Budweiser Charlotte preview

Dale Jr.:
"Charlotte is always good for us, because everyone can sleep in their own beds for awhile. Plus, this team has always been really fast here, so I expect to be up front again this weekend and maybe enjoy a few Budweiser's in Victory Lane.

"The car we crashed at Kansas (last Sunday) was the one we wanted to bring here to race, but we have a decent back-up car that should be almost as good. That was a hard hit, but I'm alright, and so is Wilson (the volleyball that rides alongside Dale Jr.). Before we blew that tire (last Sunday), we were really good the car almost drove itself so I'm looking for a bit of a repeat."

The home track for most Winston Cup teams has been a good one for Dale Jr. and the Bud boys. They began their Cup career together at this track in 1999, and then became the first rookie team and rookie driver to win The Winston in 2000. Dale Jr. still holds the Winston Cup one-lap track record of 186.034mph.

Bud Pole Qualifying: As usual, the Charlotte schedule is different than most "usual" race weekends. Bud Pole qualifying is scheduled to take place Thursday evening at 7:00 pm, and can be seen live on the TNT cable network or on radio with the Performance Racing Network (PRN). What to Watch

Like playing a home game in college sports, this is the home track for most Winston Cup teams. Perhaps because of that, it seems like the races at Charlotte are the ones that every driver and team wants to win a little more than usual, giving them some sort of bragging rights for awhile. The Charlotte track seems to nearly always produce multi-grooved,side-by-side battles from start to finish, which are a delight to watch.

-Budweiser Racing-