dodge nascar winston cup notes, quotes from michigan qualifying

Friday, Aug. 16, 2002					                          Ray Cooper
Michigan International Speedway                                	                          Golin/Harris International 
Dodge notes and quotes.                                                                                      803-466-9085

BILL ELLIOTT (No. 9 Dodge Dealers Dodge Intrepid R/T)
NOTE: Elliott's qualifying lap of 38.224 seconds was more than half a second faster than his fastest lap in practice.
"You've got to look at how fast the racetrack is right now. I feel like as qualifying goes on it'll get even faster. Who knows where we'll end up. I'm proud of my guys. They worked hard. We unloaded and we were decent, but they just keep chipping away at it making it better and better. This is the same car I ran at Indy and Pocono, but it's a different day."

HUT STRICKLIN (No. 23 Hills Bros Coffee Dodge Intrepid R/T)
"We've been struggling a good bit, and I was hoping we could be even faster than that. We came here with a different car than we had here in the first race, and it's been real loose. A lot of guys have been real tight, but we've been real loose. The guys have been working hard and made a lot of gains from practice to qualifying. Hopefully we can get the Hills Bros Coffee Dodge up front on Sunday."

WARD BURTON (No. 22 Caterpillar Dodge Intrepid R/T)
"Maybe that will be in the middle of the pack. It really didn't do anything crazy. It was a smooth lap, nothing to write home about, but I thought it would have been top 15. We tried a few things this weekend, and we're more interested in race mode on Sunday than we are in qualifying. If we have to give up something today, that's OK."

JEREMY MAYFIELD (No. 19 Dodge Dealers Dodge Intrepid R/T)
"I'm real proud of the guys on this Evernham Motorsports team. Everybody worked hard, and it was a total team effort. We were about 17th or 18th in practice, and they made some changes right before qualifying. It really picked it up for us. I'm really proud of them."

STACY COMPTON (No. 92 Regal Corp. Dodge Intrepid R/T)
"We knew we were going to have to pick up half a second at least to get in the show, and we picked up about a second. I'm proud of the guys with this Regal Dodge. I'm proud that Regal came aboard and gave us an opportunity to go out racing. Mark Melling gave me another opportunity to come out. We struggled a little bit in practice, but the guys made some great changes and it worked out for us. We picked up a bunch. It's a real satisfaction to be back with Mark Melling and Dodge.I'm excited about a lap like that. We knew we were going to go home if we didn't step it up. It's Mark Melling's home town, and a lot of people up here were expecting a lot. It was a good lap. This car hasn't run since this race last year. We were a little concerned that we may be off a little bit. If you miss a week in this series, you're off a month. We made some changes and it paid off. It's an Ernie Elliott engine with great horsepower, almost the same combination we had last year. We want to show people that Mark Melling is still around."

DERRIKE COPE (No. 49 MNR Corporation Dodge Intrepid R/T)
"We've got a little bit to learn about the car. It's the first time I've ever driven a Dodge and it's got a lot of downforce. It was a little tight, but I'm tickled for all the guys at BAM racing. It was a good effort today. The motor ran good, but it was just a little tight. There's a lot of potential in this car and hopefully we'll show it Sunday. We've accomplished a lot when you remember this whole thing just came together this week. The guys on this team should be proud. Good equipment, good leadership here. I'm sure MNR Productions is proud."

STERLING MARLIN (No. 40 Coors Light Dodge Intrepid R/T)
"We picked up about three tenths, and we needed to pick up at least half a second. I was sideways. We didn't get adjusted like we needed it. We got loose on our banzai run. I thought we had it tightened up, but it wasn't quite enough. We had this car at Pocono and Indy. It really doesn't matter where you start here. It's a handling track."

JIMMY SPENCER (No. 41 Target Dodge Intrepid R/T)
"It's the best lap we ran all day, but it's half a second off from where we wanted to be. We just had a little practice, and it's a different car than we had here last time. I just hope it'll race good."

JOHN ANDRETTI (No. 43 Cheerios Dodge Intrepid R/T)
"The car was good. I just thought it would be quicker. I'm disappointed it wasn't. I thought we had a shot at the pole. I probably left a little on the racetrack. You're supposed to lift, but in one corner I didn't lift and it didn't help. We've got a good car and a good motor. I'm disappointed we didn't qualify better last week. If we had qualified better we would have had a much better run. Instead we just had a pretty good run."

JERRY NADEAU (No. 44 Georgia Pacific Dodge Intrepid R/T)
"We were top 10 in practice and we almost qualified in the top 10. It's always nice to be up front. I wish we could have been in the first two rows, but the guys did a good job. We're still new and learning, and we'll get after it Sunday."

CASEY ATWOOD (No. 7 Sirius Satellite Radio Dodge Intrepid R/T)
"That was just about our first lap on the track. We've been missing all day. It wasn't a very good lap, and that's about all you can say about it."