtis good job looking forward to being down there in two weeks let's talk prime time for a minute here tomorrow night at 8 7 central on nbc it's a wild new all-female fear factor and then tuesday at 8 7 central an outrageous stunt fear factor a double dose monday and tuesday 8 7 central nbc m.i and benny and weber and dave and marty and matt all go on that gonna be our show a nascar fear factor yeah no no i don't want any part of that next time tell me when we're going to see those pictures because when it comes to outrageous stunts and so on you win i think i can win that one we give you that hands down you can have it you're you won okay benny's out i impressed you guys how about you trophy where where are you in for a for an all nascar crew fear factor am i in yeah no comment you're with benny and i'm with you too i'm with benny you know why he's big thank you very much all right let's talk about our leader dale jr matty and junior and the butt guys trying to end the season on a big note putting a lot of emphasis on the final three races haven't won a non-player since dover 2001 but they also want to try to run the table in game momentum for next year they tested rockingham earlier in the week he flew down on tony stewart's helicopter when he got there he went to his locker he didn't have a uniform they put the wrong uniform in his locker he tried out tony stewart's uniform from the gibbs r d test truck it fit he had a lot of race friends scratching their heads wondering why is junior wearing a home depot uniform they are second points they have never finished this high at the end of the season that's where they want to end this season to make a title run next year bill this was the conversation a few moments ago between chad canales and jimmy johnson talking about saving fuel all right i think from this point buddy you can just do what you got to do you know what i mean before i quit listening to you a long time ago because you kept saying we're good then we're not good we're good we're not good enough for a while you used to worry me because i'll lift and you know playing that game back for us i don't want to worry in here i guess all i'm trying to get at is if you can't conserve fuel conservative if you're in danger of losing positions that's the initiative that i took so uh to the inside trying to block the move with jamie mcmurray in the 42 car 24 to go back underway dale earnhardt jr leads jimmy johnson second michael waltrip third ryan newman fourth and now mark martin trying to hang on to fifth getting a lot of pressure from his teammate kurt busch [Music] lab cars in the mix the zero one of joe nemechek between first and second and also the five car of terry the body between ryan newman and mark martin and nemechek has tried very hard today to get some of those laps back change of position a little farther back kurt bush around mark martin and now ryan newman underneath michael walter for third there wasn't much room down there either when he went down there and here comes kurt bush that 97 car to win this race he's going to need another caution flag but i think that he can run third you know what we talked about earlier in the top show aggressive yeah he's got to be aggressive right now i michael taking that top lane here comes kurt bush to the bottom dave and benny kurt used your number he said we're a third place car we just have to get around these guys well right now i believe he is a third place car if he can get around them but it's not going to be easy 20 laps to go next time bye here's the race for fourth kurt busch working on michael waltrip third place ryan newman just ahead of him just can't get on the gas hard enough kurt busch to be able to make the pass on michael we saw that earlier who was it he was under spencer earlier in the race where he just couldn't get alongside him enough to get by it's like right here at 1-2 you can jump on the throttle real hard but you need the whole racetrack on the exit terry the body's fallen off the pace of the five car a little bit he's fallen to the back of the pack he was up there among the lead cars just a couple of laps ago [Music] off the gas a little bit and make another run point michael all over the limiter going to turn three [Music] that's what his crew told us told me earlier this morning [Music] looks like he's got a run on him see michael one of those guys hoping to finish in the top 10 in the championship but he's fallen 152 points back after the engine failure he had in atlanta last [Music] it was week close not missing anything up front earnhardt jr with a clear lead of a second and almost a half on jimmy johnson and if you're michael you want to keep that car up the side of the 97 car push because you want exactly that to happen you want him to be getting loose underneath it not too loose to take you out but and look did you see that battle going on right behind him matt kinsen trying to get by mark mark who's listed as the owner of the 17 car and he takes that spot away [Music] from 37th starting spot and kurt busch finally gets by michael walter you know mark is listed the owner of the 17th car i ask him on friday now if matt managed to win this championship will you sit at the head table in the dealer he said i declined that invitation bill why they say in the 17th now they were just concerned that they were going to really get passed by a bunch of cars on tires so max really driving the tires off here having a good run here by the way benny yesterday jack roush told me you know i might get a sore throat i might lose my voice i might be sick mark might have to get up and make that speech if we get it to new york and and benny mark's reasoning for declining the spot at the head table he said i haven't earned the spot as a driver to be there i'm certainly not going to go on the coattails of someone else oh trouble mike wallace has spun the zero nine car a little lazy loop no caution yet looks like he might get it here comes the caution man that's a break for kurt bush the way it is he keeps out now yes sir yes sir and now you know what record we've just tied we broke another record most caution flags