Jeremy Mayfield -- Charlotte Preview
NO. 19 DODGE DEALERS INTREPID R/T RACING AT CHARLOTTE "I'm real excited about going to Charlotte. I know you hear that all the time. Everybody tries to sound positive whether they're running bad or not, but I'm really very excited about the last part of the year. We've got a great car we're taking to Charlotte and we feel real good about the way things have gone the last 10 or 12 races. We finished 20th this past week at Talladega, but the week before we were ninth and the week before that we were showing a lot of progress. We were competitive I guess you'd say. It makes it where you look forward to the next week to get things turned around." HISTORY AT CHARLOTTE "Charlotte has been real good to me. It's been one of my favorite places. I've been running first there and run out of gas and finished 10th. I've been second a couple of times and had some good runs there. I love the place. Charlotte has been a real good place for me. We won The Open, and we've been in The Winston the past five years there. It's definitely been a good track for me. We're trying to go all out every week. There's really no strategy difference. We're going to try to get all we can and take what's thrown at us and go home and head to Martinsville." RACING AT HOME "It's always good to race at home. We travel so much it's kind of nice to be able to be at your house during the weekend. It's a big race for the sponsors as well. I know Dodge always has stuff going on and the UAW usually brings their mobile display, so we're not the only ones who have a lot going on. When you're at your home track it's always big." RACE NOTES Mayfield will bring the same Dodge Intrepid R/T that he ran at Bristol and Dover, which has been re-bodied for this weekend's race. STATS & FACTS ** This weekend's race marks Mayfield's 268th career start in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series and 18th visit to Lowe's Motor Speedway. Mayfield's best finish at Charlotte came in at the track in October 2000 when he moved up from a 10th place start to lead five times for 46 laps en route to a second place finish. Mayfield has one top-five, five top-10s, and has led two races for a total of 53 laps at Charlotte. Mayfield's best non-points finish at the track came in May 2002 when he won the Winston Open. * * In May's Coca-Cola 600, Mayfield encountered trouble early on, and was forced to start in the back of the pack after the Dew Crew had to change engines in the weekend's first practice. He would spend the opening laps trying to hold on to the No. 19 Dodge Dealers Dodge, which was running extremely loose. On lap 27, Mayfield tried to hold on as the car got around and hit the wall in turn four. The Dew Crew worked on it throughout the night to make up ground and finished in 39th place. * * In last week's Talladega race, Mayfield's run began with a move into the top-10 on lap five when he assumed the eighth spot. He fluctuated in the field with the constant shifting of the draft throughout the day. On lap 27 Mayfield earned five bonus points when he brought his No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge to the front of the field. The Dew Crew also called for two tires during his green flag stops and made adjustments on the No. 19 Dodge Intrepid R/T, including trackbar and wedge to help Mayfield on the track. He would come home right behind teammate Elliott in 20th place on the day. * * Mayfield has moved into the top-25 in the points standings, sitting at 24th. He is 84 points out of the next spot and 208 points out of 20th place. * * Mayfield won the Winston Open from the pole position at Charlotte in May, leading every lap. * * Mayfield is starting each race by an average of almost three positions better this season than last year. * * 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.