dodge cup notes from texas; kasey kahne scores third runner-up finish

Sunday, April 4, 2004.
Texas Motor Speedway


 KASEY KAHNE (No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge) - Third runner-up finish of
the season. Moved up four spots to seventh in series standings. Leads
Raybestos Rookie of the Year Standings by 32 points (102-70) over Scott
Wimmer.

 

 

"We got caught on that caution that Jeff stayed out for. We had to pit
because we were one lap away from running out. We got caught on that and
had to start eighth and then came yellows and yellows and yellows. I
think NASCAR needs to look into those yellows. That track was almost
completely cleaned up. We probably ran 15-20 laps that didn't need to be
run (under yellow).

 

"The aero push here is tough. The 38 car was good, and once I got to him
I was really tight. I would never be able to pass him unless I started
trying the outside. I could get to him, but I was a little too tight.
With about three or four laps to go I had a run off turn four. I used up
the chassis. I don't know if I'm tired of it (finishing second), but I'm
tired of running second by .1 or .01 or whatever it ends up being.
Hopefully next time we can be the winners on that side of it.

 

"The aero push was huge. That's why we didn't pass him. We were
definitely better. If we had passed him we would have pulled away. That
was the story of the day, but I tried making the top work. I just about
got it, but he was just a little too fast through the center of the
corner, and I couldn't get beside him soon enough.

 

"It was really an up day all day long except for that yellow that put us
at the tail end of the lead lap. Actually we got it back with the Lucky
Dog Rule. It was a tough day, but man we had a great racecar. It was
another great run for us. People wondered if we'd come back after
Bristol, and I think we did, We qualified third and led the most laps
today and finished second. We're definitely going to be a team to beat
this year.

 

"I didn't see any debris out there half the time. They're putting speedy
dry down the bottom of the backstretch where nobody runs. It's just
ridiculous how long they took. That's something NASCAR really needs to
look at. They do the one-lap safety rule and that's great. The extra
eight, 10, 20 laps they run is ridiculous.

 

"I felt we were the best car all day. We caught up to (Sadler) there at
the end, and I just got too tight. We needed another two or three laps
and didn't have it. Martinsville is going to be a tough race. I don't
know when we'll get another chance to win, hopefully Martinsville. It's
satisfying but a little frustrating today. I didn't need much longer.
Once I got to the outside of him we were going to go by him. It was just
a matter of getting there. I got there coming off the corner. I don't
know why I couldn't get there the lap before."

 

 

 

 

 

 "Tommy Baldwin and everybody on the Dodge Dealers team did a great job.
We had great pit stops. We got behind because of that one caution. Other
than that, we would have been all right. The other ones (runner-up
finishes) were great. This one kind of sucks. We still gained a lot of
points today and got back in the top 10.

 

"There's another race we had a really good racecar and got in a wreck
early and lost a lot of points that day. We needed to rebound. We've
been running so well this year."

 

CASEY MEARS (No. 41 Fuji Film/Target Dodge) - Finished 7th

"I'm a little frustrated. We came back, and at the end of the day I'm
happy. I feel a lot more comfortable, and we've been fortunate to bring
the same car back from Las Vegas and Atlanta. The guys did a great job
in the pits today, and I think we're only going to get better.

 

"If you were tight today you were kinda of stuck on the bottom. You
tried to run the top and it wouldn't turn near as well, so you had to
run the bottom. You lost the air off your nose so fast it was hard to
pass. We were faster than Kurt Busch at the end, but we just couldn't
get by him.

 

"The pit road penalty (speeding) set us back a good bit. We went from
fourth to 15th, so we lost a lot of spots. It probably didn't kill us,
but I would have liked to see what would have happened if we could have
stayed up there. All those late cautions hurt us. The car got really
tight, but I really like this car. I'd like to run it everywhere if I
could."

 

JAMIE McMURRAY (No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge) - Finished 10th

"That was a tough top-10 finish, but that's two in a row and it got us a
little closer to the top 10. The team never gave up today. Donnie (crew
chief Wingo) and the guys did a great job in the pits. We'll take a
break and then try to come back strong at Martinsville. We're going to
test there next week, so hopefully we'll learn a lot and have a good
car."

