Dodge Cup Quotes from MIS

Michigan International Speedway
GFS Marketplace 400.
Aug. 22, 2004.

 

JEREMY MAYFIELD. (No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge) - Finished 11th

"We pushed all day. It wasn't tight at all yesterday. It was a good car,
but it wouldn't turn today. It was hotter today and should have been a
little freer today. We were just too tight. What do you do? I guess we
should be happy with 11th. It could have been worse. We didn't gain on
it today. We stayed tight all day for some reason. It hadn't been tight
all weekend, and today it wouldn't turn a lick. We'll write it off and
go on to Bristol next week. We're going to test at Richmond this week,
so maybe that will help us."

 

BRENDAN GAUGHAN (No. 77 Kodak/Jasper Engines & Transmissions Dodge) -
Finished 33rd

"It was a track position game today. Shane Wilson (crew chief) and those
guys worked hard. When it comes to strategy they were good. Our Dodge
wasn't great all day, but it was good enough to get up there. If we had
finished, I think we would have been in the top 15. The Penske-Jasper
horsepower doesn't make many mistakes, so when they make one it doesn't
bother me. It just went. We were battling our way back up through the
field, playing some fuel strategy. We came out of turn three and put it
to the floor and it started to miss and started getting worse and worse.
This team is so smart, and that's what I like about these guys. We have
such a smart team. We'll be back."

 

JAMIE McMURRAY (No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge) - Finished fourth, 15th in
standings, 70 points out of 10th place, gained 29 points on 10th

"I came out of the pits ahead of him (Kasey Kahne), and I didn't think
he'd be able to pass me. Those guys have been good all year long. Kasey
got by on the outside of me, and it looked like he might have got tight
after four or five laps. I caught him back, and we had a really good
race. We didn't get into each other. This is a real good racetrack to
race on. It's a lot of fun racing two or three wide. It's just good
racing.

 

"Kasey finished behind me and Dale finished right in front of me. That's
all we can do, go and try to win every race. Unfortunately for us those
other guys had real good days. Everyone in the top 15 in points is
capable of running good and winning races. It'll be interesting to see
what happens at Bristol next week. We've got three to go to make the top
10 and when one of those three is Bristol, anything could happen."

 

RYAN NEWMAN (No. 12 ALLTEL/Justice League Dodge) - Finished 14th,
dropped to 13th in standings, 44 points out of 10th. Lost 15 points to
10th place Sunday.

"The team did a good job of fighting back. It was just a matter of track
position there at the end. We had a fast car. I think we showed that
when we came up through there a couple of times. When we were a lap down
and had to race it back, it showed how good the car was, too. It was a
tough day. Obviously it wasn't the finish we wanted, but we'll go to
Bristol and do our best.

 

"We've had a couple of these this year, but it was a great team effort
to come back and have the performance we did. I just wish it could have
been better. We knew we were capable of more today. We fought through
overheating twice. We cut a valve cap on pit road and it cut the tire
down to the cord, so we changed tires before the green flag ever dropped
and went to the back. Just to come back from things like that, going
back to the tail end three times and coming home 14th it was a good day
for us.

 

"It was pretty bizarre (trash on grille), but it's something that has
happened before. You just gotta take the good with the bad. We're that
(44 points out of 10th place) and we're 506 out of the lead, so we've
got a shot in two different directions. If we finish in the top five in
these next three races there won't even be a question.

 

"You just fight through it. You do what you have to. We could have
stayed out and burned it up and not finished. We had to make the right
calls today, and Matt (crew chief Borland) did a good job of that. Track
position killed us today. We're going to test 

Tuesday and Wednesday in Richmond. You can't focus on what's in the past
because you can't change that. You can focus on what you can do from the
past to make the future better. We'll go with the flow and go on.

 

"We won here in the spring and finished 14th today. We know what the
potential to go downhill is and we'll just try our best and maybe next
time we'll do better."

 

KASEY KAHNE (No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge) - Finished fifth, top
Raybestos Rookie Finisher. Moved to 10th in series standings

 

"I thought I was going to the front. The car felt really good. I just
got some air taken off the spoiler and I lost it. I was just happy
nobody hit me when we spun. It worked out pretty good. We got back up to
the top five, and it worked out great for our Dodge Dealers car today
with everything that's gone on this weekend. We led a couple of laps.
The car took off great on that second to last restart. We led a few laps
and got five points. It was a good day for us. We got some points, and
I'm looking forward to Bristol.

 

"The car felt the same (after spin). It was pretty loose early on, but I
thought I could drive it hard. After it spun I said I wasn't driving it
that hard any more. It's been great here this season. When I drove Busch
car I only had one top 10 when I drove the Busch car the first year for
Robert Yates and it was here. I never finished out of the top 10.
Michigan has been good to us.

 

"There at the end we were losing a little bit of power. It made us
tighter when we started losing the power. I was just happy we made it to
the finish. I tried holding off D.J. and McMurray the best I could."

 

"We have a great team. We've had a great team all year long. You go up
and down all season. We're going to fight as hard as we can all the way
to the end. If we get in that final 10, that'll be awesome. If not,
we'll go as hard as we can for 11th and see what happens there.

 

"We had a strong car at Fontana earlier in the year, and we've had two
strong cars here. I'd say we know that you can learn a little bit from
each track. I also think it's a little bit different where the setups
are a little bit different and you have to work on them and change them
to actually go fast at that track.

 

"Before the final pit stop I could feel something. I didn't know what it
was. It just felt like I didn't have the power I had earlier. When I was
coming up through the gears after the pit stop, it was real slow coming
up through the gears and bogged real bad through all the gears. When I
got into fourth, it bogged all the way down the backstretch. Then when I
came off turn four it started going again. It just didn't feel like it
had the power it did have. I have no clue what that is. I was switching
boxes and everything I could touch in there I was trying to change.

 

"I'm going to race everybody clean. I still feel bad about some of the
situations (earlier this season). If you do hit somebody now, and it
happens, they're going to say it's because of the points and stuff. I
definitely don't want to drive like that and hope we're not in any
situation like that through the end.

 

"The team did a great job, and Tommy and they really did approach it
like a normal race. It's pretty tough to do that, and it would have been
awfully nice to win. That would have been pretty awesome for Tommy and
everybody on the team. I think Tommy did an awesome job this weekend
with the situation he had. The whole team pulled together and did a
great job for Tommy. His dad would have been proud the way he handled
this weekend."

 

RUSTY WALLACE (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge) - Finished 36th

"I blew an engine. We don't know what went wrong. We broke a valve or
piston or something. The car was running great and handling great. We
were third and at times we had the fastest car in the field, by far the
best car I've had all year long. I don't know what's wrong with it. Our
engine guys are pulling the valve covers off to see if they can find
anything there, but it's pretty terminal, I can guarantee you that. This
was a really great car. It ran great, but the bad luck just keeps
continuing. We just can't get the durability. We've run out of gas,
transmissions here, blown motor there, blown motor here. We're trying
like heck. We've got the speed. We just can't get the thing to the end.
I think it's pretty well done (opportunity to make the top 10 cut after
26th race), but I don't give up."

 

####