Dodge Quotes for The Winston Open and The Winston

Friday, May 17, 2002					              Ray Cooper
The Winston Qualifying				                            Golin/Harris International
Dodge notes and quotes.                                                                         803-466-9085


     JEREMY MAYFIELD (No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Intrepid R/T)
    NOTE: Mayfield won the pole for The Winston Open.
     "We want to win the Open now and try to work our way into The Winston. We made some changes before qualifying and it paid off for us. I didn't know we were going to run that fast. We ran in the .80s in practice, but I was a little bit tight. I knew we had a little bit left. I love this place. These type tracks are my type. I've had some good luck here, and I've had some bad luck here, but to come here with this race team is what I'm excited about. I've never had a car this good here, and the guys have worked with me trying to give me what I want. That means more than anything.
     "We accomplished what I call step one. Step two will be tomorrow night and step three might be late tomorrow night. We're excited about it. We know we've got a good car and a good chance to win. We're pumped up. This race team has worked hard. I know a lot of people think you win the pole for the Open and is that a big deal or not. If you didn't win it, would that be worse? That's the way I look at it. We're really pumped up about what we've learned in the last few weeks.
    "There were fast cars out there all day. The good part about it is we came here and unloaded fast. We needed a couple more tenths somewhere and we went back to the truck and talked about it. The changes we made were in the right direction. We just didn't know if it was going to be enough, but these guys made the right decision.
     "Your first reaction is I'm not sure it would seem right (moving The Winston). It seems like this is where it's always been and what it's all about. It just seems like this is The Winston. You tie it all together. It's at home and it's part of it. You always run the 600 the next week. You might move it. I'm sure there's other races we can move around, too, not just this one. I would look at it in a different way. It wouldn't seem right. I don't know if the excitement you see in The Winston now, I don't know if you could carry that over just putting it in in a single weekend somewhere besides here. I'm not for sure what it would seem like, but it would be kind of weird doing all that traveling wherever we're going to go if we did change it, traveling some place and running a short race like that. It would be a waste."

      WARD BURTON (No. 22 Caterpillar Dodge Intrepid R/T)
     "We had a bad pit stop. The car was loose. We'll just try to get it a little bit better for tomorrow. The pit stop dictated where we're going to end up starting, but that doesn't matter. We've just got to get the car to handle good for tomorrow night and we'll be in good shape."

     STERLING MARLIN  (No. 40 Coors Original Dodge Intrepid R/T)
     "I messed up the second lap. I tried not to use the brakes too much. It's car 115 and it never qualifies good, but we've won a lot of races with it. We ran the same times today with new tires and 16-lap tires, so we're going to be good on long runs."

     BILL ELLIOTT (No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Intrepid R/T)
     "It's just one of them days. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose and sometimes you have to choose between the two.  You come here and it's all out for one night. Now it's going to depend on how well we get it set up for the race. That loose lugnut is just part of it. You put so much pressure on everyone to perform in a deal like this and it's just hit or miss. That's all there is to it. They do a good job week in and week out. You can't say anything about the effort they put in. That's what racing is all about."


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