Dodge Charger Quotes from Daytona 500 Qualifying

Sunday, Feb. 13, 2005
Daytona International Speedway.
Daytona 500 Qualifying.
 

DODGE CHARGER AT DAYTONA - The Dodge Charger last attempted to qualify
at Daytona in 1977. Bobby Isaac (1971 and 1972), Buddy Baker (1973) and
Neil Bonnett (1977) won poles in a Dodge Charger for the Daytona 500.

 

KYLE PETTY (No. 45 Georgia-Pacific/Brawny Dodge Charger) - 12th fastest.
Fastest Dodge in qualifying.

"That was good. I thought yesterday when the 43 ran a .23, I thought we
could run a .20 or .30. That's where we had been. We had been about a
tenth slower than them all during all our practice stuff. People were
trying to tell me I didn't get any help on that fast lap. I'd been a
tenth of a second slower than the 43 every time I ran and all of a
sudden I'm six tenths faster. How's that work? We didn't make a spring
change or anything, It's kind of bittersweet. It's good because that's
where we're at, but the 43 could have been in front of me. That means we
would have had the two fastest Dodge Chargers here maybe, and that would
have been good for Petty Enterprises and good for Evernham because those
guys really worked hard to make it happen for us. The engines have been
good since we've been down here testing. We've had no problem. The first
thing that happened with the 43 broke, Ray and all the Dodge guys were
there on top of the 43. It's good to know you're part of something a
little bit bigger than you've been part of in the past. Most of the time
we'd break and people didn't even know we'd broke. We're in here for the
long haul. We'll get it fixed and go from there. I didn't learn much
from watching the Budweiser Shootout last night. I learned that Ryan
Newman is as good a racecar driver as everybody says he is. Ryan Newman
drove the wheels off that thing last night. Other than that, it was
night time, the track was tight and everything works good. I don't have
any strategy for Thursday. My strategy was being in the top 35 in points
so I would be in the Daytona 500, and I did that last year."

 

 

TRAVIS KVAPIL (No. 77 Kodak/Jasper Dodge Charger) - 47th fastest

"We slowed down almost a second from yesterday. That's pretty
disappointing. We didn't really do anything to the car except change
oil, so that's pretty disappointing. We don't know why we slowed down.
All those laps yesterday were clean and legit. I guess that was
yesterday, but the motor didn't seem like it turned the rpm it did
yesterday. We did something to slow the car down. It wasn't real windy
yesterday, either, so we felt like we were going to be OK. It doesn't
really matter. We were actually running better yesterday than we
anticipated, so it was kind of a plus. This was more the speed that we
had anticipated. It's disappointing after running so well yesterday, but
it doesn't matter.

 

"It wasn't good at all. We don't know why we slowed down. Those laps we
ran yesterday were clean. We didn't turn a screw on the racecar, so
we're definitely confused. It's no big deal. We came here to run the 500
and I think we're going to have a good car in the race. I can't wait to
run the 150.

 

"The first week here as a rookie has been a lot of fun. It's been a big
learning experience, and it's kind of neat to be out here on the
qualifying grid. I think we've got a great racecar, and that's where
we've put most of our emphasis.

 

"I went on the backstretch last night (during Budweiser Shootout) and
scanned Ryan and Rusty. I watched from the scorers' stand. I knew some
of the good things they were doing, and I saw some bad things. I
listened to how they communicated with the spotters and crew chiefs and
things like that. It was good to have an ear out there and hear how all
the drivers communicate with their teams.

 

"It's all going to depend on the circumstances of where you're at, if
you feel like you need track position or if you need to work on your
handling. I guess that's the crew chief's call, but I'll have some input
and that's all part of the game. You have to gamble sometimes. Sometimes
they pay off, but you've got to be smart. I think between myself and
(crew chief) Shane Wilson communicating well together, I think we can be
smart about it."

 

STERLING MARLIN (No. 40 Coors Light Dodge Charger) - 34th fastest

"We picked up about three tenths from yesterday. These cars just won't
qualify. Once you get in the draft, they drive good. The plate is too
small. I talked to Joe Nemechek and he said it's hard to pass. They need
some extra power to make it so you could pass. Biffle led a ton of the
Shootout and nobody could pass him. Once the 48 got in front, they
couldn't pass him. Those are two good cars, but still, I liked it when
we had some power. I think Goodyear has a really good tire. Last year
everybody's stuff would fall off and you couldn't drive it wide open.
Now it seems like the tires are so good that everybody is right there in
the pack."

 

JAMIE McMURRAY (No. Texaco/Havoline Dodge Charger) - 17th fastest

"We gained on it a little bit. It looked like a good race last night.
The guy out front was hard to pass. I talked to Casey a little bit. He
said he could run into people pretty easy, so that's always fun. That's
a highlight for us. You can bump draft and run into each other. We're
going to go for it Thursday if we've got a shot to win. The car in the
trailer is just as good as this one. The Charger is the best
superspeedway car I've ever had. It's only my 10th superspeedway race,
but for the most part, the car is really good."

