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Results:


1999 Brickyard 400

Race: Brickyard 400 (Race No. 20)
Date: August 7, 1999
Track: Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Qualified: 18th
Finished: 10th
Status: Running
Laps Completed: 160 of 160
Points Pos. Before/After Race: 7/7
Points Earned: 134
Money Earned: $135,525

Summary:

Earnhardt makes out 10th at Brickyard  Aug. 7
Dale Earnhardt got his sixth-straight top-10 Saturday, barely. Earnhardt started 18th, and got no higher than 15th until almost a quarter way into the race. Slowly, he worked his way into the top-10.

Towards the end of the event, it appeared as though the outcome of the race would be determined by fuel mileage. A few teams, Earnhardt's being one of them, calculated that they had enough fuel to finish. Most other leaders would have to come in to refuel. Unfortunately for Earnhardt, a caution came out when Dave Marcis lost an engine, and the fuel mileage concern was disposed. All the leaders came in to pit during the caution. Earnhardt's crew changed just two tires, and Dale left his pit stall ready to move to the front for a solid finish. Before he got back to the track, however, Dale ran into a tire that was carelessly left on pit road by Jeff Burton's crew. Hitting the tire pushed in the car's front fender, and messed up the car's aerodynamics and handling.

He moved up to sixth following the restart, but after about ten laps, he began fading. He held on for a tenth place finish. Damage to his front air dam due to hitting the tire during Dale's final pit stop slowed him down aerodynamically and gave the car a pushing condition.

"The car was pretty good," said Dale after the race. "We were running sixth or somewhere up front and the 99 (Jeff Burton) threw a tire out wide, and I hit it with the left front when I left the pit and knocked the valence in on it. It pushed like a plow. It was tough, aggravating. It's bad enough you've got to race the cars on good tires. When the tires go away, those Pontiacs and Fords drive away from you. You can't race 'em. Gordon couldn't beat 'em on four tires. I was junk after about 10 or 15 laps. We were lucky to stay in the top-10."

 

A report from tn3fan, who attended the Brickyard 400:
I went to the Brickyard 400 too - what a waste of time and money - that is NOT a track for race fans unless you call sitting looking at the people in the stands across the race track sitting looking back at you exciting.
There were more buildings in the "infield" at Indy than in my small hometown.


Dale got very upset with the crew about not telling him about the tire on pit road and at one point told Richard Childress to "shut up" - he also had problems with the radio hookup to one of his spotters which could have been a disaster - Kevin was suppose to tell him when the green flag dropped - but never did - after Dave lost his engine - Dale kept asking if they wanted him to pit - he asked 5x before they finally answered him - it was Dale's request to take 2 right side tires so he could "go and kick some a**"; but then he hit the tire on pit road and it messed the fender up which screwed the aero up and the handling - he was not a happy camper.


He did complement the crew for the good job they did on his 1st. pit stop.
The man is very competitive and it just kills him not to be able to get in there and race with the leaders.

 

dot.gif (845 bytes) Earnhardt wins IROC title

dot.gif (845 bytes) Earnhardt on the verge of sweeping success
dot.gif (845 bytes) Earnhardt: No retirement plans
dot.gif (845 bytes) Dale Earnhardt Wallpaper: The Intimidator, sans moustache
dot.gif (845 bytes) Earnhardt looks to flex IROC muscle
dot.gif (845 bytes) Earnhardt looks for IROC sweep

Earnhardt qualifies 18th at Brickyard  Aug. 5
Dale Earnhardt was the 53rd of 55 cars that attempted to qualify on Thursday for the Brickyard 400 in Indianapolis. Earnhardt's one lap of qualifying wasn't as quick as he would have liked it to be, as he had to back out of the gas in a couple of the corners in order to keep his car in the groove. He will start Saturday's race from the 18th position.

"From what we ran in practice, I was really unhappy with that lap," said Earnhardt. "We went to (Turn) 1 and I thought I got the entrance pretty good and started in and then I was tight off. It skated off. It didn't go down where I wanted it to go in Turn 2. (Turn) 3 was OK, but I wasn't happy with it.

"Jarrett won it from 24th. I can win it from 18th. I think I've got a better race car. I said this before ... if we ever brought this race car I probably wouldn't qualify that well. We qualified 25th with it at Pocono and raced up to seventh. The car we were going to bring here, I qualified 11th with at Pocono and raced up to ninth. I want a car that will go forward and hopefully this one will be that car."

 

 

Pictures of Dale's new paint scheme

Earnhardt shows up minus mustache  Aug. 4
Thanks, WRAL TV-5The seven-time Winston Cup champion showed up at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Wednesday with a new look, a clean-shaven upper lip. His trademark mustache was gone, a sacrifice to his determination not to be beaten -- at anything.  Full Story.


Earnhardt chases second Brickyard trophy
  Aug. 3

Dale Earnhardt has posted his best string of starts and finishes of the 1999 season recently. Now, he hopes his momentum will carry him into Victory Lane at Indianapolis. Full Story.

 

 

"We'll be going for the IROC championship on Friday and maybe a clean sweep with four-for-four. That would be tremendous to win all four and end it at Indy." -- Dale Earnhardt

Brickyard 400 Schedule
(Central Time)

Thursday, Aug. 5
8-9 a.m. IROC practice
10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Winston Cup practice
1:30 p.m. Winston Cup qualifying (pos. 1-25), one lap
4-4:45 p.m. Winston Cup practice
4:50-5:30 p.m. IROC practice

Friday, Aug. 6
9 a.m.-noon Winston Cup practice
Noon Winston Cup second-round qualifying
1:45-2:45 p.m. Winston Cup Happy Hour practice
4 p.m. Start of 40-lap IROC race

Saturday, Aug. 7
11:30 a.m. Winston Cup driver introductions
12:15 p.m. Start of Brickyard 400 (160 laps)

Earnhardt to sport new look at Indy  Aug. 2
Full Story.

 



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