Sunday, Feb. 24, 2002                           
North Carolina Speedway                         
Subway 400 


                                                                              
                        
    STERLING MARLIN (No. 40 Coors Light Dodge Intrepid R/T)
    NOTE: Marlin's runner-up finish at Rockingham, combined with his 
eighth-place finish last week at Daytona, gave him the lead in the NASCAR 
Winston Cup Standings after the first two events in 2002. Marlin leads fellow 
Dodge driver and Daytona 500 winner Ward Burton by 18 points. Marlin started 
the 2001 campaign with finishes of seventh, eighth and third and took the 
lead in the standings after the third race. He finished third in the 2001 
standings.
    "We were great on long runs today, and I thought we had 'em where we 
needed 'em. We came up a little short. I can't understand the red flag 
situation. It caught us last week. I don't know what happened to it today.
    "We fought the car a little bit today. We were a little too tight early. 
We got it freed up and it was back and forth. I want to congratulate Matt 
Kenseth on a great race. We had a good car, too, but we just got in some oil 
down there in turns three and four and I almost wrecked with four or five to 
go. Matt got by us, but we had a good car on long runs and that's what we 
were counting on. We didn't need those short cautions there at the end. I saw 
Ricky (Craven) stay out, and he hadn't run but eight or 10 laps. Your car 
falls off a half second or six tenths in 10 laps. I figured Ricky was a 
sitting duck. We just drove by him. Matt had been real strong on early runs 
all day. With 50 to go I guess we were clicking off two tenths a lap off on 
Matt, and then sure enough here comes another caution. We're getting close. 
We've got the points lead, so at least something good happened.
    "Whoever's running the show up there sometimes decides to do it and 
sometimes they don't. It depends on who's leading the race. I didn't realize 
there was only four laps to go. Glover immediately comes on the radio and 
asks me where the red flag's at? They didn't throw it. There was some oil in 
three and four, and I guess it would have taken awhile to get it cleaned up. 
If it had ended like this last week, we would have won the race, but that's 
racin'.
    "We led the most laps last week, and we led some today. All the guys have 
done a great job, and we've had some good race cars. We'll get 'em next week."

    TONY GLOVER (Team Manager Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates)
    "I don't know what happened today. I'm still wondering what happened last 
week. I was really proud of the guys today. They did a heck of a job. We had 
a discussion about the red flag this week. As long as they're consistent, it 
doesn't matter, but it my opinion they weren't consistent today. I'm 0 for 
900 with NASCAR, so I don't plan on winning this one. As long as they do the 
same thing every week, then you know what to expect."

    STERLING MARLIN (No. 40 Coors Light Dodge Intrepid R/T)
    "Matt had a good car today. He was good on short runs and we were good on 
long runs. We just needed some long runs. We didn't need all those cautions. 
We ran real good at Las Vegas last year. We had a chance to win it, and we're 
taking a good car out there.
    "Matt ran a good race all day and he deserved to win. Our car drove 
pretty good all day. We were catching him, running him down toward the end. 
If it had stayed green, maybe we could have won the race. We were close today 
and all the guys on the team did a great job. We had good pit stops, but we 
just came up a little bit short.
    "We talked and asked for some kind of firm deal with three to go or five 
to go. Get out and run around your cars or something. We need to know what 
we're going to do. The spotter came on the radio and said they weren't going 
to stop it. If the caution comes out with three or four to go, just go to pit 
road and put on a new set of tires."

    
    WARD BURTON (No. 22 Caterpillar Dodge Intrepid R/T)
    "I'm not really sure what happened. The first time I went into turn one 
and hit the wall a little bit. I don't know if that had anything to do with 
the next two or three times or not. I would go into the corner and straight 
into the wall, and one time off the corner. Right there at the end, the guys 
did a good job of adjustment. Had it gone green, I think we could have still 
got a top 10. It was just one of those days. You could have had a 30th place 
car, and we brought it home 13th. When we started, it was awesome. I guess 
driver error or spring collapse or something went wrong. I have no idea. I 
couldn't run any more after I hit the first time because I was afraid I was 
going to hit again."      
                                                                              
                                                                            
JOHN ANDRETTI (No. 43 Cheerios Dodge Intrepid R/T)
    "I think we had a good car, and then the 7 car got spun and two Petty 
cars got involved big time. I had to bump the wall to squeeze between them. 
After that the car got tight. We took out 17 rounds of bite. That's not an 
exaggeration. That's exactly what we did. Luckily we caught some cautions and 
thanks to my fellow Dodge driver Sterling Marlin we managed to stay on the 
lead lap. The car was pretty good. We got up to 10th and then that happened. 
My car was set up for longer runs. I like the one-engine rule. We've only got 
to concentrate on one engine. I think our engine did a great job today. It 
was the best we've had in a long time."

    JIMMY SPENCER (No. 41 Target Dodge Intrepid R/T)
    "The ignition box went out early. We were running 10th and that dropped 
us to 20th. Then we battled loose. If the ignition box hadn't gone out, we 
might have been able to stay on the lead lap. We finished 20th and I think 
the car might have been better than that. We'll just have to try again next 
week at Vegas. We had a good test out there, so we'll see what happens."

    BILL ELLIOTT (No. 9 Dodge Dealers Intrepid R/T)
    "We had a lot of fun out there today. The guys did a great job, but the 
car kept pushing. We made some changes during the race, and the car got 
pretty good at the end and we moved up. I guess 11 is our lucky number this 
year. That's the second straight 11th-place finish, and we're eighth in the 
points, so we're gaining on it."
                                                      
    CASEY ATWOOD (No. 7 Sirius Satellite Radio Dodge Intrepid R/T)
    "We struggled a little bit at first, but the car got pretty good, and I 
think we could have had a top 10 finish. We were running with the leaders. I 
got hit from behind coming out of turn two, and I just couldn't save it."
                                                                              
    JEREMY MAYFIELD (No. 19 Dodge Dealers Intrepid R/T)
    "We got involved in that wreck, and then the car was tight the rest of 
the day. We kept chasing it, but we couldn't get a break. I think the car was 
good enough for a top 10 finish today, but you've got to stay out of trouble 
before you know for sure."

    TIM CULBERTSON (Program Manager, Dodge NASCAR Winston Cup Engineering)
    "We've got two drivers ranked 1-2 in the standings after the first two 
races, and that indicates consistency. That's what you need to contend for 
the championship. We've got three drivers in the top eight, and we're really 
proud of that. If things had gone a little differently today, the 40 could 
have won the race, but he slipped in some oil and lost the lead. We didn't 
have any engine failures today, so it looks like the hard work we put in on 
the engine program over the winter paid off. We kept hearing about Dodge 
having to contend with the sophomore jinx this season, but our teams look 
like a bunch of seniors right now."

   

HOME