More Charger NASCAR Quotes from DIS

Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2005
Daytona International Speedway

COMMENTS AFTER MORNING TEST SESSION

 

CASEY MEARS (No. 41 Target Dodge)

"It's slower and the rules aren't the same, so it's hard to tell a big
difference in the cars. We ran at Nashville and a little bit at Las
Vegas to get an idea of where we stood with the nose of the Charger.
Initially, it's better. I think the front end is a little bit better,
and I think the car will perform well this year.

 

"I remember being a kid and watching on TV. Richard Petty dominated in
the Charger. I was always such a big fan of my dad and my uncle, and
that's who I really followed in IndyCar racing and off-road racing. I
didn't follow stock cars as much back then, but you always heard about
Richard Petty and the Dodge Charger. My next door neighbor was a huge
fan. He had a Late Model he painted Petty Blue every time he went to
race. I've heard of it for a long time, and it's cool they're bringing
it back.

 

"The name Charger just sounds hungry. It sounds racy. Hopefully this
will be the year of the Charger. I hope it's my year, too. We have high
hopes this year, and I'm more confident than I've ever been, too,
because I know more than I ever have and the team is really coming
around. We've got a good team. Everybody gets along great and I think
we've made some improvements on the car. I think we might have gained a
little power, too. All the way around, I think we've got a better car, a
better team and the whole organization is really stepping up. The new
shop is starting to come around. We've got a lot of things on the
upswing. We've still got a lot of growth left.

 

"We had some good runs last year and had some unfortunate luck at the
end of the season. We had some tires blow out and stuff at times we
really didn't need it. I think we've shown we can run up front. We've
just got to see what we can do to make it a little more consistent.

 

"We've set some good goals for ourselves. We'd like to win a couple of
races. It'd be great to be the team to get the first win for the new
Charger. We sat on a couple of poles last year, and we'd like to do that
again this season. Our big goal is to never finish outside of the top
20. That'll be tough, but if we can do that we'll be in the top 10.
We're in the Budweiser Shootout for the first time, and that's going to
be a lot of fun. It's a sprint race on a superspeedway. We're going to
be beating and banging and getting after it. It's going to be an all-out
race. It won't be one where you pace yourself.

 

"We're going to have six speedway cars between Sterling, Jamie and
myself. If one of their backup cars is a little faster than my backup
car, then that will probably be my Shootout car. We really don't have a
car that's mine, Jamie's or Sterling's."

 
RYAN NEWMAN (No. 12 ALLTEL Dodge Charger)

 "We're just trying to get a feel for the Charger. We're not going all
out. We're trying to get a little repeatability in trying to verify what
we learned is what we learned. We're not chasing anything, and that's a
good place to start when you're doing testing like this because it's so
sensitive. This is the first time I ever sat behind the wheel of a
Charger. I can't tell any difference here, but this is probably the
worst case scenario for feeling it. It's so sensitive here, but I really
look forward to testing the Charger at the intermediate tracks. We'll
have a good idea of what the picture is going to look like for the rest
of the season after testing at Las Vegas and California.

 

"I kinda missed the Charger era, but I understand as a NASCAR historian
what it was like. I think it's cool, and we'll just have to play around
with it and see what happens. We had a real fast car in the last 10
races last year, and that's what I've got to look forward to in 2005. We
didn't get the finishes we should have, but when the light bulb's on
it's good. When it's pointed in the wrong direction it's bad. It's a lot
harder to turn the light bulb on than it is to get it pointed in the
right direction.

 

"One of our disappointments last year was the nine DNF's. We had the
last race at Homestead and blew a tire with two laps to go. What do you
say? We went through a lot of things last year, and hopefully we won't
go through them this year."

 

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

"To come out of the box like we did this morning with both cars is
pretty good. I'm happy with that. Speedway racing is pretty much what
you've got when you get here. Guys will pick up a little bit, but we've
got two good solid racecars now. They're driving great and running good.

 

"My car is driving good, but we made a lot of improvements, so it's hard
to tell how much is the car. I'm sure the Charger has a lot to do with
it. The areas where we were weak last year, we've improved, and
hopefully we've gained on the areas where we were strong. The little
stuff was hurting us, and we got it fixed. Slugger Labbe (crew chief)
has brought a lot to the table. It's showing already. I'm real happy.
We've got the same type personalities and we've hit it off since day
one. He's going to be good with all the guys, and he's working well with
Kenny Francis.

 

"Our goal is to get back in the top 10 for those final 10 races and go
for the championship. I wish they would put the top 10 in the own points
deal where they race each other and don't get 38th place points if you
fall out of a race. Other than that, I think things worked great last
season. It was fun to be part of it, and we just hope we can be a bigger
part of it this year."