Dodge NASCAR Winston Cup Notes, Quotes from KC

Sunday, Sept. 29, 2002					                          Ray Cooper
Kansas Speedway                                                                                               Dodge notes and quotes.  

WARD BURTON (No. 22 Caterpillar Dodge Intrepid R/T)
"I really couldn't see what triggered it. We had a right rear going down it felt like. I about spun out a couple of times, and that's what got me back there. Somebody got the 74 sideways. We were just slowing down, but when you slow down, normally that means somebody doesn't slow down and you get run over from behind. That's what happened to us. I can't believe our luck sometimes. We've had some great days and had some bad days. Hopefully we'll get it turned around next week. You just try to use your head. That's what you've got to do. We've been taken out three races in a row from people not using their head, not that we don't make mistakes by any means. We don't crash many people. Whoever hit me in the rear obviously didn't mean to do it. I feel bad for all the people who work so hard for this team and all the people who support us. We've had three tough weeks, but we've got a great team and we'll get it turned around."

CASEY ATWOOD (No. 7 Sirius Satellite Radio Dodge Intrepid R/T)
"We came off four and Tony (Raines) either had a cut tire. Either the tire came off or the cap came off. I tried to get slowed up and somebody hit me from behind. I've had a lot of bad luck. In two years, I think we've run about five laps in race mode here. There was just some more bad luck for the Sirius Dodge today. I'm real disappointed. We had an awesome car. We had already made up about 10 spots. We had a real good Happy Hour yesterday. This is my favorite car. It's a new car, but I loved it already and it's junk now. We just need to get a little luck for the Sirius team and we'll be fine. The car was awesome. We got piled into from behind, and it's just more bad luck."

STUART KIRBY (No. 49 BAM Racing Dodge Intrepid R/T)
"I really couldn't tell what happened. I was sitting back there waiting for the car to come in. I saw one car get up in the air. I tried to go low. I couldn't see what was up high. Cars came shooting down the race track when I was in the grass. It's really unfortunate. I wanted to finish the whole race and gain some experience. That's the way it goes. Hopefully we can get back out and run some more laps. We wanted to run every lap in the Bam Racing Dodge, but it didn't happen today. It was hard to drive coming in the pits after the accident, but that's part of it. I should have stopped the car because I couldn't see anything up high. I tried to go through the grass and I didn't make it through. Another car slid down and tagged me in the right rear."

STERLING MARLIN (No. 40 Coors Light Dodge Intrepid R/T)
"I think it probably hit harder than Richmond, but it probably pulled some soreness out. I'm not near as sore now as I was at the start of the race. I think the 99 got into us. It was just hard racing. I had to check up and he hit us, but we had a good car. We were pretty good on long runs. I hate it for the Coors Light Dodge. It was just hard racing and that's part of it. It really hurts today (in points race). I thought today with the way the car was running we had a good top-five car and we could have gained back a good bit. Mark was having trouble, and we might could have outrun Tony and Jeff. We were just racing hard and this stuff happens. The 14 checked up in front I think, and the 99 got into us. Our car was as good as anybody's today, and it was real good on the long runs. I really hate it for the Coors Light Dodge team. We've had some terrible luck the past few weeks. We'll get over it. We had a good first half of the year and we'll work hard the rest of the year and see what happens."

CHIP GANASSI (Car owner Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Dodge Intrepid R/Ts)
"A lapped car put us in trouble. It's as simple as that. We were hooked up, too. We haven't been helping ourselves at all the last three or four weeks. Finally today we get hooked up and we get in trouble with the lapped car. You've got to be in position to take advantage of good breaks and you've got to be in position when you have a bad break for it not to affect you. Unfortunately, I'm not sure we're in that position right now. He said the 14 checked up and he had no place to go. I don't know if we're out of it (championship), but we're in a position where we.... You have to be in a position to win the championship. Right now, we're in a position where bad luck hurts us."

BILL ELLIOTT (No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Intrepid R/T)
"I had Dale Jr. by about a fender there at the end for fifth place. I had no choice but to come in and get four tires. I was either going to finish eighth or ninth, so what did I have to lose by pitting? We weren't bad today. We weren't as good as some of those guys. We were decent. I couldn't run with the 12, 48, 24 or the 8 when he was right. That's the way it goes. We got a fender rub there and came in and got it fixed and came back pretty good. At the end, we decided to put two tires on, and that didn't work. We put four on with three laps to go because we didn't have anything to lose. We had a pretty good afternoon."

JEREMY MAYFIELD (No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Intrepid R/T)
"We've been getting better week after week, and it showed up today. We had a good run going. We just got in that mess there. It looked like Spencer was loose and Benson tried to miss him and got sideways and I was just up there in the middle of it. I just kept going. I never lifted. I spun around and kept going. We finally got both cars up in the top 10. Bill ran good all day. I know he had some bad luck, but it was a good day for Ray Evernham. He needed that, getting both cars up there in the top 10. We never really got it right, but we just kept battling and working with it and made it better. Things came together today."

DOUG RANDOLPH (Crew chief No. 41 Dodge Intrepid R/T)
"We just couldn't get the car as fast as we needed it to be. We struggled with that all day. It was tight racing there at the end, and the 10 car just dove off in there and hit Jimmy in the left rear and got him around. It caused a big wreck for everybody. We had two wrecked race cars today."