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NASCAR-CTS: Dobson and Pacwest Team Building on Each Success

8 May 1998

Monroe, WA - Dominic Dobson, driver of the #78 MCI/Mopar Dodge Ram feels confident after another encouraging outing in NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series last week at Portland Speedway. The first-year driver would like nothing better than to carry that momentum to this weekend's race at his hometown's Evergreen Speedway.

He's about as confident as a driver can get after back-to-back disappointments in the season's first two races were followed by two complete races. After failing to qualify in Homestead, Dobson came back and made the show at Phoenix and brought home a solid top-20 finish. At Portland the team was relieved just to make the race considering it was their first short-track event together.

"Portland was our first short-track race ever and we knew it was going to be extremely tough because a lot of those other guys have tons of experience racing short-tracks, " Dobson said. "We went with a tried-and-true setup and had very promising practice times, somewhere around 26th quickest. It was the evening's cool and damp conditions that set us back in qualifying time. Each time some rubber got laid down on the track, the rains came and washed it away."

Before getting caught up in a melee on lap 28, Dobson had managed to put the MCI truck up five spots from his 31th place starting position. The crew worked hard on putting the truck back together and returned to the track netting a 29th place finish. It paid off, because Dobson moved up to sixth in the rookie points and gained invaluable setup knowledge.

"We knew we couldn't just park the MCI truck behind the wall despite some pretty extensive damage," said Dobson. "We got the truck back out there and learned enough about the right setup to give us a good starting point for Evergreen."

Dobson said the team had originally planned to keep the Portland truck on the west coast to run this weekend with the same setup. After the mishap it was decided to switch to the truck run at Phoenix and use the repaired truck as a backup.

Continued Dobson, "We didn't run a perfect race at Portland but we didn't expect to either. We are still learning and the more we race, the more we learn. We're certainly headed in the right direction. It's when you start moving backwards that worries you.

"I learned the hard way last week what it takes to survive in short-track racing. You have to qualify really well and avoid getting stuck at the back of the pack amid the dust, grime and grit. Our goal this week is a top-20 qualifying run and a top-15 finish. I know we are capable of doing that and moving up in the points. Being a native of this area I'll have a lot of family and friends cheering me on and waving the flags. That's going to be some added pressure, but I'm definitely up for the challenge."

MCI Racing spearheads all of MCI's motorsport initiatives, including series sponsorships with NASCAR, CART, Indy Lights, Atlantic and Historic Sportscar Racing. MCI Racing also has team sponsorships with MCI Racing/Arciero Wells CART Team, the MCI Toyota Atlantic Team, the MCI Toyota Off-Road Truck Team, PacWest Racing NASCAR Craftsman Truck Team, Mattei Motorsports #7 Ford Taurus NASCAR Winston Cup Team and Stewart Grand Prix Formula One Team.

MCI, headquartered in Washington, D.C., is a leading provider of local-to-global communication services to business, government and residential users. The company's fast-growing portfolio of advanced data, Internet and IT services now accounts for nearly a quarter of MCI's $20 billion in annual revenue. MCI operates one of the world's largest and most advanced digital networks, connecting local markets in the U.S. to hundreds of locations worldwide. MCI has agreed to merge with WorldCom, one of the world's fastest-growing communications companies. The merger, which is expected to be completed in mid-1998, will create MCI WorldCom, a company uniquely positioned in the U.S. local and long distance markets as well as the global data and Internet markets.