When a team is a team
By Dave Rodman, Turner Sports Interactive
January 17, 2002
4:52 PM EST (2152 GMT)
COMMENTARY
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Dave Rodman
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When team owner Ray Evernham announced he had hired veteran Jeremy Mayfield to team with former champion Bill Elliott in his Dodge Intrepids, there was a lot of doubt, invective and innuendo being spewed about.
That move seemingly left 2001 rookie Casey Atwood out in the cold when he was farmed out to Ultra Motorsports. Evernham purchased an interest in Ultra to, in no small degree, keep Atwood happy and in the family.
Just how it would develop was unknown; but after two days of testing at Daytona International Speedway, it seems like Evernham has a pretty good shot at attaining the role of the lead team in DaimlerChrysler's budding Winston Cup juggernaut.
That's saying a lot since Sterling Marlin's Chip Ganassi Dodge never fell out of the top 10 in points all last season before finishing third and the team added a proven veteran in Jimmy Spencer to Jason Leffler.
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Casey Atwood
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But when single-car test runs were through, Mayfield and Atwood were in the top-10 of the 54 drivers that tested. Elliott was in the middle of the pack, but felt like his knowledge of Daytona and his status as defending Bud Pole winner for the Daytona 500 would be a big help.
And here's where teamwork comes into play. He also alluded to the fact that there would be plenty of information to be had from Mayfield and Atwood's successful sessions.
"I don't know how the structure of the 7 car (Atwood's) fits in," Elliott said. "I don't know all the ins and outs and I don't want to know -- but I'm glad it happened this way from the standpoint of now we not only have Jeremy but we have Casey and we can do a three-way link as far as information stuff.
"We can gain our information quicker when we go into these race tracks. Jeremy can go off in one direction and Casey can go off in another and I can go off in another and we can combine our notes before race time on Sunday and figure out what our best situation is going to be.
"I think we can make the three-way deal work well -- that's the way I see it."
"It just goes to show we're one team racing three cars," Mayfield's crew chief Sammy Johns said. "We're not separated. We share our information. There's no secrets when it comes to bodies, aero numbers -- anything. As close as we're running together goes to show it."
That insight might mean trouble for the competition, especially in Mayfield's case. Whatever happened at Penske Racing before he was released two-thirds of the way through last season seems immaterial now.
If he was, as has been rumored, banned from the Penske Racing shop, he's making up for it now and as much as he likes what he's seen, the feeling appears mutual.
"I feel like these guys welcomed me to their team with open arms," Mayfield said Tuesday. "I feel like we've run several races together already."
That's a statement of some note from a guy who hadn't been in a Winston Cup car since he left Kansas Speedway at the end of September on a pretty sour note.
"Yesterday was a little weird for me when we first went out," Mayfield said. "We didn't know what to expect, but now everything is flowing.
I've been down here before and thought everything was good, but I felt like that before we got here. This is the most prepared team I've ever been with down here testing for the Daytona 500."
When he and his team were a tightly wound unit, Mayfield won two races in 2000 and had four Bud Poles. He and his teammates see the potential for more of the same and mutual respect is oozing everywhere.
"I've never seen a group of guys working so hard in my life," Mayfield said of his shop visits. "You walk in that shop and sparks are flying. Sammy told me the other night that he was going to knock off early.
"I asked him what time and he said about 7:30. He worked Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Every day I was at the shop he was working. A lot of hard work went into these cars."
"I like Jeremy a lot -- he's always been a good kid," Elliott, the elder statesman said. "I think we can share a lot of things together. I think we can learn a lot together."
"We're going to work hard together," Atwood said. "We're all still the same team. We started to click at the end of last year. I'm going to have some good teachers -- Jeremy has got a lot of experience and he runs good at a lot of flat tracks just like I do. Maybe he can help me out a little more on that."
A tight team is a happy team, and after its Daytona test Evernham's three-car conglomerate is pretty happy.
"If you're junk testing, there's a lot to be done between now and the 500," Mayfield's crew chief Sammy Johns said. "If you're pretty good, there's still a lot of work. Nobody here is showing everything they've got. Everybody is going to go home and work some more."
But at least around Evernham's neighborhood, they'll be whistling all the while.
NOTE: Dave Rodman is a staff writer for NASCAR.com. The opinions listed here are those solely of the writer. To provide feedback to Dave, email him at dave.rodman@turner.com.
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