Dodge Quotes from Budweiser Shootout

Saturday, Feb. 7, 2004.
Ray Cooper

Daytona International Speedway
Clear!Blue

Budweiser Shootout.


JAMIE McMURRAY (No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge)

"Really, even at the end, I thought we might have the car to get back up
there, but it's really slick. The tire is a lot different than we had
last year. I couldn't believe it when I saw guys put two tires on. That
blew me away. You just didn't have any grip. It looked to me on the
initial run the tires went away on about lap 17. Then on the green flag
stop it took until about lap 20 or so. I was fortunate because I was out
front a lot. I didn't think I was using my car up as much as maybe some
of the other guys. The 88 and 38 are fast, and that's good. Those guys
had a tough season last year, so it's nice to see them up front. I think
we learned something tonight we can take to the 125 on Thursday and
hopefully it'll help us a lot."

 

RUSTY WALLACE (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge)

"I thought I had it. I went from looking bad to all of a sudden looking
really, really good. I had a heck of a run going. I wish Harvick had
helped me. I knocked him in the front. I needed him to stay down, but he
wouldn't. It was a good race. We came from in trouble to get back out of
trouble. I had a bad pit stop. I stalled it, but it worked out well. The
car ran great, drafted great and handled good, too. It was exactly what
they're always like. It was a nail-biter. It's crazy. It's hold on for
dear life. The cars are going away a little bit with the tires, and I
think that's a good thing. That's all right."

 

RYAN NEWMAN (No. 12 ALLTEL Dodge)

"We got two tires and that was OK. It got us track position. Our car
obviously wasn't as fast as everyone else's, but we had some good
strategy to get track position to have a shot at it, and that's all you
can ask. It's just unfortunate the way things happened there on the last
lap. Everybody was trying to work hard. I was watching in the mirror and
the 48 got into me a little bit. I was trying to crowd him down and he
was trying to find a hole. I knew the 88 had a strong car. You'll be
watching him tomorrow, too."

 

BILL ELLIOTT (No. 91 Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Dodge)

"It just wouldn't go anywhere. We were hoping to have a better run, but
we'll just go to work now and try to help Kasey and Jeremy get ready for
the Daytona 500."

 

 

JEREMY MAYFIELD (No. 19 NHL All-Star Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge)

"We were a little bit loose, but I thought I was going to be able to
hold them off. There was one on the outside of me and one behind me. I
just didn't have enough and didn't have enough room to save it. We made
a gamble with the two tires and we were leading. We could have had a
shot at winning, but we just lost it. I hate it for Blaney. I think I
got into him pretty good, but what do you do?

 

"It seemed like you couldn't go anywhere, but that's normal racing here.
You've just got to make the best of what you've got. Our Dodge was fast,
but it was just loose. I was running hard, trying to go for it. I didn't
have room. 

 

"We just weren't as good as we thought we were going to be. I don't
think the spoiler made any difference here. It was a pretty good race, I
thought. Everybody stayed pretty even. We put on two tires and it seemed
like we were holding our own for awhile. We were fast, but it was
loose."

 

"They (Chevrolets) are pretty stout. They can go pretty much where they
want to. We were just trying to fight 'em off.

 

"We ran in the back for awhile, trying to keep our Dodge out of trouble.
The guys did a good job, but it was just too loose. We came off turn two
and got sideways and just couldn't gather it back in."

 

 


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