Caterpillar Racing Loudon preview

Burton Heads To New Hampshire, Looking For Strong Run

"This is certainly not one of my favorite places to race. It's not because of the track or anything, it's just because I have never run real good there. I think I have had one good run and the rest I have struggled. We'll have to wait and see what happens this weekend. I hope it is a good weekend and we get the Caterpillar Dodge running competitively."
- Ward Burton, driver of the Caterpillar Racing Dodge

BLADWIN ON NEW HAMPSHIRE:

"New Hampshire has been a real tough place for us to get a grip on with Ward. Over the past few years, we have not had very many solid runs there. They have been very sporadic. We ran real good in the first race here last year - eighth for most of the day -- until we got a bad set of tires and got a lap down. We fought very hard to get our lap back, but we just weren't successful. Then we came back here in the fall and they put that restrictor plate on and it killed us. We don't know exactly why, but we just couldn't get a handle on the car all weekend.

"We're not sure what to expect when we get on the track, since they sealed the track recently. Hopefully it will provide more grip, but I am pretty sure it will take a while for the second groove to get worked back in. Once the second groove gets worked back in, it should be back to the old New Hampshire. I just hope that it's not the end of the race before that happens because it will be a long race with very little passing.

BALDWIN ON ONE LAP OF QUALIFYING:

"This is not going to help us a lot, especially at paces like New Hampshire. It won't affect some drivers that are notoriously good qualifiers, but at places like New Hampshire you can slip up on your lap and then you're in trouble. It won't affect us at all the tracks, but it probably will this weekend. Sometimes it just takes a lap to get comfortable and then make your qualifying attempt."

TEAM NEWS:

Â* The No. 22 Caterpillar Dodge team tested at Indianapolis Motor Speedway this week. They tested a brand new car and they also tested the same car that competed at Darlington, Bristol and Dover. They were not completely satisfied with the results, but feel that they have some information from the test that they can apply before they return for the Brickyard 400.

-CR-