in a race we already broke the record for most caution flag laps here in phoenix [Music] so that uh that ties the record for most caution mike wallace james finch's 01 car let's see what happened oh he and tommy stewart yeah he's trying to keep off the tony stewart turn the wheel hard to the left and he got loose spun it around and also the 38 car elliot sadler barely missed him [Music] 13 laps to go don't think we'll see any pit stops here but we will set up for a wild wild west shootout to the finish in phoenix [Music] [Music] anybody coming oh [Music] six third i mean you are watching the raceway on nascar in car on in demand lead lap cars on pay road right now the 77 we'll pit this time [Music] four tires four tires guys [Music] no fuel just four tires four tires no [Music] fuel seven five three two [Music] one [Music] hold it time plenty of time against the five all clear go go go [Applause] [Music] got one to go because i see him coming up the inside ryan oh no it wasn't it's gonna be a ten lap restart rule lead lap cars only single file the guys that we're racing they're the 01 31 and 5 unless they give them somewhere left jimmy johnson tony junior said your car is better by about a tenth you'll be fine he goes oh i know i'll be fine if he's going to get by me he's going to have to hit me to do it and the restart here is very very critical i mean dale jr needs to to get a better restart than the 48 because even if it's just a little bit of an advantage that may make the difference so junior weave that car back and forth like 48 is there you go getting almost like i was talking to him you see that there you are you got to get all that debris off those tires so when you charge down and turn one at 150 miles per hour or so the car will stick junior got four tires on his pit stop with 99 to go jimmy johnson got two dale earnhardt jr took the lead with 50 laps to go in this race now the restart with nine laps to go fans here at phoenix all coming to their feet 110 000 plus he's got him slowed down slowed down here they go in paul for jimmy's johnson right with dale earnhardt jr and ryan newman going to make this a three-way race for the lead junior you got to flip that mirror up not even look at it like those truck drivers right kurt busch back there and fourth trying the outside lane [Music] see it if he can do anything with these front three remember curt gave up second place to pitt at lap 232 came out 22nd for the restart with 75 to go he's made his way back to fourth kensiv looking at fifth spot working on ryan newman here's matt kenseth your championship leader what a performance today they have had for the last month or so perhaps not run to the standard that they had earlier in the season but today you can do nothing but tip you capture them started 37th in that 17 car and right now he's trying to take away the fifth position from michael walter what a drive for matt kenseth the champion to be perhaps next weekend at rockingham perhaps [Music] hey alan hey bill you know the roush cars have really struggled the second half of the season but right now four of them in the top nine phoenix what a day for them kurt bush fourth matt kenz at sixth mark martin seventh jeff burton ninth and greg biffle 14th pretty good day for the roush folks and junior just kind of pulled away from jimmy johnson there you see the kurt bush realizes that the style buddy the 12 is not going to give him the bottom of the racetrack so he's going to try to do it on the outside and that's not really where he's been working all day i know that's he's doing something unusual but he feels like i guess that's his only shot [Music] junior johnson newman unless he thinks he can get the 12 loose hits he's got to get there first he got pretty close to him there you listen to those four names i just reeled off and talk about perhaps a changing of the guard in this sport there was not the rusty wallbuster mark martin or bill elliot in that group that's out in front today but these drivers will be racing for wins for many years to come and nascar wins the cup racing [Music] or nascar next toe cup racing as it will be starting next year bush just can't quite get up on that quarterfinals with 12 car watch him down in three now vp last couple laps he's been right on the bumper of ryan newman look at that don't get much closer than that oh just not enough another time just a couple of laps to go kurt seemed like ryan has spent a lot of his day-to-day once he got back in traffic just fighting and fighting for spots and he's not a guy that you can rattle very easily dale earnhardt jr gonna come to the white flag a season of what my defense for junior second in the nascar winston cup championship coming in if not for 36th and 32nd place finishes to open 2003 in the daytona 500 and the rockingham race in february might he be closer to matt kenseth for this championship one victory so far this season talladega back in april he's looking to pick up his first win here at phoenix in less than a mile his fourth phoenix try will result in his first victory and his second win of 2003 dale earnhardt jr winning in the valley of the sun jimmy johnson seven tenths of a second back in second ryan newman third kurt busch michael walter fifth and your championship leader matt kenza with a 37th to sixth place day nascar winston cup win number nine for dale earnhardt jr he leads three times for 87 laps today here at phoenix international raceway and i'm just thrilled for those guys down there great job on tip road today for those guys maddie awesome job on pit road awesome job on the racetrack awesome job all weekend tony your first downforce win since dover 2001. yeah you know we uh in our meet another monday morning we said we ain't want to uh downpours racing over two years and fab shop guys uh bruce and duane and aj all them guys just work their cams off try to get these cars as good as they can get them and this has been one of our good cars and we've tried to keep it in rotation and run it when we can you know so we knew it was good here last time ran it out of gas just blew it and it was all our fault but uh today that butt