Dodge ball

Manufacturer looking for more speed, victories

After 12 poles and 11 victories since returning to NASCAR in 2001, including wins in the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 last season, Dodge made the move this year to add more checkered-flag potential to its lineup. Roger Penske's two-car operation joined the stable, and Dodge expects big things from Rusty Wallace and Ryan Newman.

Yeah, well, you know the tale of the best-laid plans ...

Newman qualified 32nd, while Wallace was an also-ran 42nd during Monday's rain-delayed time trials. Not exactly a shot across the bow of the competition.

However, all was not lost for Dodge. Six drivers were among the top 20, with Sterling Marlin and Kyle Petty squeezing into the top 10. Ward Burton, the defending Daytona 500 champion, qualified 19th.

Back to the drawing board? Hardly. Dodge hasn't left it.

"If you look at the technical side of it, you never have enough horsepower, so you're always going to work on getting more horsepower" says John Fernandez, director of Dodge's motorsports operations.

"On the aerodynamic side, I think there's still some work to be done there, but I think it's probably less on the top of the car than other places and we're going to experiment with that.

"On the chassis side of it, I'm working on the LTS, lap time simulation. We're going to work harder on getting a better lap time simulation and working with the teams and making sure they can use that and improve."

Seven wins in 2002 whetted Dodge's appetite for checkered flags, and Fernandez says the expectation is for more this year.

"We had enough wins last year. What we didn't have was enough consistency, enough top fives and top 10s. That's really the focus this year.

"You can look at Bill Elliott's record in 2002. He had a couple of wins and totally Dodge had seven wins, but we didn't have one guy in the top 10.

"When you don't win, you've got to be finishing in the top 10 or the top 20. You need to fight for every position. Every position out there, whether you're fighting for 42nd or first, it's three or five points. We've got to push a little bit harder."

The biggest reason Dodge failed to have a top-10 driver was Marlin's late-season broken neck vertebra. He took command of the standings in the second race of the season and held it for 25 consecutive races. Marlin lost the point at New Hampshire, falling second, then the next week at Dover he plummeted to fourth, then to fifth after his crash the following week at Kansas City.

Marlin missed the final seven races and finished 18th in points.

With Marlin back behind the wheel, combined with the continued progress of several holdover teams, Fernandez believes Dodge can make a run at the Winston Cup title.

"I'm very optimistic this year that we've got the drivers and cars and teams to win the championship. I think driver-wise we've got some young guys coming along that we need to keep maturing.

"I thought the Pettys came a long way last year. They've still got a lot to go. In talking with Kyle, he's got some big plans. Ray [Evernham] is going to continue to improve his program. [Team owner Chip] Ganassi was there last year. Sterling is back, and he's looking good. I'm very optimistic."

John Wehrly, engineering manager for Dodge Motorsports, previously worked with Maurice Petty in engine development in the 1960s and '70s, a period when Richard Petty won his seven Cup championships between 1965-79. Six of those titles came with Plymouth/Dodge, including Dodge's last points title in 1975.

Says Wehrly: "The focus this season is going to be on winning the championship. The focus is not on next year or development or winning races. We've got enough experience now, and our teams are comfortable with the car and the engine.

"The vehicle has a new body like all the other competitors, and I think our teams have the confidence they need. They understand the car well. We've got more depth. We've got excellent teams and drivers and I think we're in solid shape to go racing."

Still, there are concerns within the driver ranks that must be addressed during the Twin 125s on Thursday and the remaining practices.

"I thought we could have been faster than that," says Newman in light of Penske South's switch from Ford to Dodge in hopes of finding more horsepower. "Once [pole-sitter Jeff Green and Dale Earnhardt Jr.] ran their two laps, we knew we were fighting for the 125s because we weren't close to them."

Nonetheless, Wallace was at least consistent between the first practice sessions Saturday and Monday's qualifying. However, having the 42nd-fastest practice time and the 42nd qualifying time among 50 drivers isn't something he'd like to dwell on.

"It's humiliating when you run like we just did," Wallace lamented during the weekend. "I'm as mad as can be about this because we do not know what the problem is."

It's up to Dodge to find out.

B. Duane Cross is a senior producer for SI.com.

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