NASCAR Winston Cup Series MBNA 400 Preview: #37, Jeremy Mayfield
17 September 1997
#37 Jeremy Mayfield, Kmart/RC Cola Ford Thunderbird
NASCAR Winston Cup Series
MBNA 400 Advance
Dover Downs International Speedway
JEREMY MAYFIELD NOTES & QUOTES: MBNA 400
COMPILED BY FORD MOTORSPORTS
JEREMY MAYFIELD AND THE KMART/RC COLA FORD TEAM ENTER THIS WEEK'S RACE
10TH IN THE NASCAR WINSTON CUP STANDINGS, REMAIN LOCKED IN A TIGHT
BATTLE FOR NINTH AND EIGHTH. THE LAST TIME JEREMY MAYFIELD WAS AT
DOVER DOWNS SPEEDWAY, HE FINISHED A CAREER-HIGH FOURTH AND HAD A
CHANCE TO WIN THE MILLER 500. HE BACKED THAT UP WITH A FIFTH-PLACE
FINISH THE FOLLOWING WEEK AT POCONO AND MOVED INTO THE TOP 10 IN
POINTS FOR THE FIRST TIME. SINCE THEN, HE FINISHED FIFTH AT
INDIANAPOLIS AND HAS EIGHT MORE TOP-20 FINISHES TO HANG AROUND THE TOP
10. MAYFIELD DISCUSSES HIS SURPRISING SUCCESS THIS SEASON AND HIS
FUTURE AS ONE OF NASCAR'S RISING STARS:
JEREMY MAYFIELD (#37 Kmart/RC Cola Thunderbird) - "The last time we
were at Dover, I think we were probably a top-10 car, for sure. That's
where we ran all day long, around sixth or seventh or eighth. Then
they had some misfortune right there at the end and we wound up
fourth. We learned a lot. That was our first trip to Dover together
with this team. A lot of people don't see that, that this is our first
time around together. This is like a brand-new team and it's the first
time we've all been together. I think that going back to Dover with
what we know now and the notes that we have, we'll be in even better.
We'll take fourth any time. But we ran good. We ran respectable all
day long."
ARE YOU SURPRISED AT HOW GOOD YOU HAVE BEEN THIS YEAR? - "A little
bit. But the reason why is because we were so far down last year. We
were about 35th in points, and to do a 180-degree turnaround is
amazing. But if you have seen the change I've seen you wouldn't be
that surprised. It was a year at Richmond that we have been together,
and in that time this team has made a major, major turnaround. I came
in on the tail end of it. I'm surprised, but then again I'm not,
because I knew that the potential was here. I just didn't know that it
would happen this quick. But we've still got a long way to go. The
thing that I'm excited about is that this is our first time around for
the whole series, and we've got a lot to go yet. We're not maxed out
yet. We're running good, but we know that's there another level, and
we're working hard to get there."
WHAT HAS BEEN THE KEY TO TURNING THINGS AROUND? - "I think it has been
teamwork and communication between Paul Andrews and the team and
myself. We've got a lot of good people here. We've got good car
owners with Michael Kranefuss and Carl Haas and great sponsors. When
you've got all that, and everybody is communicating and just gelling
together with the team, that is the biggest factor that I've seen that
has led to the change. It's given me better race cars so that I can
become a better driver and be able to learn more about this."
AT WHAT POINT IN THE SEASON DID YOU REALIZE THAT YOU HAD SOMETHING
GOOD GOING HERE? - "I think it was at Daytona when we finished sixth
in the first race of the season. We knew we had a good deal going at
Daytona. Once we came out of Daytona good, we said, 'Man, this deal is
working good. We all worked good together for the first race (of the
season).' Then we went through a string of 17ths and 18ths and
middle-of-the-pack type finishes. But we knew what we had going for us
for the future was good. There has been a lot of races where things
have happened to us that if they hadn't happened, we would probably be
sixth or seventh in points. I know everybody can look back and say,
'what if.' But it's not like, 'What if we had run good.' We did run
good, we just had things happen to us. I think early in the year we
realized we had a good thing going.
"We went to Bristol and finished ninth, then turned around the next
week and went to Martinsville and finished seventh. We've had a lot of
weeks like that. We were fourth at Dover, then went to Pocono and
finished fifth. We went to Michigan and ran good, but finished
12th. We had a little misfortune, but we still finished 12th. We went
to California and finished 12th. There were a lot of places where we
were right there. And we've had our share of bad runs, too. We had a
bad run at the second Michigan race. We had a rocker mess up on us and
we just ran terrible. But you didn't see anybody get down about it. We
just threw it behind us and came back next week and started running
good again."
HOW BIG WOULD IT BE FOR YOU TO FINISH IN THE TOP 10 IN POINTS? -
"Right now, it means everything. We're working real hard on doing
that. That's our goal right now. That's what we want. We've got to
finish in the top 10 and we want to win a race. If we don't win a race
or don't finish in the top 10, it won't be devastating to us. It's
going to hurt us, because that's our goal. But from where we came from
to now is a big jump. If we can just continue to do that, we know that
this time next year we will be a lot better off. We're going to work
really hard in the last part of the season to get in that top 10."
