NASCAR Cup

Dover: Dodge teams race quotes

KASEY KAHNE (No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge) "I went down into turn one and there was no grip when I got there. There was oil all over the racetrack. After I hit the wall I opened my eyes back up and cars were coming at me, spinning sideways, ...

Published: Jun 9, 2004, 11:19 AM

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KASEY KAHNE (No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge)

"I went down into turn one and there was no grip when I got there. There was oil all over the racetrack. After I hit the wall I opened my eyes back up and cars were coming at me, spinning sideways, crashing. There was oil everywhere. I don't know where it came from or how it got there. It was bad looking at it all coming at me. I spun and I just had the view of everybody coming at me. I was just hoping my car would go faster in reverse. We had a great car. I was pretty happy. Tommy Baldwin and the whole Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge team did a great job. The car was perfect. We were pulling away. I just swapped ends when I got there. Something was on the racetrack. There was no grip when I got there. It's disappointing. I didn't know what to think. I came to a stop and everyone was crashing. I was looking at 'em and then I was in the care center. We went from just about winning our first race to nothing. It was real disappointing."

RAY EVERNHAM (President and CEO Evernham Motorsports)

"It was really a good team day. We keep having good days and not getting the results. Sometimes it's not in your control and you can't worry about those things. It's really tough. You get a lot of heartbreak in this business, and unfortunately, both our teams got it today. They brought real good cars. They brought winning cars. Sometimes stupidity wrecks a lot of racecars. We run so many different races, lots of different circumstances. You've just got to be able to adjust and when you get caught up in things like this you don't even have a chance to play the game. This is what happens late in the race when you jumble up a bunch of cars. You've guys jumbled up on restarts trying to hold their positions. You've got cars leaking oil. That's just the way it happens sometimes."

JEREMY MAYFIELD (No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge)

"I really don't know what happened down here with our deal. It all happened in front of us. I was just stuck in the middle and then I got stuck in the mud and couldn't get out of that. It was one thing or another, but we had a great car. We still came home with a top 10, and I've got to be happy with that. I hate it for Kasey. I saw what he had going on. It was just a bad day for us I guess. It just wasn't meant to be. With all those cautions, it's like once you get started you can't keep it rolling. I still feel good about the next races. June is going to be a good month."

RUSTY WALLACE (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge)

"We came down pit road and made a normal stop. We worked on our car. As I come down he throws the board. I looked behind me and the pace truck is behind me. They stopped me. I couldn't believe it. It's 90 feet behind you and there's a line on the wall. I don't guess anybody knows about that line. I've never heard that rule in my life. We had a great car. It handled really good, and then I got a set of tires on and that set was just terrible. It pushed real bad and ended up blowing the thing out later on. I hope we gained some points, but everything was so crazy I don't know if we did or not."

JAMIE McMURRAY (No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge)

"I think that was as biggest joke of a race as I've ever been involved in. I couldn't believe that. It was kind of ridiculous, all the cautions and the oil on the racetrack. It kinda looked like an ARCA race I thought. That's pretty bad. Casey is upset because he got tore up, and I can't blame him. He ended up getting the raw end of the deal there. He's my teammate, and I would never do anything like that intentionally. He's mad, but he'll get over it. If it was me, I'd be mad at him, too. We're teammates, and we'll go on."

STERLING MARLIN (No. 40 Coors Light Dodge)

"Somebody turned somebody and everybody got to hitting everybody. I don't know how many it took out. We were back on the lead lap. I don't think everybody was lined up right. Something was wrong with the way we were lined up and it wrecked everybody. All hell broke loose. I guess 15 or 20 cars were in it. I couldn't understand what the caution was for. Somebody said it was raining, but I never saw anything on the windshield. I just saw a big wreck and a lot of smoke. We were a lap down and didn't pit and were still a lap down. I don't know how they figure it."

RYAN NEWMAN (No. 12 ALLTEL Dodge)

"We had a good car for sure. The ALLTEL Dodge was running strong. I screwed up coming into pit lane. It got loose on the right front there. We should have been on our own lap there with the exception of a couple of cars. I don't know exactly what happened there in timing and scoring having us being a lap down. We'll just have to see what we can do to get it fixed. We shouldn't have been in that position in the first place. It was my fault. I know timing and scoring was messed up, and we got held for a lap. In my opinion, we shouldn't have. Whether we should have or not is NASCAR's decision. The pit stop sign guy told me to stop about 20 feet away when I was coming at him about 35 mph. I was ahead of the pace truck, so I don't know what the issue was there. It's just the way it works out with the way we race."

CASEY MEARS (No. 41 Target Dodge)

"Jamie (McMurray) was hung out high, and was just following the inside line to go, and he just started coming down. I'll have to review the tape, but it's just disappointing. We had a real good car. We were going forward. Maybe you lift and let guys in, but I was following the line, and I felt like he came down on me. I don't know if he (team manager Andy Graves) really saw it. Obviously it's early in the race, and you don't want to take too much, but I thought I was being very conservative. I just felt like I wasn't given any racing room, but I'll have to look at the tape and see."

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