Dodge Notes January 13, 2004: Daytona Preseason Thunder Cup Test

Preseason Thunder.  NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series.
Clear!Blue

RYAN NEWMAN (No.  12 ALLTEL Dodge)

"I felt like we had somewhat of an offseason. It's the first time we
haven't done any testing from basically the end of the last race until
Daytona testing. I stayed very busy and had some other obligations to
take care of. "

 

DO YOU LIKE TESTING AT DAYTONA?

"The driver has very little to do with making the car go fast here. You
make the car go faster in the garage area here. It's not a whole lot of
fun to test here."

 

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE THIRD TEAM?

"I haven't been to the shop. I was on my honeymoon in Wyoming last
weekend, and the wedding was the week before. I haven't talked to
Brendan. It's going to be interesting. I don't really know what to
expect with the third team. I'm looking forward to this season. I think
we've got great potential, just like the other three times we've done
this. I'm just going to go out and do the best I can. You'll hear that a
bunch more this year."

 

COMMENT ON POSSIBLE CHANGE IN POINT SYSTEM

"I haven't thought about it (potential change in point system). I didn't
even know about it until I heard it yesterday. We played by the rules
all last year, and everybody has the same rules to work with. We'll do
some thinking about it, I'm sure."

 

DOES THAT RING FEEL FUNNY ON YOUR FINGER?

"Definitely. It's a little different to get used to. I'm not a guy who
wears a lot of jewelry. I don't wear sunglasses or anything, so I'm
paying respect to the marriage part of it.  We had a lot of fun on the
honeymoon in Wyoming. I didn't do any fishing. We just went
snowmobiling."

 

WHAT DID YOU LEARN IN THE TEST TODAY?

"The track is the same. The bumps are still there. It's always a boring
test here, but nevertheless, the guys did a great job preparing the
ALLTEL Dodge. It takes good preparation and good teamwork to win a
500-mile race here at Daytona. We were fast in the test here last year,
and we struggled in qualifying. Two years ago we were just slow all the
way around. We mostly just made two-lap runs today, and I couldn't feel
anything different with the tires. When it gets hot, then we'll feel the
difference, but so far so good."

 

RUSTY WALLACE (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge)

"We ran a whole lot of laps today, and I thought the crew did a great
job. We had a little different approach. They had a whole test matrix
put together, and we followed right down through it. We came up with
some good shocks, and Larry Carter brought some good ideas and Roy
McCauley had some good ideas. It went really well. I can't remember one
time we went out there and the car went slower. We kept making changes
and going quicker. A lot of times when you hit on a fast lap you can't
get it to reproduce. We kept getting it to reproduce all day long, and
that made me feel good. This is our first test since we ran at Homestead
in November, and this is the first chance I had to work with all the new
people. I almost needed a program with pictures and names so I'd know
who I was talking to. It was a good day, and I'm excited about coming
back and getting better tomorrow."