Elliott Dover Qualifying Quotes

BILL ELLIOTT (No. 9 Dodge Dealers Dodge Intrepid R/T)

NOTE: Elliott qualified second fastest at 154.374 mph, missing the pole by 15 hundredths of a second.

"It wasn't a bad lap. We weren't real sure about the race track because it got a little hotter. The guys put a good effort under me, and that's what it's all about. It's important to start up front every week. I've started up front here and had trouble, and I've started in the back and had trouble. I'd rather be up front and take my chances. The guys did a great job with the car. I was really concerned when I drove off into turn one on the first lap, but it really stuck. Mike Ford (crew chief), Mike Hawkins (engine man) and all the guys have really worked hard. They've done a heck of a job. I think we've come together as a team. We've gotten smarter, and that's what we've got to do week in and week out.

"I like it when you're kind of in the ball park when you unload off the truck. To be that close, you can get a little more out of the car when you go to qualify. This place kind of eluded me once they put the concrete down. Now we've got a little better hold of it. I think this race last year, I took the green flag, drove into turn one and got in a wreck. I didn't get a lot of data from that race, and I think I ran about 20 laps in the second race. Me and Bobby Labonte, I took him out in turn two. Hopefully I can get a little further along this year.

"It seems like everything you knew about the asphalt surface has totally gone away. The concrete is a whole different deal. It takes a whole different setup, a whole different way you look at it. It seems to be even a different way you drive it for whatever reason. I don't know what dictates that. The asphalt surface will get a little looser and slower on a long run. The concrete just doesn't give up. You can make your long run and you don't seem to have a lot of giveup through your whole run.

"I'd say they'd have to be 100. They've really worked hard. Mike Ford and all the guys have put together a really good effort. They've thought through things. They've taken their notes from last year and expanded on it. We've taken notes from the 19 and 7 and keep building on that. Jeremy is having a little bit of a time getting going in the 19 car, but I think that is them just getting used to working with him. I feel like that will come. We take all that into consideration and figure out what's going to be the best for us. If we unload and can be reasonably close, we try to expand from that. Take Matt Kenseth who's on the pole here. He runs good here at Dover. Him being with Robbie (Reiser, crew chief) and that consistent team, that's made things come together real fast for him.

"He's been able to take from the Busch side and transition right over to the Winston Cup deal. I think today it's a part of that team, getting everybody to work together and going in one direction.

"It's good to see Jack (Roush) back. I spoke to him on pit road and asked him when he was going to grow up. He said if he had been in a real airplane he would have made it through the wire. The thing about what he's been through is pretty incredible. He's a pretty touch old (guy). I drove for him back in the '80s doing some road race stuff, and he's always right there digging each and every week. Like him or dislike him, that's what you have to admire about Jack Roush."

©Copyright 2002 Race 2 Win