Dodge in NASCAR Article

From: Richard A Pyburn (rap777@juno.com)
Date: Wed Jun 20 2001 - 16:18:23 EDT


     Here's a story I found that some of you may like. What the author
doesn't mention is how far the Dodge Rams have come in the truck series.
It wasn't too easy at first and now they're making it look too easy.

Richard in San Antonio
                                           DODGE'S RETURN TO
                                           WINSTON CUP: Tough going
                                           Can't get on track: Dodge's 10
teams
                                           are off to a slow start in its
return to
                                           top-level stock car racing.
                                           Rick Minter - Staff
                                           Wednesday, June 20, 2001

                                           Dodge's return to Winston Cup
racing after a 16-year
                                           hiatus has been accompanied by
an ad campaign
                                           emphasizing that Dodge is
different.

                                           But after 15 races, the 10
Intrepid teams are winless
                                           and suffering from the same
shortcomings that kept
                                           them from winning when they
were involved with
                                           Chevrolets, Pontiacs and
Fords.

                                           Dodge teams are saying bad
racing luck, chassis
                                           setup problems and growing
pains are the reasons
                                           for their lackluster
performances so far this season.

                                           Sterling Marlin has been the
bright spot. Marlin, in
                                           his Chip Ganassi-owned Dodge,
has come close to
                                           winning several times and is
fourth in points with five
                                           top-five and nine top-10
finishes. He credit Ganassi's
                                           organizational skills and
Ernie Elliott's engines for
                                           his strong start.

                                           "Chip came in and hired a
bunch of good people,"
                                           Marlin said. "All the guys
doing the motors have
                                           done a great job. I've got
some good horsepower.
                                           We're just well-prepared and
well-organized."

                                           Ironically, Dodge's best
finish, a second at Bristol, was by John Andretti, who
                                           drives for Petty Enterprises,
which has had problems just getting its three
                                           drivers qualified for races.

                                           The Petty Dodges were dominant
in the early 1970s, but on nine occasions
                                           this season, a Petty car has
failed to make the starting field.

                                           Before the start of the
season, many people thought Bill Elliott and his car
                                           owner, Ray Evernham, would
lead the Dodge charge. But except for winning
                                           the pole for the Daytona 500,
Elliott hasn't spent much time at the front of the
                                           pack.

                                           Elliott says the make of car
isn't the reason he hasn't won.

                                           "We're just not hitting on all
eight cylinders yet," Elliott said. "It seems like
                                           we've got a lot of things
coming together, but we can't get them all together at
                                           one time."

                                           One of the main stumbling
blocks is that Evernham, a former crew chief whose
                                           cars won 47 races and three
championships with Jeff Gordon behind the
                                           wheel, has been spread thin.
Evernham has been concentrating on getting
                                           Elliott's and Casey Atwood's
teams up and running and hasn't had time to
                                           personally work his magic on
the cars.

                                           Evernham said he and his
employees are having a hard time figuring out how
                                           to get their cars tuned for
maximum performance with the new tire that
                                           Goodyear introduced this year.

                                           "We've been missing on the
chassis setup, and that's what we've got to get
                                           right," Evernham said.

                                           If things don't improve, the
remainder of the season could become a drag for
                                           someone like Elliott, who has
40 career victories but none since 1994.

                                           "If you were running pretty
decent, it would be pretty enjoyable," he said. "But
                                           it's starting to turn the
corner where it's a long season. From here on, it's going
                                           to be a rough go."

                                           On top of that, Elliott said,
Jeff Gordon's No. 24 Chevrolet team is about to
                                           make it a long season for all
race teams.

                                           "If Gordon and those guys keep
running like they're running, you don't have a
                                           snowball's chance (of
winning)," he said.

                                           Some Dodge teams are talking
about asking NASCAR for a rule modification,
                                           possibly to allow a lighter
engine. Elliott would welcome a change if it would
                                           make his car run faster, but
he knows that isn't a cure-all.

                                           "We need to be better within
our own organization," he said.

                                           Mike Brown, team manager for
the Bill Davis Racing team which fields the
                                           Intrepids driven by Ward
Burton and Dave Blaney, said he's pleased with the
                                           Dodge program. But he also
thinks his team needs to look internally for
                                           improvements.

                                           Burton, the only Dodge driver
who won a race last year, is 23rd in points with
                                           one top-5 finish. Blaney is
26th, with three top-10s.

                                           "Things are going as good as
we realistically expected them to go," Brown
                                           said. "Our circumstances are
more related to bad racing luck than to Dodge.
                                           We've had about four races
this year where we were running in the top-5 with
                                           10 or 15 laps to go and wound
up finishing an average of 33rd. It's frustrating to
                                           not be able to finish the good
runs we've had going."

                                           Brown and Evernham expect to
run better as they return to tracks for the
                                           second time this season.

                                           "It's been a 13- or 14-race
effort just to gain enough data to know what to take
                                           back to these tracks as we go
forward," Brown said. "We didn't have time to
                                           do a lot of testing that we
needed over the winter."

                                           During the short offseason,
all Dodge teams concentrated on preparing for
                                           Daytona and Talladega, tracks
which require restricted engines and totally
                                           different chassis setups than
other venues. Brown said it was the only realistic
                                           choice they had.

                                           "Obviously, we wanted to make
a good impression (at Daytona), but part of it
                                           was that the availability of
parts and pieces forced us to concentrate more on
                                           Daytona because a lot of our
open motor development didn't get into full swing
                                           until December and January."

                                           But Elliott and Brown say that
the strong start by Marlin shows that Dodge is
                                           capable of returning to its
former glory on the speedways of NASCAR.

                                           "I don't have anything bad to
say," Brown said. "We're looking at ourselves to
                                           make our program more
consistent, because Sterling has proven that Dodge
                                           has a good piece."

                                           THE MANUFACTURERS RACE
                                          
Car...............Points....Wins
                                           Chevrolet.... 109......... 7
                                           Ford.............105.........
7
                                           Pontiac..........61......... 1
                                           Dodge...........55......... 0

                                           DODGE DRIVERS' RESULTS
                                           How 10 Dodge drivers have
fared this season through 15 of 36 NASCAR Winston Cup races:
                                          
............................Pts..... Top...... Avg......Avg.
                                          
Driver...................Pos..... finish....Start... Finish
                                           Sterling
Marlin.......4th......3rd...... 14.7.....12.6
                                           Bill
Elliott..............17th......5th..... .14.1.....20.7
                                           Ward Burton.......
23rd......5th...... 20.6.....22.6
                                           Dave Blaney.......
26th......6th...... 22.0.....23.1
                                           John Andretti.......
30th......2nd..... 25.9.....26.0
                                           Stacy Compton.... 32nd....
10th..... 26.7.....27.5
                                           Casey Atwood.......34th....
12th..... 22.0.....27.0
                                           Jason Leffler........ 35th....
13th..... 26.1.....26.7
                                           Buckshot Jones....40th....
16th..... 26.7.....31.1
                                           Kyle
Petty..............44th.... 16th..... 21.2.....30.6
                                           Source: NASCAR.com
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