dodge nascar winston cup quotes from friday qualifying at Martins ville, Va.

Friday, April 12, 2002				               	Ray Cooper
Virginia 500 Qualifying
Golin/Harris International
Dodge notes and quotes. 		803-466-9085


            JEREMY MAYFIELD (No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Intrepid R/T)
            "When you qualify at Martinsville you're not really sure what's
going to happen.  I'm proud of all the guys on the race team. The guys
worked hard and gave me a good car. We should be good on Sunday. We'll get
to the front as quick as we can."
 
            JOHN ANDRETTI (No. 43 Cheerios Dodge Intrepid R/T)
            "I'm happy with my race team. I'm not happy with myself. I was
afraid and I didn't want to get on the gas too early and spin my tires. We
made a couple of big changes before qualifying, and the car was really good
in qualifying compared to practice. I didn't give my guys what they deserve.
It's going to be in the race, but it's not going to be as close to the front
as it deserves to be. It doesn't matter. We've won here from the middle of
the pack. We'll get it up front on Sunday. It could be all the way to the
front, but it's going to be somewhere sneaking around the front. They're
going to have to deal with us sooner or later on Sunday."

          CASEY ATWOOD (No. 7 Sirius Satellite Radio Dodge Intrepid R/T)
           " It wasn't a real good lap, but that's the way it goes
sometimes. We'll keep working on it and try to get it better."

           JIMMY SPENCER (No. 41 Target Dodge Intrepid R/T)
           "It was a good lap, but I really slowed the car down way too
much. It was my fault. I just got in the corners and stopped it really. It
was my fault. I thought we had a good chance to sit on the pole. We've been
qualifying really good all year long. It's a great race car, but I've just
got a bad habit here at Martinsville. I kind of slow down in the corners and
get back in the throttle real quick. We'll have a good race car. We tested
at Greenville-Pickens and it ran well on long runs. Hopefully, it'll hang
around the front. I wish we could have made the top 10, but we'll take what
we got and go from there I really slowed the car down too much, and I didn't
have to. We've been qualifying really well this year, and I don't know why I
did it. "

            WARD BURTON (No. 22 Caterpillar Dodge Intrepid R/T)
	"We should have been a lot better than that. I'm not real sure
what's wrong, but we've got to figure it out before Sunday."




            KYLE PETTY  (No. 45 Sprint Dodge Intrepid R/T)
            "It was tight, tight in the middle and tight up off. We fought
it and fought it and got a little bit better. We had to wait on it and the
split second you have to wait on it can make a big difference. We picked up
a tenth, and that's great. That's a gift from heaven above. Most of the time
I lose three tenths here. John (Andretti) may be someone to contend with
Sunday. He has been in the past. He really gets psyched up to come up here.
He loves this place. It you love it, that's half of it. He's run good up
there almost every time. We didn't give him much to work with up here last
year and he still did good. I'm pulling for him. I enjoy it up here. I've
always enjoyed it up here. I don't know why. I guess maybe it's because I
get to stay at home. Maybe that's it. I always enjoy it here. When Clay
Earles ran the place and now Clay Campbell, they're just good people. It's
not the greatest Winston Cup racing in the world, but it's not half as bad
as some of the places we go."

            BUCKSHOT JONES (No. 44 Georgia Pacific Dodge Intrepid R/T)
             "That's better than we practiced, and you still want to be
better. As long as we keep improving, you're going to see a smile on my
face. The guys gave me a pretty good car. I never could get going there in
practice. I might have left a little bit on the track. We did what we needed
to. We're in the show."

           HUT STRICKLIN (No. 23 Hills Bros Coffee Dodge Intrepid R/T)

           "That's the best we have been. I wish we could have been a little
bit better, but we kind of made a lot of changes before qualifying.  Every
call they made was the right one. We just needed a little bit more. I'm just
glad we ran fast enough to get in. That's the main thing right now."

           BILL ELLIOTT (No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Intrepid R/T)
           "That was fun. The car is real good. I had to give 'em a little
excitement there on that second lap. I think the second lap would have been
faster, but the car just didn't stick. The car is fine (after scraping
wall). We're just breaking it in a little bit right now."

           STERLING MARLIN (No. 40 Coors Light Dodge Intrepid R/T)
           "We put on another set of tires for qualifying, and that's t
he only thing I know that we did different. The lap felt like it was tenth
quicker than practice, but it was 15 hundredths slower. We're scratching our
heads."


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