WHEN DID YOU SET FINISHING IN THE TOP 10 AS A GOAL? - "Our goal at the
beginning of the season was the top 15. We wanted to be in the top 15
every week. We knew if we could do that, that would be a big
turnaround from last year. But it didn't take long for us to wind up
in the top 10. And we've been there most of the year. A couple of
times we've fallen out for a week or so, but we would get right back
in. At Richmond we had a shot at getting back in the top 10. We were
running sixth and had a right rear tire go down on us and we wound up
10th. That would have put us back in the top 10. Early in the season
we re-evaluated our team and our goals and decided right then that
this was a top-10 team. And that's what we want."
HOW MUCH HAS HAVING PAUL ANDREWS AS YOUR CREW CHIEF HELPED YOU? -
"It's a big confidence booster for me, knowing that he has been there
and done that. Paul has been a tremendous help to me as a driver. He
has brought a lot of experience to me. He has helped me understand
Winston Cup racing better. I might have one idea and he might have
another, and he will explain to me why he has the other idea. And 99
percent of the time, he is right. That's really helped me as a
driver. He's given me a good car and he's very organized. He's kept
the team organized. I can't even describe how much experience and
organization and confidence he has brought to this race team and to
myself."
YOU SEEM TO FIT TOGETHER PERSONALITY-WISE, TOO. - "Yeah, I think we
do. He and I are alike. He's always on an even keel no matter what,
and I like that. When you've got a good race team, you've got good
people. Our team has a lot of what I call high-profile, experienced
people on this team. The hardest thing about building a race team is
getting those type of people and the personalities working together
instead of butting heads all the time. I think that is the one of the
biggest things that Paul has done, being able to organize this team
and put people in the right places and make all the different
personalities gel together. He is a crew chief first. But the way our
team is structured, there is a lot of responsibility on the crew
chief. We have a team manager and a crew chief, but our crew chief has
a lot more to do with the team than just working on the car and making
calls during the race."
HOW MUCH DID IT HELP YOU TO MAKE THE SWITCH TO THIS TEAM LAST YEAR AND
GET THOSE 10 RACES TOGETHER? - "It did a lot for us. It showed this
team where their weak points were and it showed me where mine was. It
showed us as a team together what we need to do for this year. What
would have happened had I jumped in this car this year? Without any
changes last year, it would have been another learning year. The most
important 10 races of my career was jumping over there with this team
early, even though our performance was terrible and we didn't run
good. But not running good allowed us to learn each other and led to
us running good like we are now. Not running good then has paid off."
WE'RE STARTING TO SEE SOME OF THE YOUNG GUYS MOVE UP. DOES SEEING A
YOUNG GUY LIKE JEFF BURTON WIN GIVE YOU CONFIDENCE? - "Definitely. And
I tell you something else that makes us feel good. We look at the 99
team and the 24 team a lot. We feel like right now we are a year
behind. We are running just like they ran last year. This is the same
way Jeff Burton ran last year and this is the same way Jeff Gordon ran
his first or second full season with the 24 car. That has added a lot
of confidence to our team. I feel like in the future I'm going to have
a better race team than they've got. I feel real good about that. I
feel like I've already got the team they've got, or better. And I feel
like the resources we're going to have in the future, and we've got a
lot of stuff going on as far as research and development and
resource-wise, that we're going to have just as much, or more, than
those teams have."
ARE YOU AT A DISADVANTAGE RIGHT NOW WITH A SINGLE-CAR TEAM? - "I see a
lot of disadvantages. I don't wish that we had another team, by no
means, but I wish we had the resources of two teams instead of one and
that we could combine two budgets instead of one and have two teams'
test sessions instead of one. That's where we're at a
disadvantage. But if you start a new team, where are you going to get
the people? Where are you going to get the driver? You can't just
start a second team up and it be a first-rate race team. To have a
two-car team, you'd need to have an A team and a B team. You need to
have two A teams. There are advantages and disadvantages. But if you
are going to do it, you need to do it right. If we ever do decide to
have a second team, I guarantee you it's going to be right and it's
going to be first-rate. There's been talk about it. Michael has talked
about it since he started this team. But I don't see it any time
soon."
SOME GUYS LOOK LIKE THEY ARE ON THE VERGE OF WINNING, THEN IT NEVER
HAPPENS. IS THERE ANYTHING YOU NEED TO IMPROVE ON TO MAKE THAT NEXT
STEP? - "I need to keep doing what I'm doing right now, and that's
getting the experience that I'm getting and building the relationship
that I'm building with the team. The only thing that I can say is that
if they haven't won races, they didn't want it bad enough. I want it,
and I'm going to do whatever it takes to get it. Three or four years
from now, if I'm in that situation, I would just as soon not be
here. If I feel like I'm just here running taking up a spot in the
field, I don't want to be here. It's all about winning. But I realize
it takes time. I'm 28, and I realize that I've got some time. When I
get to the point when I feel like I'm running out of time, then I need
to do something different."
