Jeremy Mayfield Richmond Preview
Kristine Curley Golin/Harris 704.924.9404 JEREMY MAYFIELD NO. 19 DODGE DEALERS INTREPID R/T RICHMOND PREVIEW EARLIER RUN AT RICHMOND "We had a real good run at Richmond in May. It was one of the best runs we've had all year. I felt like we had a shot to win the race if we could have ever capitalized on track position because we had a good car at the end. We're going to take the same car and the same setup back, and I'm pretty pumped up about it." NIGHT RACE "It's our last night race of the year and everybody gets pumped up for the night races. It's a little bit different than the excitement at Bristol. It's hard to beat Bristol. You go there and you get a weird feeling. You're in a zone there and you don't really know where you're at. Richmond is still very exciting for us, and I know most of the drivers really like the night races. The biggest thing about racing at night is that's the way we all grew up in racing. That was just part of the deal, and when we go back and race at night it reminds us all of our younger days behind the wheel." THIS WEEKEND AT RICHMOND "We had a good handling race car in May at Richmond. The guys did a good job on it and it stayed under me the whole time. It wasn't a deal where you were fighting it the whole day and chasing it. Everybody in the garage has to do that every week. It was just a good, solid race car and we feel like we can repeat that when we go back. GETTING AROUND AT RICHMOND "You've got to have handling and horsepower at Richmond. It's a big short track and you've got to have it all. You've got to handle through the corners and you've got to have a good motor to get down the straightaways. Track position is important everywhere you go, and you've got to qualify good, start up front and keep it up there all day. I think we can qualify better than we did last time. We know we've got a good car now for Richmond and we've been qualifying good the last few weeks. I think we'll have a good shot at it." RACE NOTES * Jeremy Mayfield will run the No. 19 Dodge Intrepid R/T that he raced at the season's first Richmond race. * * STATS & FACTS * This weekend's race marks Mayfield's 17th career visit to Richmond Int'l Raceway. He has three top-10s, with a career-high finish of fifth place at the track in May of 2002. His best start at the track is 14th, which he earned in the Sept. race of 1999. Mayfield competed in both Richmond races in 2001 starting 35th and finishing 36th in the spring race, and starting 30th and finishing 29th in the fall. * Mayfield posted his second top-five finish of the 2002 season at Richmond in May. Mayfield was the highest finishing Dodge in the field. * During the Richmond race in May Jeremy maneuvered the No. 19 Dodge Dealers Intrepid R/T through the field, avoiding the on-track incidents, which brought out 14 cautions during the course of the race. With a little more than 100 laps to go, Mayfield had secured a spot in the top 10. He would spend the remainder of the race chasing down the leaders. He was still able to pick up valuable spots to finish in fifth place. * Last weekend at Darlington, Mayfield finished 20th after having to start at the rear of the field due to an engine change. Mayfield remains in 28th place in the Winston Cup points race. He is 121 points out of 25th place. * Mayfield's second-place run this year at Las Vegas was his best run at the track and his best overall finish since the 2000 Pennzoil 400 at Homestead-Miami where he finished second. The finish also qualified Mayfield for the Winston No Bull 5 $1 million bonus during the May race in Charlotte. * Coming into the 2002 season, Mayfield had 237 starts, with six poles (two at Talladega and one at Darlington, Dover, Rockingham, and Texas), three wins (two at Pocono, and one at California), 33 top-fives and 58 top-10s. His most recent win came at Pocono in June of 2000.