Food City 500 - Jeremy Mayfield Notes

No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Race Facts
Food City 500 - Bristol Motor Speedway
Driver: Jeremy Mayfield
Team Director: Kenny Francis Team Owner: Ray Evernham

CHASSIS INFO: Chassis No. 21 - Raced both 2003 Bristol races, finishing a high of 10th in August.

JEREMY MAYFIELD QUOTES

RACING AT BRISTOL

“I’m always excited to go to Bristol. It’s a racetrack where anything can happen and will happen. You’ve got to stay sharp there because you can sit in the lead all day long and still run the chance of getting taken out by someone else. On the other hand, all the wild stuff going on out there can end up working in your favor too. Bristol is a short track with a lot of speed. You just have to keep that speed and keep your fenders on if you want to be around at the end of this race. It’s always a great race for the fans. A race at Bristol is never short on action.”

TEAM MOMENTUM

“This is by far the best situation I’ve been in forever. We’ve come a long way from a year ago. We’ve got an awesome team right now, probably the best team I’ve ever been with. A lot of credit goes to Ray (Evernham) for putting the right people in the right places and building the team that would work for me. I feel like this is it. I feel like this is a great situation. I’m excited we’ve got momentum from last year and are rolling. We should be OK.”

STATS & FACTS

CAREER AT BRISTOL

· This weekend’s race marks Mayfield’s 315th career start in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series and 19th career visit to Bristol Motor Speedway. He has two top-fives, five top-10s and has led three races for a total of 352 laps at the track. Mayfield’s first start at the track came in August of 1994, where he started 25th and finished 21st.

BRISTOL HIGH-MARKS

· Mayfield earned his best finish at Bristol by moving up 27 spots from his 30th place starting position to finish third in the spring race of 2001. Mayfield earned his best start at Bristol in spring of 2002 race when he started a season-high third place and finished 14th.

MOST RECENT RUN AT BRISTOL

· In last fall’s Sharpie 500 Mayfield muscled his way from a 29th place starting position to grab a top-10 finish at a track where track position means everything. Mayfield benefited from efficient pit stops from his Dew Crew and excellent pit strategy from Kenny Francis throughout the evening. Due to on-track contact, Mayfield was caught a lap down early in the race but didn’t stay there for long. He regained his position on the lead lap and just over 200 laps into the race was sitting in 18th place. Mayfield charged into the top-ten with about 50 laps remaining in the race and held on to the position for the remainder of the evening.

LAST WEEKEND…

· Last Sunday at Darlington Raceway, Mayfield, who drove the same chassis he ran at Rockingham to an 11th-place finish, started the day in the 18th position after a qualifying lap of 29.040 seconds with a speed of 169.339 mph. He quickly drove his No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge into the top 10 by lap 38. The Dew Crew went to work during a series of yellow flag pit stops to improve the handling of the Dodge, and Mayfield was running in the third position by lap 130. After a caution on lap 134, he cycled back to the fifth position and ran between fifth and seventh for the second half of the race. A late-race caution for a spin by his teammate Kasey Kahne brought Mayfield back into the pits for tires and a splash of fuel. He came out of the pits ninth and finished the day in the same position.

ADDING UP THE POINTS

· After his ninth place finish last Sunday, Mayfield continues to hold seventh place in the NASCAR Nextel Series point standings. He trails leader, Matt Kenseth, by 91 points and is just 27 points out of fifth place.