NEW YORK, 16 March 2004 — Daytona 500 winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. bounced back from a disappointing 35th place finish last week to win the Atlanta 500 on Sunday.
“Talk about from zero to hero,” said the son of seven-time NASCAR champion Dale Earnhardt Sr. “That’s about as hard as I’ve ever driven.”
Earnhardt, driving a Chevrolet, took the lead from the Dodge of Jeremy Mayfield on lap 265, opening up a lead of over two seconds before his final pit stop on lap 302 of the 325-lap race around the high-banked 1.54 mile Atlanta Motor Speedway oval.
After his car was serviced it only took nine laps to regain the lead and he was pulling away at the checkered lag, finishing 4.854 seconds ahead of Mayfield, and Kasey Kahne, Mayfield’s teammate.
Jimmy Johnson finished fourth in a Chevrolet followed by pole winner Ryan Newman in another Dodge. This week he qualified seventh and steadily worked his car up through the grid but did not lead for the first time until lap 214.
Earnhardt’s win snapped a two-race winning streak by defending series champion and current points leader Matt Kenseth. Kenseth continues to lead the series by 82 points over Tony Stewart, a former series champion. Earnardt bounced back to third, 90 points out.
The next and fifth race in the series will take place next Sunday at Darlington.
