Dodge Back At Daytona

Ward Burton ended Dodge’s Winston Cup absence at Daytona International Speedway on Tuesday when he drove his No. 22 Caterpillar Dodge Intrepid R/T onto the famed 2.5-mile tri-oval to kick off the first day of Dodge’s two-day manufacturer Winston Cup test in preparation for the Feb. 18 Daytona 500.

Dodge is making its return to NASCAR Winston Cup Series competition after a long layoff with the 43rd running of the Daytona 500. The last time a Dodge was entered in the Daytona 500 was back in 1982 when Buddy Arrington finished 15th. The last time a Dodge was in the Pepsi 400 was also in 1982 with Arrington finishing 12th.

The 10 teams in attendance for the two-day Dodge test session included Evernham Motorsports (Bill Elliott, Casey Atwood), Petty Enterprises (John Andretti, Buckshot Jones and Kyle Petty), Bill Davis Racing (Burton, Dave Blaney), Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates (Sterling Marlin and Jason Leffler) and Melling Racing (Stacy Compton).

"We’re just trying to get baselines," said Burton, who turned the seventh and 11th fastest laps during the first day of the test. "We got one car here that we’re doing a little bit of aero stuff on and the other we’re doing a little bit of chassis stuff on. We’re not really trying to go fast right now; we’re just trying to learn."

Two-time Daytona 500 champion Bill Elliott was the fastest after the first day of the test posting a lap of 180.574 mph in his No. 9a Dodge Intrepid R/T. Elliott also posted the sixth fastest lap in the No. 9b with a lap of 178.525 mph.

"Some of the gains you make here are small gains," said Elliott’s crew chief Mike Ford. "You want to be real meticulous in your changes." While Elliott was the fastest, his Evernham Motorsports teammate Casey Atwood was battling for speed. The 2001 NASCAR Winston Cup Rookie of the Year candidate posted the 12th and 14th fastest laps in the test session.

"All and all it was a pretty good day," Atwood said. "We had some trouble with the one car. It was hitting the track (bottoming out.) Bill’s car was really fast and now we have something to go back and look on and hopefully get ours better when we come back."

Said owner and Dodge lead developer Ray Evernham of the two-day test: "It’s really important. Obviously, it’s the first time we get to be with the other Dodges. Everybody is trying to go fast. Right now, one car seems to be pretty good and the rookie car is struggling a little bit. We’ve just got to see if we can get them a little bit closer together."

Second fastest was Melling Racing driver Stacy Compton, who turned a lap of 180.169 mph in his No. 92 Kodiak Dodge Intrepid R/T. "Good car, good equipment, good motor . . . I think we got a good combination," Compton said. "We’re pretty excited about the way we unloaded. We got a little ground to gain still, but we got another day. We tried a lot of things today. We made a lot of changes and learned a lot of things. People say these Dodges are a lot like Fords. They don’t react nothing like a Ford. We tried a lot of stuff that we tried last year and nothing seemed work as far as that’s concerned." Dodge teams are hoping to do some drafting in their second day of testing

"We drafted a little bit at Talladega," said Marlin, who got the chance to work with his new Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates teammate Jason Leffler. "It doesn’t matter to me one way or the other."

Quotes from the second and final Winston Cup manufacturer test session at Daytona International Speedway on Jan. 17, 2001

Ray Evernham, owner of the No. 9 Dodge Intrepid R/T driven by Bill Elliott and the No. 19 Dodge Intrepid R/T driven by Casey Atwood.

ON YOUR SPEEDS

"We’ve got to pickup. Look, no complaints. We’ve got work to do and we’re going to do it. Like I said yesterday, I’ve left Daytona before being a half second behind. We just have more work to do. These things are still made out of metal. You can cut them and grind on them and change the shape of them. The motor guys are hammering. All and all, for a new car, new engine unloaded, we’re doing OK."

COULD YOU USE MORE TIME

"Everybody says, ‘Do you want 500 more days?’ I don’t want 500 more, but I could use 50. A race car never gets done until it’s time to go. We’re probably a half second off from where we need to be. If we can get some of that back, which we’ll probably do, I’ll feel good about.

ON THE TEAM CONCEPT

"More so today. When everybody is a little slow, you tend to work together a lot more than with one guy really fast. Dodge is leading the one-team concept. They’ve got people networking. Evernham Motorsports and Petty Enterprises have a close relationship and that will continue to grow. I don’t think there’s a real big spread between us and hopefully that will show everybody we’re working together."

ANY SURPRISES NOW THAT YOU’RE HERE AT DAYTONA

"We didn’t really see surprises. When you come to Daytona, it’s horsepower and drag. We know what we were on the dyno. We know what we were in the wind tunnel and we knew that we would be running the speeds that we’re running."

WHAT’S NEXT

"We’re going to Talladega for sure. I don’t know if we have any wind tunnel time left before we come back for the 500. If we do have some, we probably need to start using that on our downforce stuff. We’re going to go to Talladega, I think the 26th and 27th, and run some more cars." "The most I’m looking forward to about the next 31 days is when the green flag drops for the Daytona 500, I get to smash that clock and the countdown is over."

Casey Atwood, driver of the No. 19 Dodge Intrepid R/T

ON THE CAR

"It’s a lot better. We’ve picked up our car quite a bit. We’re gaining on it every time we go out."

Dave Blaney, driver of the No. 93 Amoco Dodge Intrepid R/T

PROGRESS OF THE TEST

"We’re getting there. We haven’t thrown everything we’ve got at it. We’re gaining and that’s the main thing."

HOW HARD ARE YOU WORKING?

"You can’t learn unless you get out there on the race track.

ON THE TWO CARS HE’S RUNNING

One car is testing motor-related things, the other car is (testing the body).