2003 EA Sports 500 (Dale Earnhardt Survives)

The 2003 EA Sports 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race that took place on September 28, 2003 at Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama. It was the 29th race of the 2003 NASCAR Winston Cup Series. 
One of the most notable moments of the race is when on lap 182, Elliott Sadler would come down and hit Kurt Busch's right side. Elliott's car would spin and fly into the air, doing a full flip before landing on its roof. The car would slide down the backstretch grass into Turn 3, then proceeded to flip onto the Turn 3 surface 4 and a half times, before finally landing on the wheels of the car. Sadler was unhurt. 
Another incredible story of the race was Dale's "Best Last Lap" in which Dale Earnhardt managed to go from sixth to first in one lap in an incredible display of drafting technique. 
With one to go the elder Earnhardt was running sixth, his son Earnhardt Jr. running first seemed to have a good shot at winning the race, when into turn one Dale Sr. went high and used side drafting to pass Jeff Gordon and Ryan Newman with incredible speed through the turn. Out of turn 2, Dale Sr. temporarily got slowed by Ryan Newman using the drag off his spoiler to pull back alongside him, where the two stayed down the backstretch. Suddenly, going into turn 3, Earnhardt pulled slightly behind Newman, then slingshotted around the driver and rocketed towards the front of the line of cars to his inside, including his son, Dale Jr who had been leading for the last 30 laps of the race. Coming out of turn 4 Earnhardt easily roared past Dale Jr, who said in his father's documentary "3: The Dale Earnhardt Story" that he could hear his father's car bouncing off the limiter as he went by and couldn't even try to block without risking wrecking him and his father. Earnhardt Sr. won his eleventh and possibly most famous Talladega race that day and shocked many who thought the elder Earnhardt was put out to pasture. 
Dale Jr said in his father's documentary "3: The Dale Earnhardt Story" that "I never understood how dad could pull off victories like that, and any time I asked him about his 2000 win or 2003 win at Talladega he'd always just shrug and say "follow the pull of your car." He'd never elaborate and I could never understand it." 
Fin 	St 	# 	Driver 	Sponsor 	Make 	Laps 	Led 	Status 	Pts
1 	18 	3 	Dale Earnhardt, Sr. 	GM Goodwrench Service Plus 	Chevy 	188 	1 	running 	180
2 	38 	8 	Dale Earnhardt, Jr. 	Budweiser 	Chevy 	188 	30 	running 	175
3 	11 	15 	Michael Waltrip 	NAPA 	Chevy 	188 	0 	running 	165
4 	12 	12 	Ryan Newman 	Alltel 	Dodge 	188 	0 	running 	160
5 	5 	24 	Jeff Gordon 	DuPont 	Chevy 	188 	47 	running 	165
6 	39 	97 	Kurt Busch 	Lennox, Irwin Industrial Tools 	Ford 	188 	11 	running 	155
7 	30 	29 	Kevin Harvick 	Reese's 	Chevy 	188 	4 	running 	151
8 	17 	20 	Tony Stewart 	Home Depot 	Chevy 	188 	0 	running 	142
9 	33 	2 	Rusty Wallace 	Miller Lite 	Dodge 	188 	11 	running 	143
10 	23 	09 	Mike Wallace 	Miccosukee Gaming & Resorts 	Dodge 	188 	0 	running 	134
