Dodge Quotes from EMS at LMS

Lowe's Motor Speedway.
Saturday, Oct. 16, 2004.
Dodge Notes, Quotes.


 

RAY EVERNHAM (President, CEO Evernham Motorsports)

NOTE:  Evernham announced Saturday that Stanley Tools will be an
associate sponsor on the Nos. 9 and 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodges in 2005
and the primary sponsor on the No. 91 Dodge driven by Bill Elliott for
four NASCAR NEXTEL Cup races in 2005.

 

"Bill will run at California, Texas, Indy and Charlotte. Right now we've
got six for sure for Bill and we're going to be making an announcement
in November for the other two. We're shooting for 10-12 and we're
getting close. My plan is to grow the 91 into a fulltime team, probably
one step at a time. I think 12-15 races would be maximum (in 2005).

 

"I think we're on track in some areas and probably not performing as
well as we should in some others. Overall, I think we're on track. I
don't want to keep using the excuse that we're a fourth-year team, but
we were able to put a car in The Chase. I think both our cars have been
a threat to win. We've been a competitive team. We haven't been a
dominant team, but we've certainly been competitive. We're on track to
be a championship challenger.

 

"We've got to look at things realistically. I'd hoped to win it
(championship) this year, but honestly we're 250 back and realistically
we've got to focus on getting in the top five. The only way we can win
it now is if everybody else has trouble, and that's not the way we want
to win something. We've got to run the best we can. We're realistically
focusing on getting the 9 and 19 to victory lane and we've still got a
realistic shot of Jeremy getting in the top five. Hopefully, we'll get
two shots at it next year.

 

"Bill will be the driver of the 91 for every race we have so far (in
2005). Bill only wants to do 12 at the most. I could probably talk him
into doing 15 if we could get some sponsorship. It'll basically be Bill.
That's our hope (to have the 91 as a fulltime team in '06). We haven't
worked it all out yet. A large part of it depends on the sponsorship. I
think you're starting to see teams being able to take on two or three
different sponsors and splitting the cost for running the whole season.
Hopefully we can get those things worked out. If the 91 goes fulltime
with another driver, I'll probably run Bill part time in another car.
It's just a matter of how long Bill wants to run.

 

"I don't know that it's been any different in The Chase. They (9 and 19)
have worked good together all year. I think they're doing a great job of
helping one another. Both those drivers have grown to be good friends.
The crew chiefs, engineers and everybody is working together real well,
but it's no different now for The Chase. I think the 9 had a little
letdown when they didn't make it, but they were awfully close. Now
they've got to get back on track. I can't say anything's changed from
what we had put together at the beginning of the year.

 

"Bill does a lot of testing for us. It keeps Bill sharp, and it keeps
our R&D team testing. It keeps a lot of information flowing. Bill adds a
lot more to our program that people think.

 

"It's hard for us to run right out and jump on driver development, but
we do have a program going for next year. We'll make some announcements
about our hungry driver program and our Busch program. We'll be working
with trying to bring some of those guys up through Unilever and Dodge.
We don't really have anything specifically tailored to young teenagers.
I'll be doing some stuff with the NASCAR diversity late model program.
We're working to put a regular recruiting program together. When you
hire a 15-year-old kid know you've got to have a plan for him to come
up, and we just don't have those things yet.

 

"This is becoming more and more like Formula One. Every year I say that.
This sport is getting bigger and bigger and you've got to have a crop of
drivers in the wings. You'd used to see drivers come in this sport and
hang around for 25 years and go through five or six years and not have
to produce. I don't think you're going to see that anymore. I think
you're going to see a lot of these young drivers come in and jump in
these cars and go pretty fast.

 

"The Chase took everybody's attention and you haven't really been
hearing that much about Silly Season. Things are starting to shake down
with crew members and things like that, but you really haven't seen a
lot of drivers moving around. I think because it seemed like Silly
Season was coming earlier and earlier, I think everybody got their deals
done in April. It seems like we were hearing more things in April and
May than we're hearing now, and I think that's going to be the trend of
things to come."

 

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

"I think we all handle the pressure pretty good as far as the drivers
are concerned. We're in pressure situations all the time. The least
pressure we have is when we're in those racecars. That's when everything
is great for us. I don't think the pressure has been any more or any
less in The Chase. Richmond wasn't a pressure deal. Richmond came from
the year. We wanted that as a team. That was something we had to do.

 

"You've got to find a balance of how you handle things, the people, the
media, the fans. I feel like in the last couple of years I've been able
to deal with that better than I ever have. Some guys do and some guys
don't. Sometimes you get in a situation where it just overwhelms you.
The day to day grind you go through in this sport is tough, but I want
do race until I'm 45. That's my goal or even more. I love what I do. I
really enjoy it now, now more than I ever did. When you're with a great
organization and a great team like we've got, it's certainly enjoyable
to be a part of that. Rusty and Mark and these guys have been here a
long time, and it can get mentally tough - physically and mentally.

 

"Five or 10 years ago, the pressure wasn't there, and if it was I didn't
know how to handle it. I had to go through some trying times in my
career to come back and realize what is important and how it all works
and how to handle things. It's so easy to run and hide all the time and
not talk to the media, not be around, not doing what you need to do as a
driver, not take care of the fans. All of a sudden you find yourself,
when you think driving is the only thing you've got to do around here,
you're wrong. You've got five or six things to do - take care of
sponsors, media, fans - driving is about the fifth thing on the list. A
lot of the young guys realize they're good drivers, but they'll find
themselves getting humbled one of these days. That's what I did, and
I'll never make that mistake again.

 

"If I was NASCAR, which I certainly don't want to be, but I think they
should look at keeping the top 10 in their own points system. If a guy
like Robby Gordon takes you out, that would keep the top 10 a lot closer
than they're going to be now.

 

"We're looking straight ahead. We're going to be in the top five in
points, top three, maybe even win this thing. These guys are going to
have trouble. We've made up too much ground for as bad as we started.
It's possible for Kurt Busch to have a bad race, Jeff Gordon, anything
can happen. Until it's over, I'm not going to say it's over. If they
have two bad ones we could be leading the thing. I'm 250 points out of
the lead. I was 280 last week. It's really tight from 10th to fourth.
One bad night, and we're back to fourth. We're going to be the second
upset of the season. We upset 'em when we won at Richmond, and if we win
the championship that would really be an upset. You'll never hear me say
it's over until we're out of this thing."

 

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

"Getting a sponsor like Stanley is just a credit to what Ray is doing
and what the teams are doing. The better we run, the better
opportunities we have to get these. I think it'll be awesome if the 91
car develops into a fulltime team. It's good the way it's started and it
has the potential to grow.

 

 "We need to win a race this season, and we need to get another pole and
keep working hard. We have a lot to shoot for still this year. We
haven't got a pole in awhile. We'll keep working on that, but the
biggest thing is to win a race.

 

"Ray has made us one huge race team, and everybody is a big part of what
happens on Sunday. To have Bill and Jeremy as teammates and learn from
those guys has been awesome for me. To have a great crew and team is
great, too.

 

"It would mean a lot to me (to win season-long pole award). Qualifying
is one of the most fun times of the week for me. I really enjoy
qualifying, trying to go as fast as you can around the track on sticker
tires. It's fun being right on the edge.

 

"We've got Martinsville coming up next week, and you never know about
Martinsville. I think we'll have a shot to run decent there. I think we
could have run 15th last time if we hadn't blown our tire at the end.
Jeremy tested there and that surface is definitely different. They
learned a lot, and we'll be able to take that and hopefully start out
decent.

We'll try to stay focused and see how it goes. We could really use a
good run at Martinsville."