dodge cup quotes from pepsi 400

Saturday, July 3, 2004
Daytona International Speedway
Pepsi 400.

 

CASEY MEARS (No. 41 Target Dodge) - Finished 11th

"We didn't start out real good coming here. The car was slow coming out
of the truck, and that's not a good thing at a plate race. The guys
worked real hard and got us pretty good. The biggest thing here is
getting it handling good because it's hard to hold it wide open all the
time. Jimmy Elledge (crew chief) got the car dialed in. We were still a
little bit too tight. That's what was holding us up there at the end.
Joe Nemechek gave us a good run for 10th place and just beat us at the
end. It was fun. It was a good finish for us.

 

"We just didn't have much help. I couldn't run by myself. I needed
somebody to shove me. We had some good cars and hurt 'em. We didn't come
back with as good of a package, and we need to do our homework and get
our cars working right again. It was a great finish for us really.
Considering the way the weekend went, I'm pretty happy.

 

"We knew we didn't have the speed coming back, so we focused on getting
the car to handle instead of working on speed. We figured if we could
out handle them we could out run 'em, and that's kinda what happened. We
had a better handling car today."

 

ANDY GRAVES (Team Manager Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates) "Casey
did a great job all night, and so did the whole Target team. He didn't
have any friends out there. They battled hard. They're starting to be a
top 10 team. They've just had too many DNF's. If you look at the races
he's finished, his average finish right now is about 11th."

 

RYAN NEWMAN (No. 12 ALLTEL Dodge) - Finished 12th

"That was a good run for us. We started 12th and finished 12th. The way
we've been on restrictor-plate tracks, that's not bad. We'll go on and
see what we can do with the ALLTEL Dodge to make it better. We had a
good car on the long runs. We just never really got good track position
to make it work."

 

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

"We couldn't get a hold of the racetrack. Don't know what it is. Last
year, we ran good at all speedway races. This year, we just can't get a
hold of the track. In the corners, the car just takes off, can't do
anything in traffic. I don't know what it is, but these guys will figure
it out and fix it."

 

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

"We've got to go to work on our plate package. We were a good bit off. I
know our guys will do a good job to make it better. I'm disappointed I
crashed the primary car, but we can't blame it on that."

 

 

STERLING MARLIN (No. 40 Coors Light Dodge)

"We had good cars at Talladega and changed some things. I think we went
the wrong way. It was a little tight tonight. It wouldn't turn or go
down the straightaways."

 

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