Dale Jr - Career Highlights!






Career Highlights



2002

Dale Jr. has seven victories and more than $13.7 million dollars in prize money in 111 career starts. At the end of the 2002 season, he had started 107 consecutive Winston Cup races, all with the same DEI / Budweiser No. 8 team.

The Budweiser team swept the races at Talladega (April and October) for their two victories of 2002. The team has now won at least two races in each of their first three Winston Cup seasons, and holds the longest current winning streak at one track (three consecutive wins) of any Winston Cup team.

Dale Jr. led more laps (1068) than any other driver in 2002. He also tied for the top spot in races led (22) and NASCAR Bonus Points (125).

For the third season in a row, the Budweiser team won two Bud Pole positions (Michigan and Kansas), which qualifies them for the 2003 Budweiser Shootout at Daytona.

The Budweiser team won the Winston No Bull 5 Million-dollar bonus for the second consecutive season at Talladega in October.

Dale Jr. recorded a series of "career best" marks during the 2002 season, including top-five finishes (11), top-10 finishes (16), most consecutive top-five finishes (three), most consecutive top-10 finishes (five), top-five starts (13), top-10 starts (19), races led (22), laps led (1068) and least DNF’s (three).

In six races on tracks of less than one-mile in length, Dale Jr. recorded five top-five finishes at Martinsville, Bristol and Richmond.

Dale Jr. finished second in all three "non-points" races he ran in 2002: the Budweiser Shootout at Daytona, the Twin 125 qualifier at Daytona, and the Winston. He has finished no worse than seventh in the Winston, including a victory in 2000.

2001

The No. 8 Budweiser team won three races: Daytona (July), Dover (September.) and Talladega (October) and finished eighth in Winston Cup points with winnings of more than $5.8 million.

Dale Jr. grabbed two Bud Poles in 2001 at Texas and Atlanta (Nov.). He led 765 laps, third best overall, and led the most laps in four races.

Dale Jr’s four restrictor plate finishes were two wins, a second and an eighth place. Dale Jr. led more than twice as many laps in those races as any other driver.

2000

Dale Jr’s first Winston Cup victory at Texas came in only his 12th start. His second victory was in only his 16th start (Richmond, May), which ties him with Davey Allison and Jimmie Johnson for the quickest multi-race wins in Winston Cup history.

Dale Jr. was the first rookie to win The Winston, NASCAR’s all-star race.

Dale Jr. won two Bud Poles in 2000, setting track records at Charlotte (May) and at Michigan (August).

NASCAR Busch Series

Dale Jr. won the Busch Series Championship in 1998 and 1999, his only two full seasons of Busch competition. Dale Jr. has won 15 races and more than $3 million in Busch Series earnings, including two victories in 2002. He will run a limited Busch Series schedule as a driver/owner in 2003. He won in his first Busch race as driver/owner at Richmond (Sept.) in 2002.

Other

Dale Jr. won three feature victories in his NASCAR late model stock career (1994-1996).

He began his racing career when he and his brother Kerry sold a go-kart for $500 to purchase a Chevy Monte Carlo street stock car for $200. Dale Jr. later sold the car to current Busch Series competitor Hank Parker Jr.










Back