2003 Aaron's 499

44th Aaron's 499:

The oval of Talladega was his third race without yellow flags. And a very great emotion during his 188 laps.

In qualifying, Jeff Gordon took pole position and Hendrick Motorsports had his first DNQ of a full-time car since 1988. The highlight was Mike Wallace, who with a part-time did the seventh time.



This track never has a certain "favorite". As the cars run very close together, lead changes is a key factor to the lack of favoritism at some driver. And likewise, the chance of big ones is huge (although this has not happened).

As expected, some cars were getting out of the lead group and turned laggards. The first was Derrike Cope, with a notably lower car on lap 17.
On lap 22, Sterling Marlin turned laggard, further darkening the Speedweek of Chip Ganassi Racing.

After the first round of pit stops on lap 32, four cars stood at the tip. They were the #8 of Dale Earnhardt Jr., the #30 of Jeff Green, the #99 of Jeff Burton and the #88 of Dale Jarrett. They stayed for a half-hour alternating in the first four positions, with much of the rest of the grid battling the rest.



On lap 81, came back in the second and 99 the third round of pit stops. With the stops, riders who were in the middle of the pack had great chances to win five points to lead at least one lap; few have that extra.

The race came at the same pace as always until lap 116, when the fourth round of pit stops came and changed Aaron's 499. From there, both laggards as pilots in the leader lap went together and grouped.

The fifth round came with 25 laps to the end of the race, and she gave dramatic airs the race. With all ready for battle, Jeff Burton started this final stint leading. On lap 172, the lead went to Kyle Petty, one of the big surprises at Talladega.

On lap 173, the lead returned to Dale Earnhardt Jr. Leadership stayed with him for seven laps as Tony Stewart took the lead with a spectacular driving.



With one to go, Stewart led with a lead of 2 + 1/2 cars to the second place. But not everything is perfect. On the backstretch, Dale Earnhardt Jr had all the vacuum and made a nice overtake to Tony. The race was already won and Dale Junior wins your second race in 2003.