Dodge NASCAR Winston Cup- notes and quotes from friday qualifying at Sears Point

Friday, June 21, 2002					              Ray Cooper
Dodge notes and quotes.				                            Golin/Harris International
Sears Point Raceway                                                                               803-466-9085


CASEY ATWOOD (No. 7 Sirius Satellite Radio Dodge Intrepid R/T)
"It was really a good lap until the last corner. I felt like we had a real good time, but the brakes shattered on me real bad coming into turn 11. It messed us up, but we got the car better from practice and picked up some speed. The track is basically the same. The scenery is just a little bit different because they pushed the hills back. The track really doesn't look that much different. It's a hard place to pass. You've just got to out brake people here. If you've got good brakes and you can drive it in the corner a car length or two deeper than them, then you should be able to pass."

KYLE PETTY (No. 45 Sprint Dodge Intrepid R/T)
"That's the best lap we've made since we've been here, but we've been off since we've been here. We made a bunch of changes for qualifying. We'll make some more changes and try to figure out where we are before the race. We haven't been close since we've been here driving wise. The motors are good, we've just been way off driving wise. Pit road is different. They've knocked down all the hills and stuff and it's a little different on the front stretch, but it's not terrible."

JEREMY MAYFIELD (No. 19 Dodge Dealers Dodge Intrepid R/T)
"I'm not a very good qualifier here. I started to get the hang of it in practice. I've never been good enough out here to know what good feels like. This is by far the best car I've had here. It's just a matter of getting me comfortable in it. I'll get used to it. I finally got used to Watkins Glen. I know what I'm looking for there. I don't know what to tell the team about the car here to fix it. We'll get working and get it better for the race."

HUT STRICKLIN (No. 23 Hills Bros Coffee Dodge Intrepid R/T)
"We slowed down a lot from practice. I'm really not sure why. I think a lot of people scuffed tires before qualifying and we should have done it. We just ran out of time. I don't know if that was some of it or what. We never really seemed to get going good. We got out of the esses and then the car came to us. It was about a lap late getting going. I think we'll be fine. It doesn't feel like it's been five years since I've raced here. Hopefully we'll have a good race here Sunday."

JIMMY SPENCER (No. 41 Target Dodge Intrepid R/T)
"They tried to make the track better with all the changes, but I've lost the marks I had. I'm not oriented to the track like I used to be and I'm overdriving in the corners. I've got to find different marks. I wish they had just widened the track out. It's very difficult to pass. Track position will be very, very important. I think our gearing is off a little bit. We've got too low a second and too high a third. You're in that range in half the race track. The transmission boys are going to work on it and we'll get it better for Sunday."

JERRY NADEAU (No. 44 Georgia Pacific Dodge Intrepid R/T)
"That should have been an exciting lap to watch on TV. I'm really not happy with it. I should be a lot faster than I am. We picked up half a second from practice, but that's no big deal. We didn't get to test here, and this is my first time with these guys. We had to change the steering box, and we still need more time with each other. I think we'll be OK in the race."

BILL ELLIOTT (No. 9 Dodge Dealers Dodge Intrepid R/T)
NOTE: Elliott led all Dodge drivers with a fifth-place qualifying run.
"If you can keep it on the race course, you're doing good here. I feel like as a whole most of the Winston Cup guys have gotten better at road racing. We've just got to keep working on it. I think the surface is a little bit better here. We picked up a little bit from practice and now we'll just get ready to race."

JOHN ANDRETTI (No. 43 Cheerios Dodge Intrepid R/T)
"When I qualify at these places I just qualify in race pace. I don't try to get more out of it than it will give me, like I might try at an oval. There's too many places to mess up, and I can easily mess up. I've seen fast guys in practice miss the race because they tried too hard to get the pole. You can't win the race if you're watching it, but we're going to be in it."

STERLING MARLIN (No. 40 Coors Light Dodge Intrepid R/T)
"I ran off the course coming down the hill. I got off in the dirt. We changed some stuff after practice and went back to the way it was last year. I just got off the course and that was the end of it. We're lucking we ended up 36th."
 
WARD BURTON (No. 22 Caterpillar Dodge Intrepid R/T)
"We had to start over. The setup we qualified fifth with last year wasn't working. It worked good last year, but it didn't work at all this year. We've been dealing with that all year. It's pretty weird. We've got to get the car stable and I think we'll be in good shape for the race."