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2000 Schedule and Results | 2000 Archive | Bill Elliott Wallpapers
Elliott and Atwood Attempt to Conquer the Monster Mile
DOVER, Del. (September 23, 2001) - An emotional day filled with American flags
and patriotic songs kicked off Sunday's running of the MBNA Cal Ripken, Jr.
400 at Dover Downs International Speedway. Casey Atwood brought home his
No. 19 Dodge Dealers Dodge in a season's best ninth place. Bill Elliott,
making his 650th career start, got caught in an incident early on but
managed to finish 30th.
Atwood, who started the day 18th, successfully battled for track position
early in the caution filled race. The Dew Crew made adjustments throughout
the day to keep Atwood's Dodge Intrepid R/T running up front. His Winston
Cup career best finish moved the Raybestos Rookie of the Year contender into
30th place in driver's points.
"I'm real happy with it," said Atwood. "It was kind of an up and down day.
We started off and we weren't too good. Then we ended up sixth or seventh
and fell back again. At the end of the race the car started to come back
again. We were able to come back and get a ninth-place finish and we're
happy with it."
Elliott guaranteed that he would get his 650th career start when he
qualified 10th for the 400-lap race, matching his average starting position
at Dover (10). He and the No. 9 crew saw his memorable day ruined by an
incident less than 25 laps into the race. The No. 9 crew worked throughout
the race to keep Elliott's Dodge Intrepid R/T on the track, enabling him to
extend his streak of races without a DNF to 32. Elliott's finish keeps him
in 13th place in driver's points.
"I couldn't help it," said Elliott. "I just busted my butt and got into
Bobby Labonte. I hate that it happened. I told him I was sorry, but that
doesn't help too much now. It wasn't that slick. I just did something I
shouldn't be doing. On the positive side, the crew did a good job keeping
us in the race, and we've still got our streak of no DNFs. It wasn't a bad
finish considering."
Like many race teams, the cars of Evernham Motorsports were outfitted with
special decals to honor the country and the many who lost their lives in the
national tragedy on September 11. "United We Stand" was printed underneath
an American flag on a decal that was placed on the b-posts of Evernham
Motorsports cars. Evernham Motorsports also chose to display the stickers
distributed to Winston Cup teams honoring the city of New York. In
addition, the UAW/National Training Centers used their space on the No. 9
and No. 19 deck lids to display an American flag decal.
"A NASCAR event in all that it encompasses; the racing of American cars, the
surrounding atmosphere and the following community, is a large slice of the
American pie," said Tim Bressler and Al Benit, UAW National Training Center
NASCAR Operations. "The events this weekend carried more emotion than the
usual NASCAR race. We are honored to be able to substitute the NTC decal on
the deck lids with the American flag alongside the UAW wheel."
EVERNHAM MOTORSPORTS IN THE NEWS: The events in our country over the course
of the past two weeks weighed heavily on the minds of the NASCAR community,
including the media throughout the race weekend. Ray Evernham took part in
a round table discussion with prominent NASCAR drivers to discuss the impact
of these events on the sport and in on our community. The event was hosted
by NBC reporter Bill Weber and was scheduled to air following the race. Bill
Elliott was also the invited guest of the media at Saturday's Winston
breakfast. Elliott discussed the events of the past few weeks as well as
his 650th career start. Casey Atwood did an interview with the local paper
during an autograph signing for the Kent County Visitor's Bureau. Atwood
and Evernham also did interviews for Winston Cup Illustrated on Atwood's
experience as a rookie in the Winston Cup Series.
SPONSOR NEWS: With air travel still an issue in our country, there were few
VIPS in attendance for the race weekend. However, the UAW had several
visiting guests who were treated to the excitement of the weekend's
activities. Invited guests of Mountain Dew also enjoyed a meeting with
Casey Atwood and Ray Evernham at the No. 19 hauler.
2000 Schedule and Results | 2000 Archive | Bill Elliott Wallpapers
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