No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Race Facts
Aaron’s 499 – Talladega Superspeedway
Driver: Jeremy Mayfield
Team Director: Kenny Francis
Team Owner: Ray Evernham
CHASSIS INFO: Chassis No. 47 – Same chassis raced in this year’s Daytona 500.
JEREMY MAYFIELD QUOTES
RACING AT TALLADEGA
“You’re up against the usual suspects when you’re running at Talladega, and the DEI cars are always there to beat. It takes a lot of things to add up to a good day there. If you don’t have a good car and good equipment then you’re in for a long, boring ride. But even if you’ve got the best car on the track you’ve got to be able to put yourself in the right position at the right time to keep your fenders on and finish strong. Everyone knows you can go from last to first or the other way around in no time.”
TALLADEGA STRATEGY
“Nobody’s concerned about having a good handling car at Talladega, you’re thinking about staying out of trouble and staying where you’ve got good help in the draft. I learned a lot by following Dale Earnhardt around in the speedway races. I watched the things he’d do and wouldn’t do and how it kept him from getting hung out in trouble.”
STATS & FACTS
MAYFIELD DEFENDS 2003 AARON’S 499 POLE POSITION
· Mayfield earned his seventh career pole position, and his first for Evernham Motorsports, in last year’s Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway. The pole was Mayfield’s third at Talladega, and makes him one of only three active drivers who have scored three or more poles at the track (Sterling Marlin - three, Bill Elliott - eight). All seven of Mayfield’s career Bud Poles have been earned on superspeedways (Talladega, Darlington, Dover, Rockingham, and Texas).
POLE-HAPPY AT TALLADEGA
· Mayfield earned his first career Bud Pole award at Talladega (DieHard 500 – 7/28/96), making him the only active driver to have earned his first career pole at the track. Mayfield earned his second Talladega pole (third overall) in April of 2000. Talladega is the only racetrack that Mayfield has repeated as pole-winner.
CAREER AT TALLADEGA
· This weekend’s race marks Mayfield’s 318th career start in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series and 20th career visit to Talladega Superspeedway. Mayfield has three poles, one top-five, one top-10 and has led seven races for 43 laps at the track. Mayfield made his fourth career Cup Series start at Talladega in May of 1994 when he started 24th and retired early in the 37th spot after being collected in an accident.
LAST WEEKEND…
· Last Sunday at Martinsville Mayfield started the day in the 10th position and ran in the top 10 for the first 100 laps of the race, but began experiencing handling problems with his Dodge. Midway through the race the car got loose in turn two and spun into the wall. Mayfield took the damaged Dodge to the garage where the Dew Crew went to work to make repairs. Soon after a red flag was thrown to repair a crack in the racetrack surface, under NASCAR rules the Dew Crew was not allowed to work on the car for the full hour and 17 minutes of race stoppage. Once the race returned to green, the Dew Crew went back to work and returned Mayfield to the track on lap 380 with 120 laps to go. He avoided a DNF and finished the race in the 36th position, 110 laps down.
ADDING UP THE POINTS
· Mayfield moved to 15th place in the NASCAR Nextel Series point standings after Martinsville. He is 123 points out of the top 10, and 189 points out of fifth place.
NO. 19 DODGE DEALERS/UAW DODGE
THE DEW CREW
The No. 19 Dew Crew energy and speed keeps Jeremy Mayfield ahead of the competition. They are credited with helping Jeremy bring home two second-place and two third-place finishes in the final 11 races and his climb to 19th in the points in 2003.