 

JEREMY MAYFIELD (No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge)

"We kept working hard and the car was really good at the end. I think we
were headed for at least a top-10 finish and then we got caught up in
whatever happened on that restart. It looked like a couple of cars
checked up in front of me, and there wasn't anywhere to go. My hat's off
to Kasey and his team today. He had a great car and drove a great race.
He's coming so close it's only going to be a matter of time before he
ends up in victory lane."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JOHN FERNANDEZ (Director, Dodge Motorsports Operations)

 

DODGES WERE RUNNING 1-5 ON LAP 50 AND FOUR ENDED UP IN THE TOP 10. KASEY
KAHNE HAS THREE RUNNER-UP FINISHES, BUT DODGE STILL HASN'T WON IN 2004.
"We just had some bad luck with the 12 and 40 today. We had a pretty
strong day overall. We had two in the top five and Kasey came close to
winning for the third time in eight races. Rusty had another good day,
and Casey Mears was impressive. Jamie McMurray's car wasn't that good
all weekend, and he came through with a 10th-place finish. That was
impressive. We've got different people in the top 10 every week. I felt
sorry for Ryan Newman today, and Sterling had a good run going, too. We
got caught with a whole lot of cautions, and it took us a lot of laps to
catch up. It's one thing or another, but if we keep running like this
we'll win one soon."

 

RUSTY WALLACE (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge) - Finished Fifth

"We were pretty good right there at the end. I never would have believed
the track would have tightened up that much, but it sure did. My car was
tight today, but you would have never guessed how loose you would have
to have it last night. We learned a lot today for California, I can tell
you that. I'll put it in my memory bank and take it back to the shop and
put it in the car. We're laying some points down, and we came from
behind today. We came close to getting in trouble early with the tight
car, but the caution flags came out at the right time. We had fast pit
stops today, and everything went good.

 

"The crew was good. I was real happy with them. They did a good job. It
just got too tight all day long. I can't believe how loose we had that
car. We raised the track bar an inch, took six rounds of wedge out, let
four pounds of air out of the right front tire and put three pounds in
the right rear, and it just got right at the end of the race. We kept
working on it. It was a good team effort to keep working on the car and
make it quick.

 

"We had a good finish at Bristol, and it was nice to come to another
track and have another top five. It worked out good. We had a good time
today. It was a good handling car late in the race. I wish we could have
had it like that at the start, but it was just too tight."

 

STERLING MARLIN (No. 40 Coors Light Dodge)

"We had a fight with the wall, and the wall won. That's usually the end
result when that happens. The car was real good today. I think we easily
had a top-five car. It was tight, but the guys kept working on it and
got it better. We've had some really good runs lately, so we'll regroup
and hopefully come back strong at Martinsville."

 

 BILL ELLIOTT (No. 91 Evernham Motorsports Dodge)

"We had a good racecar. Kasey has driven his tail off. He's got a real
good car on long runs. I hope he can hold them off. My car got a little
too tight on long runs. We just cut a tire down, plain and simple. I
tried to get to pit road. It was just one of them days. I was proud of
the effort. We had a real good racecar, stayed in the top five, top 10
most of the day. We got off a little bit when the sun went in, but all
in all, we had a pretty good car.

 

"You have your ups and downs in this sport. I don't know when you'll see
me again (racing). It'll probably be awhile.

 

"That 9 car is really tough on the long runs. He can't get going, but
he's tough on the long runs. He's doing an excellent job. It seems like
his car works well wherever he goes. He had a hard time getting
starting, but about 20-25 laps into the run he really goes. He's got a
lot of racing experience and knowledge. You've just got to understand
these long races. That's the key to this stuff."

 

 RYAN NEWMAN (No. 12 ALLTEL Dodge)

"Something happened all of a sudden going into turn three. It sure would
have been nice to hit a safer barrier. The car was really good on a long
run. We struggled a little bit in traffic, and we struggled on that last
restart getting up to speed. Once we got up to speed we were good. We
were passing cars and making a race of it coming back. We were bouncing
off the wall, and the throttle stuck at about 5,000 rpm's. That was it."

 

BRENDAN GAUGHAN (No. 77 Kodak Easy Share Dodge)

"We had a really good Dodge. I think we proved it out there today. We
blew by the leaders on the restart, but we were a little too free. Shane
Wilson and the Kodak team had great pit stops and made great
adjustments. We were really getting close. I'm not really sure what
happened to the engine. It looks like we lost the cam or something
inside the motor. The Penske/Jasper horsepower shop make plenty of
horsepower. You don't lose many Penske/Jaspers, so we'll let them lose
one every once in awhile. I drove into turn one. The motor changed pitch
and the oil pressure went down. We got lucky and saved the racecar. We
thought we ran great today. We thought we had a top 15 car at least. We
kept digging away. There's no quit in the Penske/Jasper team. I didn't
have much of a chance to run with the 9 car because he'd leave me most
of the time. He's got a good piece right now."