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In-Car Radios | Silly Season | Forum | Photo Gallery | Newsletter | In the Pits
Evernham: Ready to Go Racing
By Jeff Holtzclaw Although the Dodge program is still some six months away from making its debut at Daytona in February, Evernham is ready to return to racing now. Evernham will be fielding a Ford for Casey Atwood in three races this season; at Richmond International Speedway, Martinsville Speedway, and Homestead-Miami Speedway. "I'm really excited, I can't wait to get going." Evernham told Race 2 Win at Bristol. "We will be racing some this year but I am really looking forward to our Dodge program next year." Evernham has teamed with Motorola to sponsor Atwood and the number 19 for the three races this season. Evernham is eager to get back to racing and hopes to allow Atwood the opportunity to gain experience in NASCAR's top series. "It's important for building our program for next year that we needed to run some races this year. Getting Casey going, along with the rest of the team, is a really important part of it," said Evernham. Some have questioned Evernham's choice of the 20-year-old Atwood, who is in his second full season in the Grand National series, as driver of the number 19 next season. Evernham feels that Atwood is ready for the Winston Cup series. "He's ready for the move," Evernham said. "Is he ready 100 percent? He's ready for the move but at sometime you've got to make the decision when you're going to start and, right now, I think that he's ready to start." Evernham also feels that former Winston Cup champion Bill Elliott, who will drive the number 9 Dodge for Evernham next season, will assist in Atwood's development. "With Bill's knowledge and what not, it's going to be a real good combination," said Evernham. With his hiatus of nearly a year, Evernham has truly missed the sport. Evernham said, "I really, really missed being at the race track this year. It has bothered me a heck of a lot more that I thought that it was going to. It's going to be great to be back there slinging springs and shocks and doing the things that old crew chiefs are supposed to do." Expectations are high for next season and Evernham has set goals for both teams. "I really look for Bill's team to be competitive," said Evernham. "They are competitive this year and I think that next year I can add to that with some consistency. I think that they will have a year under their belt and we are going to look for them to be competitive. "As far as Casey's team, we're going to look to build it. Certainly we want to be in that Rookie of the Year battle. I look for them to improve every week." Evernham's philosophy mirrors ours here at Race 2 Win. "We go to the track to win, not to just race," says Evernham. "A lot of people go to race, we don't go to race, we go to win. If we don't win, it's not because we didn't try, but you have to try to win." As we have stated here many times, 'If you're gonna race... Race 2 Win!'
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It's been almost a year since Ray Evernham walked away from his duties as crew chief for Jeff Gordon and the 24 team. Evernham was looking for a challenge, and he found it, leading Dodge's return to the Winston Cup series in 2001.