Daytona Shootout: Dodge race notes

STERLING MARLIN (No. 40 Coors Light Dodge Intrepid R/T)
"We were just too tight with the Dodge. We're running more spoiler than everybody else, and we were a little tight. I was trying to make the run on Little E, and it looked like he got tight or loose or something. He had to check up, and I had to check up. The 24 drove by us on the outside, but it was another good run for the Coors Light Dodge. It's pretty tough to pass, and somebody's got to go with you. I wish we could run about 5 mph faster. That would put the driving back in it. Maybe we can do something with the spoiler or plate or something. Our car was good through the corners, but we had a little too much drag down the straightaways. It was a pretty good run for us. This car isn't as good as the 500 car, so we'll see what happens.

"I'd rather wrestle five guys instead of 20. I like the package, but we've got a lot of spoiler on the Dodges and it just drags us down. We can't keep up with those Chevys and Pontiacs on the straightaways. Hopefully next Sunday it'll be 500 miles caution free and we can get away from all that mess.

"Two Pontiacs and two Chevrolets, I figured I was outnumbered no matter which way I went. We had a good run on Little E and three and four, and I don't know if he got tight or loose or what, but he slowed down and we had to back off, too. When I checked up, the 24 went by us on the outside. They're just killing us with all the spoiler on the Dodges. We need a little trim job. I hope we can get one. The car is just too tight like it is.

"The good handling cars are going to come to the front. We got rid of that one big pack of cars, and that's what we were after. It's about like it used to be. It worked out about like I thought it would. We'll work on our car and get it driving good and hope we can hold it wide open next week in the 500."

TIM CULBERTSON (Program Manager, Dodge NASCAR Winston Cup Engineering)
"We're working hard to make the Dodges as good as we can. We'll learn what we can from the Budweiser Shootout and move on and hope we get better for the 125s."

JIMMY SPENCER (No. 41 Target Dodge Intrepid R/T)
"Ricky Rudd evidently missed a shift or something broke at the start of the race. We were right between shifts, right between second and third. There was nothing I could do. I just ran into the back of the car in front of me, Ryan Newman. I feel bad for him, and I feel bad for my team. You really needed this for a test. I think those guys that finished in the top 10 really learned a lot. I'm hoping that Sterling learned a lot and they can feed it to our team. We can see the way the scenarios are working out. If you're a Dodge amongst two Chevys or Pontiacs, you ain't going to get any help. Sterling didn't get any help. That's just the way it is. That's too bad. I know if I had been up there, Sterling would have been on my back bumper or I would have been on his and it would have worked out a lot different. It just wasn't meant to be today. I would like to see a change before next Sunday, but I doubt if we get help. It's obvious the Dodges are running with a handicap."

CASEY ATWOOD (No. 19 Dodge Dealers Intrepid R/T)
"The oil pump belt came off and blew up the motor. It felt good out there. The car was bogging down a little bit yesterday in the turns, and they made some adjustments on that. It was driving awesome today. I thought we were going to have a shot at running good, but we just couldn't hang on to it."

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