 

RYAN NEWMAN (No. 12 ALLTEL Dodge Charger) - 29th fastest

"It was within a hundredth of what we ran yesterday, and I think
everybody else was pretty close. We wish we could have been faster, but
we stayed consistent and didn't lose any speed. We're doing the best we
can, so we'll just keep going. This car should be better than our
Shootout Charger. If we go by the numbers it should be. It was a good
run. It obviously wasn't what we were looking for, but we look forward
to coming back in race trim and see what the cars are like. It's a
totally different race when you get the cars back in a different aero
package. We had a pretty good car last night. We'll see what we've got
with this one. Four tires are still better than two. There's no doubt
about that. Jimmie Johnson drove a great race. We just had to put
ourselves in a position to win. We did that and hopefully we can improve
on that one spot in the next couple of races."

 

CASEY MEARS (No. 41 Target Dodge Charger) - 35th Fastest

"That's about what we expected. We're just not very fast. Hopefully this
car will be a little bit better than my Shootout car, but it's hard to
tell until you get in the draft. Last night that car wasn't very fast by
itself, either, but in the draft you can work your way to the front. The
draft is so huge here you can take a car that's not very good and still
get up in the mix. It's just harder to stand alone beside guys. Last
night I went to the grass and told 'em I'd found a shortcut and would
try to use that for qualifying. I didn't use that. I had a blast last
night. It's unfortunate where we finished. We were up front a lot of the
time. Right there at the end I got really tight and Jeff got underneath
me. We backed up what we did in practice today, but we wanted to be a
little quicker especially after seeing what the 42 picked up. We've got
qualifying out of the way now and we'll focus now on race setup. I'm
looking forward to this season. I'm happy with the new Dodge Charger.
Now we've just got to see what we can do with it."

 

RUSTY WALLACE (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger) - 21st Fastest

"We ran a little bit quicker than yesterday and honestly I thought I'd
run two tenths faster than we ran yesterday. I feel confident we'll have
a good run. I think I had a pretty good run. You can pretty well expect
to slow down from where you tested because of the winds and stuff like
that. I really expected more speed the way it was looking on the tach.
That'll give us a good starting spot in the 150s. The guys in the engine
shop did a great job. This is the best car out of the bunch we've had at
Daytona. I believe it's better than the Bud Shootout car and the car we
tested here with. We've just got to make sure that baby handles good in
the 150s because I can't have it pushing like it did last night. We're
going to spend a lot of time on that handling package. If I'd had it
handling better I could have driven right through the center and gained
some positions. We'll have it right by the time we get to the Daytona
500."

 

KASEY KAHNE (No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Charger) - 15th Fastest

"It felt pretty good. It drives nice. It's just a matter of getting more
speed out of it. They draft fine. We've got to work on our handling a
little more. We were a little too tight up off the corners. We couldn't
exit as well as some of the other cars. We can work on that and get it
straight and we'll be in good shape. If you have to choose between
qualifying and drafting here, you obviously want to choose drafting.
Qualifying isn't a big deal at all compared to the Daytona 500."

 

JEREMY MAYFIELD (No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Charger) - 22nd Fastest

"That's pretty good going out cold like that, so I'm pretty happy with
it. It's driving a lot better than the Shootout car, and I think we're
going to be pretty good Thursday. I learned a lot last night. I learned
not to speed on pit road, if I was. It amazes me how things happen
sometimes. We took two tires, so we were going to beat those guys out
anyway. The two-tire deal left me all alone on pit road and made me look
like I was speeding.

 

"I'm real happy with qualifying. All the guys worked hard on the car. We
struggled in both practice sessions, and to come back and have a lap
like that is pretty cool. We changed quite a bit of things and worked
hard to get ready for today.

 

"The car handled great last night after taking on those two tires. Track
position will be everything, so we might take on two tires again before
we leave Daytona. Usually everybody plays it safe on Thursday. This is
our good car and we don't want to take any chances with it. If we can
win, we're going to win the thing, but we're not going to do anything
crazy."

 

JEFF GREEN (No. Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge Charger) -- DNF

"Something happened and the motor started tightening up. I thought we
hit a big gust of wind, but something must have broke. I thought we had
a shot at the pole or at least a top five. We've got enough points for a
provisional, so we don't have to work about Thursday anyway. I know this
car will draft good. We've got two good cars, and I'm not going to sit
here being sour about something that happened. I hate it happened and
we've got to figure out why it happened, but we've got a good racecar.
That's for sure.

 

"Something just went bad in the motor. We had just got the green. We
only ran it twice yesterday, and everything went well yesterday. I
didn't see any problems. They'll have to decide what happened. I
couldn't tell but something started tightening up. I don't know if it
was the wrong time to do it. It could happen next Sunday. Maybe that's a
fortune for us instead of a misfortune. Now we'll have to start in the
back Thursday, so we can just kinda of hang out and see what it's like
in the 150s and hopefully make it as good as we can for the 500."

 

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