wipe chevrolet was good i need to thank richie gilmore and uh all guys in the engine shop had a good engine uh we didn't turn it a whole lot today because we were scared after loud and we had problems so we left ohio gear in there and just hoping for a finish we ended up winning so good day pays off in phoenix that looks like a winning moment to me how about it junior today's winner chevy congratulates junior in the number eight monte carlo i will tell you the only thing that comes close to monte carlo's reputation on the track is its reputation on the street more champions depend on chevy we'll be there [Music] [Applause] junior getting congratulations from michael waltrips crew this dei teammates while he gets the victory lane let's hear from the other top finishers today marty at points ryan newman had the dominant car today but it looks like all you needed was clean air ryan and you didn't have it in the end no we had a good all-tale dodge for sure no doubt uh man the guys did an awesome job in the pits as well as with the setup it's our best run here in phoenix another top five for the team great effort i just wish we could have won it in the last 10 races three wins six top five dave matt kenseth today not only got to pat his championship lead he got to race to the front matt are you excited about that yeah i'm excited how good a dwell car we had all day it was uh it was really good my picker did a great job on the pit road and got me a good uh track position when we needed it and um it was a great day overall you know junior won the race but puts us in a real good position with two races ago obviously so uh really want to come out here with the top ten and get back to running up front we just missed the top five by a fender so so overall it was a great run for us last year's winner finishes six marty michael waltrip desperately wanted to congratulate his teammate but congratulations to you a nice run mikey yeah the boys did a great job for me man we were real confident after yesterday's practice that the napa chevy would be good today it handled well i had to run up high i got really tight at the end of the race what we didn't do well was stay on top of the track it got cooler and tighter and we just pushed a little bit too much to the end but a good day for us considering what the last 10 races have been like for this team best ever phoenix finished fifth matt after struggling somewhat on the flat tracks jimmy johnson you and chad canals have that package down ah yeah it's it's been a been a great year for us on the flat tracks and what we learned last year here we took on to loudon this year and we won both races there and so close today i mean we had a great race car but i was just a little loose at the beginning of that the run there and junior got by me and i didn't really have any help any help with the 01 and just some little situations there but he was he was so tough and we were so equal and i don't think i could uh could have really had anything for him he had me off before and i could catch him off too but it wouldn't matter so great day for the lowest team great day in the points and uh we're getting closer to homestead and hopefully the top three in the championship jimmy johnson scores his first top ten here at phoenix a second bill dale earnhardt jr in victory lane a big smile already talked to several of his crew members this will be a lot of moisture in the air and just for the record right now i'm nowhere close to him but he just got a little closer to me [Applause] and the celebration is underway here in victory lane and these guys hey come here for just a second [Music] looking for tony jr hey you guys you're excited why so excited well we've been wanting to win one of these races for a long time uh shit's been so long since we won open race and we've run so good this year and come so close a bunch of times and finishing the top five a lot and they gave me a great car today and i could just pass and do whatever how about passing the 48. oh well you know jimmy's a clean race car driver i can race him without really worrying about him making too many mistakes or me making a mistake around him because he makes you comfortable but uh he uh his car was just going away a little bit and was good at the end we were finally good at the end and you spent a little time around the 12 car today too dale well i like ryan a lot regardless of what everybody might think i like him a lot he's a hell of a race car driver but i sure as hell love running into him he's a fun guy to race hard with and uh he can hit me back just uh i don't want to go backwards like he was that was just a mistake okay celebration's underway see ya get out of there here's how they finish today here at phoenix dale earnhardt jr with his second win of 2003. johnson newman bush waltrip and kenzip headline of the day 37th to 6th solidifying his championship bid i'm sorry brian vickers finishes back in the 13th position just to say while you look at the rest of the finishing order let me tell you the championship picture matt kenseth can lock up the title next sunday at rockingham if he leaves that race with a lead of 186 points or better he's got 228 heading into that race as you look at the championship standings kevin harvick with the big tumble today from third after he got involved in that crash midway through the race atlap 230. so that's the picture next sunday at rockingham it could be a championship day in nascar winston cup racing we'll start our coverage friday with mud pole qualifying on tnt at 3 eastern then next saturday suzuki presents nascar bush series racing at one eastern sunday discover card countdown to green at 12 30 eastern on tnt followed by the nascar winston cup race maybe a championship day dateline nbc in american dreams on nbc tonight starting at 7 6 central and at phoenix today dale earnhardt jr is going to carry the big trophy away from the valley of the sun

Channel: Racins Fun

Views: 5,089

Rating: 4.7037039 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: EM8xzrFnqqs

Length: 205min 56sec (12356 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 11 2021