dodge cup notes from dhl 400 qualifying at mis

Friday, June 18, 2004
Ray Cooper

Michigan International Speedway
Clear!Blue, Inc.

DHL 400 Qualifying.
704-975-3232

 

RYAN NEWMAN (No. 12 ALLTEL Dodge)

"It was a good lap for the ALLTEL Dodge. I think it'll be a top five or
top 10 for sure. I wish we knew right now if we were going to have a
shot for the pole. It's very special (to have father at the track). He's
been pivotal throughout my racing career in everything I've done both on
and off the track. To have him here and race on Father's Day is cool.
That trophy they give on Sunday would be the best Father's Day present I
could ever get him. We got in a good lap, but it wasn't great. It could
have been better. I messed up in three and four a little bit. The track
slowed down for sure. We've got a brand new car. We've been tearing them
up so much from other drivers we've got to pull out the new ones.

 

"Starting up front is definitely a benefit. This is one of the better
racetracks we go to, if not one of the best. Hopefully we can have a
good race and not have to race our way through the field. We were going
for the lead when we caught on fire here in the first race last year. We
brought the same racecar back for the second race and won. We'll just
have to see how it goes. This is a brand new car, but we look forward to
Michigan races.

 

"You've got to have a little bit of everything here. Horsepower is
important and downforce is important. Drag is important. You've got to
have the balance like always. Coming in knowing we're capable of getting
to victory lane is always a good feeling. To be able to duplicate that
is sometimes tough. We've done it before. We'll just do our best and see
how it works out.

 

"This is a good racetrack. It usually has a lot of great racing.
Hopefully we won't have those situations again and we can get the monkey
off NASCAR's back."

 

 BRENDAN GAUGHAN (No. 77 Jasper Engines/Kodak Dodge)

"There's a lot of room to miss things here at Michigan, and if you can
stay up front you can miss even more. We're starting off good, so we'll
see if we can finish it off. We're looking forward to a good run for the
Jasper yellow car. The Jasper Engines Dodge hasn't done quite as well as
the Kodak Dodge. We want to look good for the Jasper folks. Michigan was
good to us last year in the trucks. We'll see if we can make it good for
us this year in the car. This is a fun place. It's close to Mr. Penske's
home and also close to Jasper Engines home in Jasper, Ind. The Midwest
is a big market for those guys. Roger has done well here in the past.
Our truck was dominant here last year. Right now I'd just like to have
the car just as balanced. When cars are good balance comes easy. This
one feels pretty balanced."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JEFF GREEN (No. 43 Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge)

"Our Cheerios Dodge slid around a little bit. It was a pretty good lap
It should put us somewhere near the top 20. We'll just try to focus on
practice tomorrow. You can win starting from anywhere here at Michigan.
We had a good practice this morning. I'm proud of all the work the guys
did and hopefully we can get it even better in practice tomorrow. I'll
take handling over horsepower here all day. You try to run wide open,
but we don't have a good enough racecar. I think that's the way all
drivers think. You can't give up the straightaway, but if you get
through the corners faster than the next guy you're going to run fast
down the straightaway. We'll try to get the car balanced, and hopefully
we can have a good race Sunday if we can do that."

 

KASEY KAHNE (No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge)

"The track was hotter for qualifying, but that's just part of it. We
just got a lot too loose.  I couldn't turn the wheel. We changed the
setup from practice. We needed to do something to try to get the pole.
We just missed it. I couldn't carry enough speed into the corners."

 

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

"The car has been good all day. We tested here a few weeks ago and had a
really good test. These guys are doing a great job of giving me great
cars. We've got a strong race team. We just keep fighting back. We
worked on qualifying today in practice. When we tested here we just
focused on race setup. The heat hurt me a lot. We thought we had a good
draw, but it got hotter. I knew my car was going to be loose for
qualifying, but the guys did a good job tightening it up. I can't wait
until we get in race trim for practice tomorrow. I'm ready to go to
sleep now to get up."

 

STERLING MARLIN (No. 40 Coors Light Dodge)

"We picked up a lot for qualifying. We worked on race setup all morning
in practice. We made one stab at it with a banzai run. It was a little
loose so we tightened it up a little bit to qualify. I'm looking forward
to Sunday. I thought we were real good in race trim. I really like this
track, and that always helps. Some guys hate Bristol, and I love to go
there. Next week is not my favorite, but we'll get by it. We're run
pretty good out there before, so we'll make the best of it and see what
happens, but I'm really looking forward to racing here Sunday first."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CASEY MEARS (No. 41 Target Dodge)

"I wanted to pick up more than we picked up, but I think considering the
track was quite a bit hotter we did OK. We made a change, and I'm on the
fence whether it helped or not. It helped in some areas and hurt in
others. If we can end up inside the top 10, that'll be good for us. We
need a good starting spot.

 

RUSTY WALLACE (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge)

"I'm happy with that lap. I got a little too high down in one and two,
but I really liked the way we got through three and four. I'm not going
to tell anybody (secret to winning at Michigan), and I plan to make it
my sixth win Sunday. I'm looking forward to it. I think we've got a good
car. We didn't work on race setup at all today, but the weather will be
good tomorrow and I think we'll be ready for Sunday."

 

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