Nascar Winston Cup: Mayfield and Spencer @NAPA 500

Tuesday, April 23, 2002				

JEREMY MAYFIELD (No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Intrepid R/T)

NOTE: Mayfield has recorded three top fives and four top 10s in five
starts at California Speedway. He won the 2000 Napa Auto Parts 500 and
finished fifth at California Speedway last season. Mayfield finished 36th
last week at Talladega and dropped two spots to 18th in the NASCAR Winston
Cup Standings.

     "I've been looking forward to it (California race) all year. The way
things are going and the progression I've seen with the team and the cars
and everybody at the shop and the whole deal, I've just been really excited
about getting to California. I feel like that's going to be the turning
point of the year. I think we're going to go there and get the momentum
rolling.
     "I feel like as well as Rusty, I pretty much knew what went on over
there and I've got notes and he's got notes. Between all of us, we ought to
be able to go there and apply the same stuff and run good. It's one of my
favorite tracks. I like it as a driver, too. It's a good place for me.
     "I wonder what they (Roush drivers) were thinking. I'm sure when they
came in on Monday morning and Jack wasn't there it concerned them. We're all
concerned about him. I'm sure it's got to affect them some way. He's a very
important part of that race team, not as just the owner but as an influence
of what went on. I've never been in that situation and I hope I never am. I
think it would definitely affect them some way.
     "As a driver when you go to a place you've run good at or won at, you
go there knowing that you've done it and can get it done. It is a different
level of confidence. When you go there with a car owner that's won, Ray
Evernham has won there, too, so we should go there and run well. It boosts
your confidence knowing you've won there and can get the job done.
     "It's totally different in a lot of ways. Roger and everybody at Penske
Racing did a lot for my career. It's been kind of interesting for me to walk
into Ray's operation and see the difference in the way people do business.
The biggest thing I've seen is the way Ray is involved. Roger was involved
over there, but Ray is there every day and he's on top of everything that
goes on. There's no question of where he stands or who's in charge or who's
doing what. There's always a plan. It's very well organized. I'm not saying
Penske Racing wasn't. This is just organized in a different way. It's pretty
interesting the difference in the two race teams.
     "I don't think we really struggled this year. We haven't gotten where
we want to be yet because we're trying to figure out the new car and I'm
working with some guys I've never worked with before. Everybody is new. I
had trouble at the beginning of the year explaining what I wanted in the
car, but now every week, that's what's so encouraging for me. Every week our
stuff is getting better and better. We're getting a feel for the things and
feel and balance I like in a race car. The most impressive thing is that Ray
and all the guys have done everything they can to get that. I think that's
been a big part of why we haven't won yet. We're just going through that
transition.
     "I like the banked tracks. It just seems like I've had good runs at the
other places (flat tracks). You go to Pocono, California and Michigan and
I've run good and I'm not sure what that is. I've got a good feel for the
setup. Maybe that's a big part of it. This team is really good on flat
tracks, so hopefully we can add that together and this will be our weekend.
     "Ray was a big part of developing the car and getting it all started
for Dodge. It's worked two or three different ways. Dodge had their aero
department and Ray recently hired Eric Warren, who is over all engineering
and the aerodynamic program at Evernham Motorsports. I think it's just been
a group effort up to this point. We're doing things a little different after
we hired Eric. I feel like our aero program is definitely second to none and
headed in the direction that maybe some people haven't gone before. That's
the thing with Ray that's helped make him so successful, going out and doing
things people haven't done.
     "He's made a huge impact on my attitude and my career and the direction
my career is going. I really can't say enough. The way he's helped me
progress as a driver. When I came over here, that's all I have to do. He's
helped me get to a point where I can focus on things that will make me a
better driver. I look at him more like a head coach. I feel like Ray's job
for that race team is teach everybody what it takes to be better. His
approach of handling people and talking to people just amazes me. He's on
the radio with me every week. I guess you'd say the inspiration and energy
he gives off to me in the race car is just amazing. It's been a huge impact
on the way my career is headed.
     "We found out that Bill and I like the exact same setups. I think ya'll
realize what I went through before. Rusty and I seem like we were opposites
on everything. I came over here hoping it wouldn't happen here. At the
beginning of the year Bill and them were doing their own thing and we were
doing our own thing as far as setup wise. At the end of the day, we'd always
end up in the same spot. There's times where we struggled a little bit, put
exactly what Bill had in his car in our car and it felt great. That's pretty
neat we've got our chassis and setups the same. Our seats are even going to
be the same before long. The 9 and 19 are definitely the same type of race
cars and that's been good for our relationship as far as being teammates.
     "You have to be conscious about the fuel, but you always have to run
hard. If you lay back and conserve fuel, you're going to be in trouble. It's
a fine line there. That's probably the toughest part of this sport any more.
It seems like fuel mileage, track position and knowing where that line is.
That's something that I'm really confident that Ray and all the guys on the
team do a real good job of figuring that out. My job is to run hard. When
they tell me to conserve, you do the best you can. Most of the time I'm on
the mat. That doesn't conserve fuel very good.
     "We were excited the way we ran at Talladega. We made huge improvements
from Daytona to Talladega. We had a great car, running good. We got caught
up in the wreck. It seems like every time we get to shine we get right back
and hit the ring along the way. It's weird, but I think we came out of
Talladega learning something. I feel like that I'm a better driver now. I
know a lot of things on the speedways that maybe I could have done different
and not been in that wreck, maybe stayed up front longer and not got back
there and got in a wreck, but that's part of it. It's restrictor-plate
racing and I'm not going to be one of the drivers sitting here whining about
it. We're going to get better and try to get up front and get away from it
all. I just kind of go with the flow on the rules. I'm not going to comment
or say anything because there's nothing you can do. NASCAR has done all they
can do and they've done a great job with them. They made the rules and we
have to live with them, and that's part of it. They know when they've made
good ones and bad ones and I try to stay out of all that. We'll just have to
wait and see on the Daytona race.
     "It just amazes me if you sit back and look at all the people that came
from the town of Owensboro, Ky., that are racers and successful in all kinds
of sports. Look at Rex Chapman in basketball. It amazes me, especially if
you've been there. If you blink an eye you miss it. For all the people that
came out of there that are highly competitive it's pretty neat. It must be
the water. If you live there, you get bored quick, so you've either got to
go racing or play basketball. I wasn't tall enough to play basketball, so I
ended up racing. It's funny. There's nothing to really do. It's kind of laid
back and you've got to find your way. You're either going to stay there or
you're going to reach out for the stars, and I think a lot of people have
done that."


