Mayfield Wins Pole. Four Dodges in Top Five at Dover

Friday, June 4, 2004
Dover International Speedway
MBNA 400 "A Salute to Heroes" Qualifying.


 

JEREMY MAYFIELD (No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge) - Pole winner's
interview

 

"It was a great lap. I just wanted to back up my lap that I had in
practice. I knew if we could do that it would be a good lap. I went into
it with an open mind and tried to get all we could get. That's what we
did. The car stuck and it was a phenomenal lap. My hat's off to the crew
and all the guys in the engine shop. They did a great job getting me a
fast car like this. I feel pretty blessed.

 

"I felt like it was a good lap, but I wasn't sure. The funny thing about
it is I had my radio on, but I didn't have it turned up all the way
where I could hear. I thought going into turn one I heard my radio, but
I didn't hear anybody talking. I didn't know if it was Kenny (Team
Manager) Francis or what. I thought maybe it was good enough and maybe
it wasn't, so I wasn't going to take any chances. I ran my second lap
and it ended up being a .30. I wasn't going to take any chances. I knew
my first lap was good, but any more you think you've got a good lap and
you don't and you end up getting beat. I wanted to make sure.

 

"I don't think I could sit here and tell you how happy I am to be on the
pole here. It ain't little to sit on the pole anywhere, but a victory
like this goes a long way for the team and shows we can get the job
done. It's going to be a huge momentum boost for us. I felt like a
couple of weeks ago was our turning point, and this has kinda proved
that to us. We've got a lot to prove, and we've got a long way to go to
get there, but we've got a lot of things we want to do to show we've got
a great race team.

 

"Track position is everything. The guy that starts up front has got the
lead and has got clean air all day. Any time you start up front anywhere
it's special, but I think going into the second half of that 26-race
deal, this will be a big momentum boost for us.

 

"It's actually just team for team. It wouldn't matter if it was Ryan
Newman or Kasey or anybody. We want to have a good run, and knowing this
is our best shot... This is the most competitive I think we've been in
the qualifying mode. To come here and do that is going to be awesome.
Whether it's Ryan Newman or Rusty or anybody, if it was Rusty I would
probably have run a little harder than I did. Rusty and I get along
pretty good now.

 

"Ray has done a great job putting this deal together and we want to win.
We feel like we're kind of the underrated underdogs. We've got something
to prove, and we want to get our stuff more competitive every week and
win a race."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RYAN NEWMAN (No. 12 ALLTEL Dodge) - Qualified Second

"I wasn't surprised with Jeremy. He was quick in practice, a tenth
quicker than us and ended up 13 hundredths quicker or whatever it was.
It was a good run for the ALLTEL Dodge. I wish we could have got the
pole. I said it wasn't a perfect lap when I ran it. I think Jeremy got
pretty close to the perfect lap. We'll take what we learned and
hopefully get some race trim practice tomorrow. If not, we know what
it's like to be in victory lane here, so we'll get it ready for Sunday.
It was all qualifying trim (in practice today).

 

"My expectations are the same as they were coming into this race last
year. Do our best and doing our best got us two wins here last year.
Hopefully it'll do it again. I don't think it does (concrete track gets
greener after rain than asphalt). I think it's about the same. The one
thing about concrete, it does dry faster.

 

"It's a track that once you get it right you can usually keep it right.
That's on a given weekend or throughout a couple of years. It doesn't
change much if any, whereas other tracks are more suseptable to weather
change and things like that. That on top of good effort and having
yourself in good position at the end of the race, that's it. There's no
story behind it if that's what you're asking."

 

JAMIE McMURRAY (No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge) - Qualified Ninth

"We changed quite a bit. I haven't been very good in my Cup or Busch
car. The Busch car was good in practice. It didn't seem to want to go.
We sat down and made some changes before qualifying and apparently made
some good ones. We made all race runs. We only made one qualifying run
earlier in practice, but the car wasn't that good in race trim. It's
supposed to rain tomorrow, so if it does, we've got an idea of which
direction to go."

