NASCAR Cup

Dodge Loudon race notes

DAVE BLANEY (No. 93 Amoco Ultimate Dodge Intrepid R/T) "We cut a right front tire, and ended up hitting the wall just about where everyone else did I think. I don't know what's going on. It's strange it's all happening in the same turn. I ...

Edited: Apr 15, 2002, 11:45 PM

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DAVE BLANEY (No. 93 Amoco Ultimate Dodge Intrepid R/T)
"We cut a right front tire, and ended up hitting the wall just about where everyone else did I think. I don't know what's going on. It's strange it's all happening in the same turn. I don't know if the track is coming up a little bit in three and four or what. We might be running over little pieces of the track that have come up, but I'm not sure. I'm OK. It knocked the breath out of me for a minute. We hit pretty hard, and it tore up the car pretty good. We were struggling at first and almost got lapped before that first caution flag saved us. We were running as fast as the leaders when we wrecked. I think we could have had a decent day, but we'll never know now."

STERLING MARLIN (No. 40 Coors Light Dodge Intrepid R/T)
"I think some of those guys dummied out today, but that's the way it goes. Our car drove terrible, but track conditions were terrible, too. You couldn't get any grip. They've got to do something to this race track. You can't race. We got a lap down, stayed out and got it back. Considering the way it was looking there for awhile, we had a pretty good finish (17th). The guys made some good calls in the pits, and that's all that saved us. We picked up on Rusty and lost points to Stewart and those three ahead of him. We'll just get ready and go to Pocono and see if we can't have a little better finish than we had there last time (fourth)."

JASON LEFFLER (No. 01 Cingular Wireless Dodge Intrepid R/T)
"We didn't have a very good day. The finish wasn't that bad and we picked up a couple of spots in the standings, but finishing a lap down in 27th position isn't our idea of a good day."

JOHN ANDRETTI (No. 43 Cheerios Dodge Intrepid R/T)
"I'm disappointed, I can tell you that. It's really not worth talking about. We had a good car. We've had a good car all year, but we've got to get some finishes to go with it."

BILL DAVIS (Car owner Bill Davis Racing Dodge Intrepid R/Ts driven by Ward Burton and Dave Blaney)
COMMENT ON WARD BURTON'S TAP FROM BEHIND
"We were loose and I guess he (Kevin Harvick) just drove all over us. It's not the way you race and make friends around here. That's about two or three times we've had problems with him. We probably won't be inviting him to our Christmas party. We were racing along there, like everybody else, trying to get all we could get and adjust on our stuff. We were so loose it wasn't real, but if it had all shook out and that hadn't happened, we would have ended up in the top 10. We had to stop when we got spun out. All the leaders stayed out, and we just wore them out and made up our lap. We got a caution just right and that got us back on the lead lap. Then we started having carburetor trouble. It was a brand new carburetor, and we'd never had anything like that happen."

BILL ELLIOTT (No. 9 Dodge Dealers Dodge Intrepid R/T)
"It was not a good day. We started off in 12th, and the Dodge was pretty good for the first part of the race. But, we made a mid-race pit stop and got shuffled back to 28th. Track position is pretty critical here, and we just couldn't work our way back up. Then, I spun on something and that pretty much did it for me. We've just never had a good consistent run here, and today is another example."

CASEY ATWOOD (No. 19 Dodge Dealers Dodge Intrepid R/T)
"We had a good car today, and that showed when we started moving up spots at the beginning of the race. It was great to have the Dodge up front. This track is so hard to pass on, it's so hard to get track position. We came from a lap down and ended up finishing 12th. We had a top 10 car, but it was a good day for us anyway. It was pretty cool to be up front. I wish I could have passed somebody to do it, instead of cautions coming out. It might have been a little better day if the caution hadn't come out right after our pit stop. The Dew Crew did a good job all day, helping me pick up spots. When I was a lap down, I think Jeff was trying to give me a little 'rookie education' when I was behind him. He was waving at me or something. I'm not sure what he was doing. I think he wanted me to back off."

RAY EVERNHAM (Owner Evernham Motorsports Dodge Intrepid R/Ts) @ "It was good to see our rookie up front of the pack today. I was happy. The thing is, I'd like to see both cars up front. It's hard weekly to be happy for one and the other one have a little tough luck. I felt like, today, we had two Dodges that were very capable of running in the top 10. Again, we were caught on a pit stop and had some other problems that kept us from getting it done. Here, it's all about gambling on a pit stop and being in the right place at the right time.

"Casey had a top 15 and that was good for him. That car could have easily been top 10 but we got caught on that caution right after our pit stop. It killed any shot we had of finishing in the top five. But we led the race legitimately, and we ran the same times as the leaders. Casey about passed the 24 car and the 28 and he got his lap back. That effort today, especially getting the lap back, that was all Casey. Getting that lap back was all Casey digging and driving hard.

"Track position killed Bill today, and then he spun late in the race. Track position is so key here, Bill's lap times were capable of being top 10 or even top five all day, he just couldn't get any track position.

"I feel like our cars were really competitive today, I just wish the guys got better finishes. But that's the way the guys learn. We had a couple of good race cars, we're just not able to get them finishing where they need to finish."

STACY COMPTON (No. 92 Kodiak Dodge Intrepid R/T)
"I just turned up on the 14 (Ron Hornaday Jr.). I apologized to his spotter, and I need to go talk to him. I didn't know he was out there. My spotter hollered outside, and I thought he said clear outside and I just turned right. I apologize to him and all the guys on that team. I certainly hate it for him. We've raced together a bunch, and I hate it. We missed something today. We got something wrong and can't quite figure out what it is. It was a long day. It wasn't quite what we were looking for, but we'll go get 'em at Pocono."

-Dodge Motorsports

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