NASCAR Cup

Indianapolis: Dodge teams Friday quotes

RAY EVERNHAM (Co-owner, Gillett Evernham Motorsports) WILL NOT HAVING A TEST SESSION HERE AT INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY PRIOR TO THE ALLSTATE 400 BE A MAJOR FACTOR? "I don't think anybody knows. We haven't run these cars here on this tire. A ...

Edited: Jul 25, 2008, 11:58 PM

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RAY EVERNHAM (Co-owner, Gillett Evernham Motorsports)

WILL NOT HAVING A TEST SESSION HERE AT INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY PRIOR TO THE ALLSTATE 400 BE A MAJOR FACTOR? "I don't think anybody knows. We haven't run these cars here on this tire. A test session would have probably let everyone get more prepared like we did at Lowe's on a tire that we're going to race. The Lowe's race was good because we got to test. Here only three (teams) were able to test. I don't think anybody really knows what to expect from these cars here. It probably would have been a good idea to test since we're going to run the COT here for the first time. I don't really understand why we didn't."

WHERE DOES THAT PUT GILLETT EVERNHAM? "Our guys are more adaptable when there is no information. That's when I think that our guys excel a little bit. Some teams have information, but when most of the teams don't, I think our guys are a little bit better in being prepared when no information is available."

CHRIS CARRIER (Crew Chief, No. 77 Mobil 1 Dodge Charger)

WHAT EFFECT DOES THE FACT THE NEW CAR IS BEING RUN HERE FOR THE FIRST TIME AND THERE WAS NO OPPORTUNITY TO TEST OTHER THAN TIRE TESTS? "I think it makes it a little bit harder for everybody...makes everybody's grass a little higher to mow. Not being able to test, you have to start out a little more methodical and be a little more careful. One thing you will see which is pretty standard for this track, when the track is green for the first practice and probably the entire first day, tire wear is excessive. There's nothing wrong with the tires. There's nothing wrong with the track or anything. It's something you deal with here. It's the history. Every time we've come here to test, every first day of practice when the track is really green, we go out and run three or four laps, come in and the tire man looks at the right front tire and there might be a few cords hanging out, or whatever, and everybody goes ballistic."

HOW IMPORTANT WILL THE SATURDAY AFTERNOON PRACTICE SESSION BE? "It will be intense. Everybody will be looking at the weather because this race track is probably the most temperature-sensitive that this series goes to. If it's not the most, it's one of the top five. I've heard conflicting weather reports for Sunday. Everybody will be looking at that. We'll be looking to have the best balanced car we can have and still have good tire wear. We'd do what we have to do to promote good tire wear and be able to run the 31 or 32 laps (fuel range) on a set of tires.

There'll be a lot of worrying, a lot of second guessing on Sunday...should I have done this or that, is the track going to get loose or tighter. It will be pretty intense Saturday afternoon. This is a pretty high-pressure deal. Everybody wants to do good here. Everybody knows where we're at. Everybody understands the expectations. Everybody understands how much the purse is and how much media attention there is. Everybody wants to do well when they are in the limelight. Saturday afternoon, that's when you're going to plant your 'taters. Sunday, you'll see how well they grow. I hope we're one of the teams that walks out of here Saturday afternoon with a smile on our face."

TONY GLOVER (Team Manager, Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates)

WILL NOT TESTING HERE BE A BIG FACTOR THIS WEEKEND? "I think that it will be the same for everybody. If we went to Pocono and everybody tested, everybody would have the same advantage to learn and the whole group gets elevated. With Indy, nobody tested and I think that you'll still see the same guys run up front."

DO YOU USE POCONO AS A BASELINE? "Somewhat, yes."

- credit: dodge motorsports

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