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Old 02-18-2007, 02:00 PM
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Arrow Dodge Motorsports' Mike Accavitti and driver Elliot Sadler from ...


Chip Ganassi from Daytona

ELLIOTT SADLER (No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Charger)

GENTERAL COMMENT ON DAYTONA SO FAR We definitely havent got off to a start like we wanted for Daytona Speedweeks, but were working hard. Ive enjoyed working with Ray (Evernham) the past couple of days. Weve got two days of practice left to get ready for the 500. Thats what its all about. Thats what all the testing is about. Were going to make some changes to the car. We learned a lot from the 9 car yesterday. We think were going to be pretty good for the 500.

HOW HAS IT BEEN HAVING RAY ON THE BOX? Its been fun. Ray has got a lot of enthusiasm, and hes been fun to work with. He doesnt get shaken up. Hes got a lot of experience. Hes won this race a couple of times. Even yesterday when things werent going like we wanted, he was very calm, which kept me calm in the race car. Hes definitely going to be an asset to have on the box for the Daytona 500.

COMMENT ON THE NASCAR PENALTIES On our situation, we have run those type of bolts on our cars all last year. We made it through tech the first time and got a seal on our spoiler with those in there. Were kinda confused about that a little bit at Evernham Motorsports. Ray and his partners are going to think about appealing the next couple of days. As far as yesterdays stuff, being low and things like that, I just think if youre low youre low. Thats what they have post race inspection for and if you fail, you fail. The win should be taken from you and things like that. Im glad NASCAR is stepping up to the plate with stiffer penalties. I think thats going to put us all in a tighter box. Theyre showing everybody theyre not messing around, and as a competitor, I think thats a good thing. I think they need to be a little stiffer on penalties than they have been in the past so when you show up each week as a driver and team you know everybody is in the same ballgame. Ive got to applaud NASCAR for stepping up to the plate and doing the fines and suspensions and stuff theyve done this week. It shows everybody they are really serious, which in turn shows the competitors youre going to get a fair shake when you show up.

DID GORDONS PENALTY SURPRISE YOU? I was kinda surprised they let him keep the win. If youre low, youre low. If you dont pass post-race inspection you dont get whatever position you finished in. I think thats why you have post-race inspection. I think thats the purpose of it. Its just funny they were low on a track where low helps. Im willing to bet they wont be low at a downforce racetrack where you want to be high. If anything happens they want to be high. Its just weird the way that all worked out. Jeff did a great job coming through the

pack there at the end whether his car was low or high or whatever. He still drove a great race there at the end, made some great moves, and thats why hes won the Daytona 500 a couple of times.

COMMENT ON THE TIRES The new tires are a lot different. Were still adjusting our cars to them and trying to get our package a little bit better with them. Goodyear has brought a different combination of things, and were working on it. We have not found the right chemistry yet for us to like the tires with our setup. Weve got two more days of hard work ahead of us. We know weve got a lot of work to do. Were going to keep plugging away. Were not going to give up on it. Were going to keep throwing stuff at it until something sticks and hopefully Sunday well be good. If we knew exactly what it would take wed have it in the car right now. The field is very competitive. If youre off a little bit it shows up like a lot. We had a jackbolt unwind yesterday in the Duel race. I really would have liked to tested a good car yesterday for Sunday, but were pretty much starting over at square one today and well make the most of it.

HOW DID YOUR RACES IN THE 19 LAST SEASON HELP? It helped a lot. Im so glad I came to this team last year to meet up with the guys and I learned a lot about them and their systems. Communication wise were in a different league because of that than if we would be if this was my first race with them.

COMMENT ON BEING SELECTED NASCAR.COMS COOLEST DRIVER TO HANG OUT WITH BY THE FANS This is really a cool award. Growing up as a race fan and now being voted this award by the race fans is cool to me. I think Im the same guy I was before I started racing. Im the same guy from Emporia, Va. I go back home a lot and hang out with the guys I grew up with. I dont mind going out in the infield and hanging out with the fans sometimes on race weekends. I want to be one of the people. Thats what its all about. Obviously the fans can see that, and its cool to get an award like that. Im not going to change. Im going to be myself no matter what color car I drive or who I work for or who I drive for. Im going to be the same Elliott Sadler and be one of the people. Whether its not shaving or hanging out with them or clowning around a little bit. I like being who I am and obviously the fans can see that.

COMMENT ON WHERE YOUR CAREER IS NOW The last seven or eight months of my life have been absolutely great. Im with a team right now and an owner that I think is still on his way up. He has a lot of fire, a lot of intensity. Hes brought this company a long way in six short years. This is my ninth season. I

have a lot of experience and I think Im peaking right now. Ray and I have talked about that. This should be a break out season for Elliott Sadler. We should contend for The Chase. We should contend for wins. I think consistency pays the bills. If Ive got an eighth-place car I need to finish eighth and not try to driver over my head and wreck it. Youve got to learn when to go and when not to go. Patience and things like that are virtues in this sport. Those are the things Ive worked on the most and I want to get better at.