     JIMMY SPENCER (No. 41 Target Dodge Intrepid R/T)
     NOTE: Spencer finished seventh last year at California Speedway.
Spencer finished 17th last Sunday at Talladega and ranks 20th in the NASCAR
Winston Cup Standings despite failing to qualify for the Daytona 500.
     "I really like California. It's a lot like Michigan and Las Vegas. It's
hard to get in trouble there because the corners are so wide. It's a fast
track and it's fun to race there. It's a real smooth track, and you need to
get your car handling right. You need a good aero package and horsepower
package. It's a non-restricted race, and that's the most fun, when you're
driving fast with non-restricted engines.
     "We ran bad all day last week at Talladega. We went backwards, got in a
wreck and still came out 17th, so that's not too bad. We moved up two spots
in the points, but that's been our worst race this year. We were not good at
Daytona or Talladega, but we've had a top 10 car everywhere else, and we
expect it to be the same way at California. Sterling (teammate Marlin)
tested out there, so we'll go by his test for our setup.
     "We had a good car in Las Vegas, and we're taking the same car to
California. We're improving every week, and our goal is to get back in the
top 10. I think if we hadn't missed Daytona we might be in the top 10 right
now. We're going to try to qualify up front at California because track
position seems to be critical everywhere we go this year, whether it's
Bristol or Las Vegas, it's critical everywhere. It'll be no different at
California.
     "I'm scheduled to play in the Greater Greensboro Open (GGO) pro-am on
Wednesday. I'm not sure who I'm going to be playing with yet, but I don't go
to these things for my looks. I go to win. I won the last time I played in
one at Tanglewood last year. We won by two strokes, and I made a putt and
chip shot that my team used, so I contributed. I hit an eight iron chip shot
that hit on the edge of the green and rolled to the hole. I thought it was
going in. Everybody else used a wedge, and I used an eight-iron. I'm not a
good golfer. I have about a 20 handicap, but I'll make bets on the golf
course with anyone. If Tiger Woods would give me two strokes a hole, I'd
beat him. A stroke a hole would be pretty strong. I ain't that good, but I
love to play. It doesn't matter what I do, I want to win. I don't race boats
because my boat is a cruiser. It's a party boat, but if I had a race with
another party boat, I'd want to win.
     "We've struggled a little bit this year, but we've bounced back after
not making the Daytona 500. We had an opportunity to win at Bristol and
Martinsville and things didn't work out. I'm pretty happy where we are in
the points right now, considering we missed a race. I'm really looking
forward to California and Richmond and Charlotte coming up. I'm really
looking forward to all the tracks except maybe the road courses. And I'd say
if everything goes right on the road course we could get a top 15 finish.
The pit crew is doing an awesome job. Doug (crew chief Randolph) and Andy
(team manager Graves) have been giving me great setups. The cars are
handling good and we're just going to get stronger. Chip's (team owner
Ganassi) happy. The team is better and has made a big improvement since last
year. We'd like to keep that up and see if we can't be a lot better by
midseason and go from there."