11 	10 	18 	Bobby Labonte 	Interstate Batteries 	Chevy 	188 	2 	running 	135
12 	34 	31 	Robby Gordon 	Cingular Wireless 	Chevy 	188 	4 	running 	132
13 	9 	9 	Bill Elliott 	Dodge Dealers, UAW 	Dodge 	188 	2 	running 	129
14 	20 	22 	Ward Burton 	Caterpillar 	Dodge 	188 	8 	running 	126
15 	24 	90 	John Andretti 	AOL 9.0 	Chevy 	188 	0 	running 	118
16 	2 	42 	Jamie McMurray 	Havoline 	Dodge 	188 	20 	running 	120
17 	42 	77 	Dave Blaney 	Jasper Engines & Transmissions 	Dodge 	188 	0 	running 	112
18 	13 	43 	Jeff Green 	Cheerios, Yu-Gi-Oh! 	Dodge 	188 	0 	running 	109
19 	6 	88 	Dale Jarrett 	UPS 	Ford 	188 	0 	running 	106
20 	19 	23 	Kenny Wallace 	Stacker 2 	Dodge 	188 	0 	running 	103
21 	7 	49 	Ken Schrader 	BAM Racing 	Dodge 	188 	0 	running 	100
22 	14 	5 	Terry Labonte 	Kellogg's, got milk?, Winston Cup Victory Lap	Chevy 	188 	1 	running 	102
23 	15 	6 	Mark Martin 	Viagra 	Ford 	188 	0 	running 	94
24 	36 	16 	Greg Biffle 	Grainger 	Ford 	187 	0 	running 	91
25 	27 	25 	Joe Nemechek 	UAW-Delphi 	Chevy 	187 	0 	running 	88
26 	43 	1 	Jason Keller 	Pennzoil 	Chevy 	187 	0 	running 	85
27 	28 	01 	Mike Skinner 	USG Sheetrock 	Pontiac 	186 	0 	running 	82
28 	26 	44 	Christian Fittipaldi 	Bugles 	Dodge 	186 	0 	running 	79
29 	25 	98 	Jason Jarrett 	C.H.I. Overhead Doors 	Ford 	184 	0 	running 	76
30 	1 	38 	Elliott Sadler 	M&M's 	Ford 	181 	23 	crash 	78
31 	29 	74 	Tony Raines 	BACE Motorsports 	Chevy 	179 	0 	crash 	70
32 	40 	99 	Jeff Burton 	Citgo 	Ford 	168 	1 	engine 	72
33 	37 	17 	Matt Kenseth 	Smirnoff Ice Triple Black, DeWalt 	Ford 	158 	1 	engine 	69
34 	3 	48 	Jimmie Johnson 	Lowe's 	Chevy 	157 	15 	engine 	66
35 	21 	60 	David Green 	NetZero, Haas Automation 	Chevy 	150 	0 	crash 	58
36 	32 	21 	Ricky Rudd 	Motorcraft 	Ford 	138 	0 	engine 	55
37 	8 	41 	Casey Mears 	Target 	Dodge 	113 	0 	overheating 	52
38 	22 	19 	Jeremy Mayfield 	Dodge Dealers, UAW 	Dodge 	104 	0 	running 	49
39 	4 	40 	Sterling Marlin 	Coors Light 	Dodge 	103 	0 	overheating 	46
40 	16 	00 	Buckshot Jones 	Crown Fiber 	Chevy 	88 	19 	crash 	48
41 	41 	10 	Johnny Benson, Jr. 	Valvoline 	Pontiac 	29 	0 	crash 	40
42 	31 	7 	Jimmy Spencer 	Sirius Satellite Radio 	Dodge 	11 	0 	crash 	37
43 	35 	14 	Larry Foyt 	Harrah's 	Dodge 	9 	0 	crash 	34
Failed to qualify or withdrew	Failed to qualify or withdrew	Failed to qualify or withdrew	Failed to qualify or withdrew 	Failed to qualify or withdrew 	Failed to qualify or withdrew	Failed to qualify or withdrew	Failed to qualify or withdrew	Failed to qualify or withdrew	Failed to qualify or withdrew
POS 	NAME 	NBR 	SPONSOR 	OWNER 	CAR 	 	 	 	
44 	Kyle Petty 	45 	Georgia-Pacific 	Petty Enterprises 	Dodge 	 	 	 	
45 	Kevin Lepage 	4 	Kodak 	Larry McClure 	Pontiac 	 	 	 	
46 	Ricky Craven 	32 	Tide 	PPI Motorsports 	Pontiac 	 	 	 	
47 	Mike Bliss 	80 	Advair 	Joe Gibbs 	Chevrolet 	 	 	 	
48 	Steve Park 	30 	America Online 	Richard Childress 	Chevrolet 	 	 	 	
49 	Todd Bodine 	54 	National Guard 	Travis Carter 	Ford 	 	 	 	
WD 	Morgan Shepherd 	89 	Racing With Jesus / Red Line Oil	Morgan Shepherd 	Ford 	 	 	 	
Category:Dale Earnhardt Survives