DEI, PETTY ENTERPRISES, MORGAN MCCLURE SEARCH FOR COMPETITVE EDGE DURING
KENTUCKY SPEEDWAY TEST
SPARTA, KY. -- NASCAR NEXTEL Series Cup teams from Dale Earnhardt,
Inc., Petty Enterprises and Morgan-McClure Motorsports visited Kentucky
Speedway today to help drivers Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Martin Truex, Jr.,
Kyle Petty, Jeff Green and Mike Wallace develop a competitive edge for
upcoming races on intermediate tracks.
Earnhardt, Jr., who was second in the series standings after the fifth
race of 2004, used a fourth-place finish at Bristol to move to 17th in
the current standings. After generating an average finish of 21st through
the first five series races this season, the No. 8 team is intent on
building stronger racecars.
"We weren't that good at intermediate tracks last year and we
haven't really been that strong this year," Earnhardt, Jr.,
said. "That's why we're here testing. Hopefully, we can
learn something. We're working on a lot of different things all
across the board with our engineering department, trying to build a
better racecar for the rest of the season.
"This track has a similar configuration to California or Vegas. You
can learn a little bit about corners, what helps the cars turn and what
gives them grip in the rear. I think we have to work on the bodies a
little bit and get a little more grip.
"We have good down force numbers, but the car isn't providing
us with enough grip. It's all numbers and figures, but you have to
get out on the racetrack to see what does what, what feels this way and
what feels that way to improve the car.
"This boils down to what kind of racecar we're taking to the
racetrack. If we improve the car we're building at the shop,
we'll have a faster, more competitive team."
Truex, Jr., used his time on the track to gain knowledge for his
remaining NEXTEL Cup Series starts this season and to mentally regroup
from a tough start to his NASCAR Busch Series season.
"This is a good mile-and-a-half track to test because aerodynamics
come into play real big here," Truex, Jr., said. "With the
new Cup spoiler rule, the Cup and Busch cars are a good bit different.
The Cup cars feel a bit different getting into the corners, that's
the biggest part. We're trying to get both cars to feel the same.
If we do that, we'll have some good stuff.
"We have six more races in the Cup series this year and we're
looking forward to it. We're real excited about it and trying to
learn as much as we can."
The defending Busch Series champion will enter the next week's race
at Texas Motor Speedway fifth in the series standings, but has not
cracked the top 10 in his last four starts. He owns a win and a total of
two top-five finishes this season.
"It's been a tough season so far to be honest. We had a good
run at Daytona and obviously the win in Mexico was big for us, but
we've had some bad luck and tough races since then," he said.
"I'm kind of glad to have a week off to regroup as a team
before we get back after it at Texas."
Improving competition levels also was on the mind of Petty Enterprises.
Petty was all smiles following his eighth-place performance at Bristol.
It was his first top-10 Cup Series finish since April 21, 2002 at
Talladega Superspeedway.
"Last weekend was really good for Petty Enterprises," Petty
said. "We kind of stuck it out all day long, stayed out of trouble,
stayed out of everybody's way and when everything happened towards
the end, we knew we had a good shot at moving up. We started like 12th or
13th, passed a few guys and got in the top 10. It was a good run for us.
"Jeff Green and the Cheerios Dodge qualified sixth and had some bad
luck in the race, but he was going to have a good top-five, top-10
car."
Petty owns an average finish of 20.8 through the first five races of the
season and is motivated by the results of his team's new engine
alliance with Evernham Motorsports.
"Our engine program has been the motivator," he added.
"We were looking at the No. 9 and No. 19 and saying, 'these
guys can run up front and win races.' If we use their engines, we
ought to be able to. If we can't we have to look at our cars and
all the other aspects of Petty Enterprises. We're trying to improve
on our car and our chassis stuff because we know what we're
comparing ourselves to. They build some good stuff at Evernham
Motorpsorts."
Kentucky Speedway opens its first of five event weekends on May 14 with
the ARCA RE/MAX Series "Harley-Davidson of Cincinnati 150."
Season and single event tickets are on sale now. Fans can reserve tickets
online at www.kentuckyspeedway.com or www.tickets.com, by
phone at 1-888-652-RACE (7223), through Tickets.com outlets including
Meijer stores and through the Kentucky Speedway ticket offices located at
2216 Dixie Hwy., Ste. 200, in Ft. Mitchell, Ky., and track Fan Center in
Sparta, Ky.
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