dodge nascar winston cup notes and quotes from tropicana 400 at chicagoland speedway

Sunday, July 14 , 2002				  

WARD BURTON (No. 22 Caterpillar Dodge Intrepid R/T)
"I either lost it or cut a tire off turn four. I'm not sure. That started it. The car was  vibrating a little bit at the start of the race, and it looked like we broke the yoke off the drive shaft. The same thing broke at Richmond. Everything that could break this year has broke. This is at least the second time this season, the same related deal. It felt like the same thing that happened at Richmond."

NOTE: Tom Hubert, rear tire changer on the No. 22 Caterpillar Dodge Intrepid R/T, drilled his left index finger while making repairs on the car in an effort to get Burton back in the race. He was treated at the infield care center but left by car to X-ray the finger at Provena St. Joseph's Medical Center in Joliet. Doctors wanted to check to make sure the drill didn't hit the bone.
"It doesn't hurt yet, and I think I'll be all right," Hubert said. "I just want to make sure we get finished with it in time for me to fly home with the team."

STERLING MARLIN (No. 40 Coors Light Dodge Intrepid R/T)
"We were running good all day. The car was tight off three, and we kept making adjustments to it. We came in for a gas and go about halfway through the race, and we got a pit penalty. That put us a lap down. We tried to get it back by using good fuel mileage and we might have had them in the end, but the caution came out and we didn't have a chance after that. We'll just come back and try to get 'em next weekend at New Hampshire."

BILL ELLIOTT (No. 9 Dodge Dealers Dodge Intrepid R/T)
"It wasn't a bad day. Track position was everything. If a guy got out front, he could pretty much do what he wanted. If you got by yourself or just among two or three cars, it wasn't bad. If you had to race three or four cars together, I couldn't do anything. I'm just glad we got out of here with a decent day. We'll keep dodging 'em and keep trying for those top 10s and top fives and the win will come."

JIMMY SPENCER (No. 41 Target Dodge Intrepid R/T)
"We had a car that could have been in the top 10, and Harvick, I don't even know what you want to call it. It caused an accident up there, and we got in it, and it took us out. It was a little bumper tag deal and it busted our radiator. It was uncalled for. He still drives like an idiot, but what are you going to do? He drives past us down on the apron and he still does. NASCAR said there's no out of bounds. Well, if there's out of bounds at Daytona, there should be an out of bounds here. That apron caused a bad accident yesterday in the Busch race and it caused another one today. That apron ain't to be raced on, and those guys were down there right in front of you."

HUT STRICKLIN (No. 23 Hills Bros Coffee Dodge Intrepid R/T)
"I don't really know what happened. I went down into turn one and everybody checked up for some reason. I don't know if somebody got sideways or what happened. Jerry Nadeau was in front of me. He checked up quick and I couldn't stop and hit him. Somebody hit me and it set off a chain reaction. It's a shame. We had a really good car. We were biding our time. We had some things that would have been good with 10 or 20 to go if we had still been around. We were planning on racing with 10 or 20 to go, but it just wasn't meant to be. I think we could have easily gotten a top 10."

JEREMY MAYFIELD (No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Intrepid R/T)
"Obviously this wasn't the finish we wanted, but the team worked hard and we're moving in the right direction. We're going to Indy to test now, and we'll go from there."