 

KASEY KAHNE (No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge) - Qualified 12th

"That was pretty good. It wasn't as good as our teammate. Jeremy put
down a great lap. Maybe we can end up in the top 15 and have a good run
Sunday. This won't be our best starting spot of the season, but it's not
that bad, either. Jeremy had a big lap. I don't know how similar our
setups were, but obviously something is different. I think it's the
driver. That's must be the difference."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RUSTY WALLACE (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge) - Qualified Fourth

"I left about a tenth laying on the table, but every time I've run fast
I think I've said I left some laying on the table. I got a lot out of
it. It was fast off the truck. The thing I'm happy about is we had an
hour's worth of race runs in practice and an hour's worth of qualifying
runs. I think it's going to rain, and right now we're on track. All
systems are go. I think we made the right plan today. If we don't get
any practice, I'm going to be comfortable.

 

BRENDAN GAUGHAN (No. 77 Jasper Engines & Transmissions Dodge) -
Qualified Fifth

"That's what good about having some good teammates like Rusty and Ryan.
We weren't that good when we unloaded. The guys don't quit on this team.
We work hard and believe in each other. When you do that, it'll happen.
We took our teammates deals and that helped us get up to speed. Right
before the end of practice we picked up seven tenths. We gained about
six tenths in qualifying. This is just great teamwork by three great
teams. I'm just the lucky guy that actually turned the steering wheel.
I'm lucky this time because it stuck. I like it when the truck guys are
around. They mean the world to me. To come down pit road and see them
all giving me high fives, that's great."

 

 

 

 

 

 

RYAN NEWMAN (No. 12 ALLTEL Dodge) - Immediately after qualifying lap

"We had a good car from the time we unloaded. It's the same car we've
gotten all three poles with this year. We'll see if it holds up. I think
Mother Nature might beat us all. The track is usually good for racing,
especially when it comes around to Sunday's race. It's got multiple
grooves. The straightaways are pretty narrow. There's not a lot of room
to race there, but the corners widen out. The bottom is usually the
fastest way around. We'll see if we can make it around there. It wasn't
a perfect lap. Mayfield ran faster in practice, so we'll see how we
stack up. This isn't the same car we won both races with here last year.
That car's on the truck as a backup. This car has won three poles this
year (Rockingham, Atlanta and Bristol). It'd be nice if the lap would
hold up for another one today, but we'll just have to wait and see."

 

JEFF GREEN (No. 43 Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge) - Qualified 19th

"We picked up a little bit from practice. We're a little bit off from
the fast guys. We're going to start Sunday in the same mode we left off
last fall when I started driving this Cheerios Dodge. Hopefully that'll
get us back where we need to be. We're missing it a little bit in the
race on horsepower. When the pace slows down, those guys yank me up off
the corner, and I can't overcome that."

 

JEREMY MAYFIELD (No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge) - Immediately after
qualifying lap

"I don't think there's a lot left in there. They give me great cars, and
you can't say enough about how far this team has come along. We just
keep getting better and better, and that says a lot about Ray Evernham.
He put this deal together and worked real hard to get it where it is. We
feel like we're just getting started. I'm real excited about the future
with this team. All we need now is a couple more poles and wins and
we're going to be in good shape. I don't think they're too far away. We
haven't won, but I feel like we've got a good feel for what's going on.

 

"I had no idea. I thought going into it if we could run what we did in
practice that might be good enough. I just wanted to run in the .30s.
It's funny because I didn't have my radio turned up very high, and I
thought I heard somebody come on the radio, but I wasn't sure, so I went
ahead and ran the second lap. I'm real happy with it. Our Dodge is
running great. Right now I'm on cloud 9. I just hope my teammate doesn't
beat me.

 

"We tested here a few weeks ago. Hopefully it'll pay off for us. It's
one of my favorite tracks. I love Dover. I like the style of driving you
have to do here. We've got great cars under us, and I'm looking forward
to Sunday now. We were pretty quick today. Ryan Newman is going to be
tough, and we're going to be good. We'll have to see what happens. We'll
just take it one day at a time, but I'm looking forward to Sunday."

 

 

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