Dodge Charger Cup Quotes from California Speedway

Friday, Feb. 25, 2005
California Speedway
Auto Club 500 Advance Material.

CASEY MEARS (No. 41 Target Dodge Charger)

NOTE: Mears, a 26-year-old Bakersfield, Calif., native, was 13th fastest
in the first practice session Friday. Mears will make his 74th career
start on Sunday.

 

DID YOU MAKE ANY CHANGES FOR THE FINAL PRACTICE? "Yeah, we're looking
for more front grip. I think the rear is going to feel bad no matter
what you do to it because of the spoiler change. We just need to get it
turning a little bit better coming off one and two. This big cloud that
just came over will help out a lot because the sun was beating down real
bad in one and two. Three and four wasn't too bad. Everybody I talked to
was concerned about one and two. If we can get it turning a little bit
better I think we'll be in good shape."

 

DIDN'T TURNS THREE AND FOUR GIVE YOU PROBLEMS DURING THE TEST HERE
EARLIER THIS MONTH? "The wind was blowing across the nose and getting
the cars real tight. One and two was easy because it had a bunch of
downforce going in. The sun was beating down in one and two today harder
than it was in three and four. We had a little problem with our test
motors. It was hard to tell if we needed to get more out of the cars or
more out of the motor. We came back with a good race motor and the guys
did a good job. We're right in the hunt."

 

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF NEW QUALIFYING PROCEDURE? "I think it's cool. It
gets you thinking. Everybody wants to qualify good, but it puts more
emphasis on racing. Right now, with everybody getting the cars to travel
as much as they possibly can, and running the softest springs they
possibly can, it changes the way you qualify. I think everybody is
basically going to be unhappy in qualifying trim. It's not going to feel
good. You're going to be hanging on. It's pretty much going to be race
trim, but they're allowing you to put some rounds in it to get a little
bit more bite. You can adjust your tire pressures. You can get it to
where it's a little bit too tight, but it's going to be a much finer
line of not bottoming out. You travel a lot further when you pick up
speed, but it's only for two laps. You've got to make sure you're good
for the race first and foremost."

 

COMMENT ON PIT ROAD SPEEDING "I had a misunderstanding of how it's
always been. To be honest, I didn't do anything different at Daytona
than I've done in the last three years. The last pit box is where almost
everybody got caught. I envisioned pit road speed being where the camera
was on the end of pit road. On down where the cones are there's a pit
road speed line. Everybody, until they got this new electronic system,
when they got to the end of pit road they would gas and take off. That's
what I did, and I think that's what most everybody else did that got
caught. I've got a pretty good idea now. Now that things are more
accurate you've got to be more critical getting in and 

getting off. When you're going down pit road it's easy because you can
look at your tach, but there's got to be some leniency there. Now they
have something that's very accurate. What we have in our cars is not
very accurate. They could vary 200-300 rpm. I'm glad they have an
accurate system now, but if they're going to get strict about it, they
need to give us something more accurate, too."

 

ANY GOOD CALIFORNIA HOME COOKIN' STORIES TO TELL? "Jamie and I went to
do The Best Damn Sports Show and we hung out in Hollywood a couple of
days. We didn't do anything too crazy. We went to some nice restaurants,
did some shopping and kind of relaxed for a couple of days.

 

"We went to a party waiting to get in and Ashton Kutcher walked in. We
met him the week before in Daytona. He had recommended a place for us to
stay down there and we stayed there. It was funny because we ran into
him in the front. He told Jamie and I how we ran at Daytona and where we
finished. He helped us getting a better seat at the party, so that was
pretty cool.

 

"The off weekends are stacked together at the beginning of the year, and
you feel guilty taking so much time, but you've got to take it when you
can get it. I haven't been to Bakersfield in a couple of years now so
I'm going to take a trip down and stay down there a couple of days after
the race. I'm coming back to Southern California and relax at the beach
with some friends in San Diego and then go to Vegas a little bit early."