Commerce: Whit Bazemore Friday summary

Bazemore at Top of Field After Two Sessions, Qualifies No. 2

COMMERCE, Ga. (May 14, 2004) - Whit Bazemore initially claimed the No. 3 spot in today's first qualifying session, with a 4.877-second elapsed time. He followed that with an even stronger pass in the second round of 4.797 seconds at 324.20 mph to place the driver of the Matco Tools Iron Eagle Dodge Stratus in the No. 2 position with two more qualifying sessions to be held tomorrow.

"We had a good day," he said. "The last week was really good for the team as Lee (Beard, crew chief) and the team found a major problem which may have contributed to our inconsistency that we've experienced this year.

"So, were pretty excited that the Matco Tools Dodge ran down the track two runs in a row, very safely, with no hint of the tire smoke that's kind of been following us around so far this year. All in all, it was a great day. I think Lee is working towards re-establishing a good baseline combination and from there I think we'll just keep moving forward.

-dsr-