WHAT WOULD IT MEAN TO WIN THIS RACE? This is the Daytona 500. This is what dreams are made of. This is where it all got started. To win here would be big. I think it defines somebodys career if they can win the Daytona 500. This is our Super Bowl. We want to run well here. Were doing the best we can. Im looking forward to the 500. Im ready to start the race. Drop the flag.

IS TONY STEWART THE GUY TO BEAT SUNDAY? Stewart is 100 percent the guy to beat. I think the other 42 cars in the garage know that. To win the race Sunday youre going to have to outrun Tony Stewart. He showed it in the Bud Shootout. He showed it in the Duel. Nobody can really get any good runs on him. Even when you saw some cars try to team up on him, it was hard to get good runs on him. Right now I think hes in the drivers seat. Everybody else is trying to fine tune to try to outrun him. Youre going to have to outrun him to become the Daytona 500 champion this year. I dont know what hes got. I heard thats the best car theyve ever had in the wind tunnel downforce wise and drag wise. Tony is great at these restrictor-plate races. Hes got an amazing record here and Talladega. Whatever theyve got is working well. Were going to keep working on our stuff and hopefully close that gap and be better prepared for him on Sunday.

MIKE ACCAVITTI (director, Dodge Motorsports and SRT Marketing)

COMMENT ON THE COT Guys are starting to spend more time in the cars, and theyre becoming more comfortable with the handling of the car. I talked with Kurt Busch a couple of days ago, and he was very positive about his latest experience in the vehicle. Were ready and excited about checking it out on the track in a real racing situation. Its coming. Weve always embraced it from the get-go. Weve been working with NASCAR trying to develop it. Weve had a little different attitude than maybe some of the other guys. Were excited about cars that are going to make racing more exciting and make racing safer for the drivers. Were looking forward to Bristol. From a marketing perspective, were launching a new nameplate. Were launching the Dodge Avenger. Im really looking forward to getting some exposure for that nameplate, and its an integral part of our product launch campaign. Around that time youre going to see TV commercials introducing the product, and NASCAR is an important chunk of that launch.

DO YOU HAVE CONFIDENCE EVERYBODY IS ON A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD? I do. I believe NASCAR prides itself, sometimes to our detriment, on having a level playing field. I can appreciate that that is one of their primary objectives, and I feel everywhere in their operation that they operate that way. I suppose it can seem when things dont go the way we like em that there are singling us out, but when you step back and look at it overall, they treat everybody the same. They dont cut breaks to one manufacturer.

DO YOU TALK TO DODGE TEAMS ABOUT CHEATING? We dont even have to do that. I would never endorse any flagrant rule violation. We would never want to be a part of that. We would take serious issue if one of our teams did a flagrant violation of the rules. The issues we saw this week with our teams were a gray area of violations. I dont look at it whether you steal a dollar or steal $10,000. Stealing is stealing. I agree with that concept, but this isnt stealing. This is one of those areas it doesnt say if you can do it or not. These were gray area violations. The guys tried to push the envelope, and this is what happens when they dont like how far you push it. I think people realize that taking advantage of gray areas might be part of the sport. I dont think the fans have an appreciation of out-and-out cheating. Fans will forgive a guy. I think theyll forget about it in time.

WOULD CHEATING IN NASCAR EFFECT CAR SALES? The reason were in NASCAR is to improve and enhance the brand image of Dodge. Anything that would be contra to that like cheating or if we had a Dodge driver who was the

biggest jerk on the track and he was cutting people off all the time and knocking people out of the race that would have a negative image on our brand and that would eventually turn some of our customers off. There used to be a saying that theres no such thing as bad PR. Yeah, there is. We saw it this week.

COMMENT ON DODGES ON-TRACK PERFORMANCE SO FAR AT DAYTONA Im very excited about how were doing here. The Penske guys and Ganassi guys have come to do some serious driving. Were going to see a great race on Sunday. Bobby Labonte has showed some strength. The Evernham guys are getting their stuff together. They didnt do too great in the Duels, but they had some team meetings yesterday. They understand what the issues are and theyre going to work through them. I expect to see some good things out of them on Sunday. Plus, Im dangling that free SRT vehicle. Its amazing that these drivers are actually thinking about that. I saw Juan, Reed and Stremme yesterday and all three are talking about which car they would pick if they win.

COMMENT ON THE RACE AT CALIFORNIA SPEEDWAY ON FEB. 25 The biggest improvement is in the stability of the car. The drivers are telling us that. Kahne says he doesnt really see a huge difference, of course he won six races in the old car and he really didnt have an issue with it. The other drivers are telling us the new Dodge nose makes the car a lot less volatile in the turns in the traffic. Theyre excited about it. They think its a great improvement, so were looking forward to that race in California.

Source: [url=http://www.backstretchmotorsports.com/bm/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9700&Ite mid=29]Backstretch Motorsports[/url]
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