Ted Musgrave's Motto for 2004: Win First, Title Later

Contact:

Patrick Mason     (773) 354-2825

Todd Goyer          (248) 512-0041

 

TED MUSGRAVE'S MOTTO FOR 2004:  WIN FIRST, TITLE LATER 

 

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (February 10, 2004) - Ted Musgrave, driver of the
No. 1 Mopar Dodge Ram, will be the first to tell you that last year is
over, and the 2004 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is about to begin anew.
Finally.

 

Musgrave entered the 2003 season-finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway
second in the standings but was issued a controversial black flag on a
late-race restart.  The infraction relegated him to a 13th place finish
and a third-place finish in the points standings.  He missed his first
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series title by just 18 points.

 

The Ultra Motorsports veteran admits his yearly finish in the top-three
of the NCTS standings keeps him wanting a little bit more out of next
season, but that there's more to racing than just counting championship
points.  

 

"I didn't win the championship in my first year either," Musgrave said.
"I finished second in points in 2001, but I won the most races.  I was
able to dominate the series more or less without winning the
championship and that didn't hurt so bad because we knew that nobody
else made as many trips to victory lane as we did.

 

"I felt like 2001 was a really good year for the Mopar team.  I'd say
last year was a decent year - let's put it that way.  Hopefully we can
come alive in 2004 and have another really good year, whether that means
to win the most races or to win a title I don't know yet.  I'm
approaching it like this: right now all we're going to do is go out and
try to win the most races and let the championship fall where it may.  

 

"Travis Kvapil had a great year last year, but he only won one race.
I'd feel bad if I won a championship and never won a race.  I'd feel
ashamed.  Hopefully that doesn't happen to me this year.  But for me,
I'd rather win the most races, lead the most laps and all of that stuff
even if you don't win the championship.  I'd rather go out there and win
the manufacturer's title, win a bunch of poles and things like that, and
if I don't win the championship, big deal.  Don't get me wrong, I want
to win a championship for the team, for Mopar and Dodge, but to me I'd
rather just go out and kick your ass on a weekly basis and go from
there."

 

Musgrave won three races and four poles in 2003.  The 48-year-old native
of Franklin, Wis., has 74 career starts in the Craftsman Truck Series
and 13 victories (17.5 percent).  He has nine career poles and won the
2003 Bud Pole Award with four poles.  In three full seasons in NASCAR
Craftsman Truck Series competition, Musgrave has finished second, third
and third in the final standings.  

 

That success notwithstanding, Musgrave and the No. 1 Mopar Dodge team
face a 2004 season full of change.  From new team members to new a
competing manufacturer, Musgrave said those factors can't deter Ultra
Motorsports from striving for improvement.

 

"I'll tell you what, Shawn Parker (crew chief, No. 1 Mopar Dodge Ram)
and his background and everybody else he's surrounded himself with has
had very good talent.  Dennis Connor (General Manager, Crew Chief of the
No. 2 Team ASE/CARQUEST Dodge Ram) has made a big impact on this team
already, too.  He went out, evaluated everybody and said, 'Okay guys,
here's where we stand, and we're going to be better,' and then he got
everybody better.  I think between Shawn and Dennis working together -
and they're working really hard together - it's going to be a good year.
You've got to have confidence in everyone around you, and I really have
that in these guys.  Shawn has been in the Cup Series for a long time,
he's worked with guys like Rusty Wallace and Dale Jarrett.  Now coming
into the Truck Series he's just got a little adjustment to make to the
conditions of truck racing and he'll be fine.

 

"We're better than we were last year.  You've got to get better in the
off-season because everyone else is striving to catch up too.  We've
made our Dodge Ram better under the umbrella of things that we're
permitted to work on. Everybody knows that most of my team has left to
other teams, so all of my notes from the last few years and every little
thing I've done in the past are out in the open now.  So, the team now
that they've gone to is going to be a lot better team than they were
last year.  There's going to be a lot of that happening.  We're going to
have to come up and be better to combat that.


