HOMESTEAD, Fla. (November 7, 2001)--- The Florida sun hasn't shone brightly
on Bill Elliott since the Winston Cup Series began racing at Homestead-Miami
Speedway in 1999. However, a recent test session at the 1.5-mile track
gives Elliott reason to believe that the No. 9 Dodge Dealers Intrepid R/T
may heat up the south Florida speedway.
Elliott and the No. 9 crew visited the track in late October looking to gain
some knowledge that might give the No. 9 Dodge Dealers Intrepid R/T from
Evernham Motorsports an edge. The team walked away pleased with the results
of their test session.
While success at Homestead has eluded Elliott, he has been successful on the
circuit's larger tracks. The 26-year veteran has earned all of his eight
top 10 finishes this season on racetracks larger than one mile. Six of his
eight top tens came on tracks that are two miles or longer. Elliott hopes
that the Florida sun is shining on the 1.5-mile oval at Homestead-Miami
Speedway when he looks to add to his notable record at NASCAR's larger
tracks.
Bill Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Dodge Dealers Intrepid R/T
What will Miami hold for you and No. 9 team from Evernham Motorsports?
"It's a challenging racetrack. I haven't run that well at Miami. I've been
decent but not as good as I want to be. It's a mile-and-half track and I
generally do okay on those tracks, but this is not like a Kansas or Las
Vegas. Miami's different because it's just so flat and has long corners. We
tested there and we were good in our race runs. We weren't as good in
qualifying runs, but it seems like we were able to get a handle on it a
little better when we tested."
Talk about your performance in the second half of the season.
"October seemed to be a bad month for us. July, August and September seemed
to be pretty decent. Then the last several races we just seem to have a lot
of little stuff happen. It's kind of like the way we started the year. We
just need a little more consistency. That's just a part of racing though."
Talk about the overall performance of the team this season.
"I think we've done pretty well. I think a lot of guys have come together
quicker than what I expected. You know now it's getting down to the end of
the year and everybody's tired."
Bill Elliott By the Numbers
This weekend's race marks Elliott's third career start at Homestead.
He started 32nd and finished 24th in the inaugural event in 1999 and ran was
able to improve on his next run at the track in last year's Pennzoil 400.
After starting 23rd at Homestead in 2000, Elliott reported a vibration
problem and hung on as long as he could before coming into the pits on lap
150 to replace four tires. The pit stop turned out to be costly. A few
laps later a caution came out, resulting in scheduled pit stops for the rest
of the teams. Elliott finished the race 22nd.
An incident on the first lap of Sunday's race at Rockingham left
Elliott with nowhere to go on the track, sending his No. 9 Dodge Dealers
Intrepid R/T into the wall. Elliott was forced into the garage for repairs.
The No. 9 crew worked diligently to repair the damage and was able to return
Elliott to the track where he finished the day in 40th place.
Bill Elliott has been in the top 15 for approximately two-thirds of
the season, and within the top 20 for the entire year. His average start is
14th and his average finish is 20th. Elliott has four top fives and eight
top 10s on the year - his best output since 1997 when he finished eighth in
the championship points standings.
With $2,864,402 in official earnings this year, Elliott has broken
his career-high yearly earnings record of $2,580,823 from last year. He is
third in total winnings for all Dodge drivers in 2001 (behind Ward Burton
and Sterling Marlin). After finishing eighth at Indy, Elliott became the
first Dodge driver in history to break the $2 million earnings mark in a
single season. He is on pace to break $3 million before the season's end.
