dodge cup notes from friday at dis

Friday, Feb. 6, 2004.
Ray Cooper

Daytona International Speedway


 

 

BILL ELLIOTT (No.  91 Evernham Motorsports Dodge)

NOTE: Elliott will compete in his 19th Budweiser Shootout on Saturday
night at Daytona International Speedway. He won the 1987 Shootout from
the pole position. He ranks first in Shootout starts and laps completed
(515). Elliott will not race in the 2004 Daytona 500.

 

"I want to be an asset to the team, not a liability. I knew if I ran the
Shootout and Jeremy is also running the Shootout, I knew I could help
both Jeremy and Kasey. It's so different right now. I'm not thinking
about the 125s or Daytona 500 at all. I enjoyed the 125s in the past,
but right now my role is to help Jeremy and Kasey and that's a very
different role for me."

 

ARE YOU LIKE A PLAYER-COACH NOW?

"I really don't know. I'll probably be able to answer that better as the
season progresses. I'm going to fit in wherever I can fit in. I'll try
to help Ray, Jeremy or Kasey, but I'm enjoying where I am today. I think
I can be an asset to Evernham Motorsports and the entire Dodge program.
That's where I need to be.

 

"I feel relieved in a lot of ways. Right now, I'm sure I'm going to miss
some things, but my role has changed enough that it'll give me
opportunities to do other things. I sat down the other night and watched
that movie Radio. I think the coach in there said it so well when he was
talking about certain things in your life being very important and it
comes a time that things change. That's where I am in my career. Racing
is important to me, but other things are becoming more important to me.
That fits me to a tee. I'm ready to go do other things.

 

"I'm ready to slow down from the grind of running a full season, and I
know a lot of you know what I'm talking about. The physical aspect is
one thing, and I know how bad these races beat me up the last two or
three years. As hard as you've got to run 'em, the length of the events
and the length of the season just isn't lending itself to an older guy.
If I can still run some events this year, hopefully 12-15 depending on
how the sponsorship goes, that's my goal. I'll fit in in whatever way I
can as far as Jeremy and Kasey are concerned, primarily Kasey to help
him through some rough spots as he gets started on his Cup deal. We'll
see what happens."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 "I'm looking at a multi-faceted deal. I'm having a good time and
enjoying where I'm at in life. From one side of the coin, not having a
major sponsor on the car takes some pressure away. I'm sure if something
comes along we'll deal with what we've got at that particular time. For
all intents and purposes, I'm very content and very happy with where I'm
at today. You never know what's going to happen. It'll depend on
circumstances. You get started in a season and things don't go well and
the team's not gelling and you can't hit on anything and you get to
April and May and June and it can be a miserable situation. On the other
hand, you get to the way we were running last fall, and it's fantastic.
For me to do it week in and week out and the way things were changing
for this year with the tire deal and spoiler deal, I thought it was my
time to step back and give Kasey Kahne a chance to come in and continue
on.

 

"Now I can take a weekend off and go do something else. I guess when I
was growing up, especially in my high school days, I really cherished
weekends. Once I got started racing, and the commitment it took.... I
put 1000 percent commitment into racing over the years. This gives me a
different opportunity. I still have some friends I want to see and
things I want to do, and still try to help Ray everyway I can. That's
going to be a key part of what my next step is going to be.

 

HOW DOES IT FEEL NOT HAVING ALL THE PRESSURE?

"I don't know how to describe it. If things aren't going good in April
or May, I don't have to worry about it. I don't have the pressure of
answering to the sponsors or trying to answer to whatever. I can take
this step and come into events and if I need to do fan stuff, I can
devote 100 percent to that. If I need to do media or a sponsor, I can
take it a step at a time. Before you had to put it all together and do
it every week. It becomes one hell of a strain before the season is
over. I don't care how good you are in this business. As tough as the
competitors have gotten and as bad as this sport can eat you up and spit
you out, that's what I see. I don't think I really realized it until I
got on the outside a little looking in. It's like that old saying, can't
see the forest for the trees.

 

WHAT DIFFERENT THINGS DO YOU PLAN TO DO?

"I've got a lot or other roles I want to fulfill. I want to watch Chase
race go-karts some. I want to go with my daughters for some horse stuff.
I want to start doing some things I haven't done in the past. I want to
put my life in perspective. I still feel like I'd like to do something
for the fans. I haven't really put it together. I don't want to do a
year long deal like everybody has done in the past. I want to take care
of the fans that have taken care of me for all the years. To sit down
and say I'm going to walk away from the sport cold turkey is one thing,
but I want to sit down and say, 'look, now it's time to give back to the
people who gave to me.' I've still got a lot of good friends in the
sport, and I feel like I can play a role and help the team. I feel like
I can be a part of it for at least a short time. It comes to the point
that other things become more important. When I was there I was giving
100 percent and when I continue to race it'll be 100 percent, but it'll
be at my own pace. I feel like I've run long enough and I've earned it
and I deserve it and my family deserves it. "

 

DO YOU THINK YOU'LL MISS IT?

"I was kidding with Kasey and told him to get my uniform off. I
understand this is a part of evolution and that's what life is all
about. We don't live forever. We don't drive a racecar forever. It just
doesn't happen. It's part of where everybody eventually is going to be."

 

WILL RUNNING PART-TIME MAKE IT MORE DIFFICULT TO WIN?

"If I didn't have Jeremy and Kasey out there running every week, it
might be. I'll revisit that later in the year, but I think right now I
don't see that being a problem. As fresh as I am out of the car and the
way I envision testing and running and continuing to be part of it, I
don't see that as a factor."

 

DID YOUR SUCCESS AT THE END OF 2003 MAKE CUTTING BACK HARDER?

"I had already made up my mind, and I wasn't going to back off. If I had
won five or six races, it wouldn't have made any difference. I've never
been a person who likes the limelight. I was always a guy who liked to
be in the background. If I won a race, it was more self-satisfaction and
happiness for the team as it was to go out and boast about winning.
That's the way I'll always be. "

 

 

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