"Based upon how we tested in the off-season, and sizing that up
comparable to every team, we're pretty darn good right now.  Let's put
it that way.  Team-wise, the group of guys we've got between the No. 2
Dodge and the No. 1 is altogether different this year than the last
three years I've been here.  They're really working hard and working
together.  We've achieved getting both teams to run the same, and
they're both running right up front.  I think, between the management
changes and the personnel changes and everything involved, it's going to
be a better year than we've had in a long time.  

 

 "If the new manufacturer gets some rules changes to help them this
year, it's not going to surprise me.  I don't want to see it, naturally,
because it's a learning process.  They're working hard - don't get me
wrong - but you can't just come into this series and expect to win the
first race.  You've got to earn it.  They've done well, very well, and
they're only going to get better.  So, if you come in and get a
concession as the new kid on the block that's not really right.  Why put
them into a position where other manufacturers have struggled for years
and gotten to this point, and then all of a sudden you hand over to
somebody else? I don't care if it's a manufacturer or driver or team
that gets it.  

 

"In my first year with Ultra Motorsports we took the same Dodge Ram that
won a handful of races in previous years, and we won seven of them in 24
starts.  We had the same truck, the same rules and everything, and then
they said, 'Oh my God, we've got to change the rules.'  Well, that was
my reason for coming here.  I'm going to try to win every race.  I
picked a manufacturer, team, and everything that it took to win in this
series, and then we had the rug pulled out from under us. So, here we
are now, and I don't want to see that happen again."

 

Musgrave also said that although he's glad to come back to a racetrack
that he's had success on, that Daytona Int'l Speedway is never a
racetrack to guarantee victory at.

 

"We've had good years at Daytona and bad years here too.  We've always
had good Dodge Rams out here to run with, but that doesn't always win
you the races.  A lot of times at Daytona - and it's only at Daytona -
you really don't know how the race is going to play out because it's
always a chance deal.  It's up to the draft, and who's going to push you
and being in the right place at the right time. It's not like the guy
with the best truck is going to go out there and win the race. We've
done that and other people have done that where you practice well,
qualify up front and you're pretty much favored to win unless you screw
up. Here at Daytona you really don't know who's going to win.
Everybody's got a shot at it.

 

"I feel good being here right now.  I've had good, fast trucks in the
past few races here, and you always feel confident coming back to a
track that you know you can run well on.  You're always optimistic
because you don't really know what's going to happen during the race.
Out at California where I've won every time I've raced there I feel
great, but I never know what's going to happen on race day.  Luck always
comes into play too.  We could have a good, fast truck out there and
still get a flat tire or have something stupid happen on race day.  I
really, really want to win one more time at California to tie Brendan
Gaughan for the most consecutive victories at a track (with four
victories).  But you've got to remember that we race twice at Texas, so
he could do twice as much each year and I've got to wait for four darn
years to get the chance to do it at California.  But that would be a
feat to accomplish. "

 

Entering his fourth full season in a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Dodge Ram,
Musgrave has already seen the series develop in many ways, but his focus
is still the same each week.

 

"The competition in the NCTS has really changed a lot.  My first year
here I really wasn't sure exactly what was going on.  My first race in
2001 I was kind of like, 'Okay, here I am.  I'm going to go to win.'  In
the second year at Daytona we had a red flag with a few laps to go.
During the red flag all of the Dodge spotters all got together and had
time to make a plan for that 1-2-3-4 Dodge finish to happen.  We all
made the effort to help each other out.  

 

"Now as the competition continues to get better we get more trucks, more
drivers, more manufacturers, more TV time, a lot more pressure comes
with that.  So, I wouldn't say we're getting more selfish or anything,
but I think everybody in the garage wants to be on the podium each and
every week.  We're not here to make friends.  I think you'll see a
little bit more aggressive driving.  We have more aggressive drivers
coming in, so we have to step it up a notch too.  You just have to fight
harder now.  I don't think you're going to see anybody go out and
dominate races like we have in the past.  

 

 

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