Dodge asks nascar for more help

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CONCORD, N.C. (AP) -- Their championship hopes ruined when Sterling Marlin was lost for the year with a neck injury, the Dodge camp is seeking help from NASCAR to salvage the season.



Dodge's chances for a Winston Cup title were dashed when Sterling Marlin suffered a season-ending injury. Credit: Autostock

Dodge officials head into the UAW-GM Quality 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway this weekend frustrated over alleged disadvantages between their Intrepid and the other three car makes.

"We've had somewhat of a catastrophe the past few weeks," said Jim Julow, vice president for Dodge Motorsports. "With Sterling being injured, that put a big hole in our plans. And we've seen that our cars have not been real competitive, and we still have not had any rules relief."

Marlin, the top-running Dodge all season and the Winston Cup points leader for 25 straight weeks, had to get out of his car last week when doctors discovered a fractured vertebra in his neck.

So Marlin, the defending race winner, won't be in the No. 40 Dodge for Thursday's qualifying and he won't be able to finish his quest for his first Winston Cup title.

His injury has left Dodge without a championship contender this season -- Bill Elliott is a distant eighth in the points and Marlin, the only other Dodge even in the top 20, will continue to plummet in the standings as he misses the final six races.

It's just short of devastating for Dodge, which returned to NASCAR last season after a long absence from auto racing and has come close to being a consistent contender. Marlin finished third in the championship standings last season and the Dodges have six victories this year.

But none have come since late summer, when Ward Burton and Bill Elliott put the Intrepid in the winner's circle in three straight races.

Since that stretch of Dodge domination, NASCAR allowed the Chevrolets and Pontiacs to extend their front air dams, and Dodge officials believe they've suffered from it.


A dodge has not been in Victory Lane since August. Credit: Autostock
Chevrolet drivers have won five of eight races since the rules change, with Fords taking the other three. In that same time, the Dodges have failed to run up front -- the top finishing Intrepid was Burton in 10th at Talladega last weekend and the next closest was Kyle Petty in 16th.

"You look at the Chevy performance, it took them a few weeks to sort it out, but they're strong now and a large part of it has to be based on the new nose," Julow said.

It's not clear where the Dodges need the most help. They've been complaining to NASCAR for months that their engines are underpowered, but deficiencies in aerodynamics have become a new issue since Chevrolet got its help in August.

"We've got a menu of requests into NASCAR that we think can help," Julow said. "We don't want to put all our eggs in one request, so we've given them a couple to select from and hopefully they will because it's frustrating after our early success to be struggling like this."

But NASCAR, which heard the latest Dodge complaint on Tuesday, is unlikely to provide any assistance before the end of the season.



Jeremy Mayfield has had a rough season in his first year working for Ray Evernham. Credit: Autostock

"If they are talking about being at a disadvantage with the motor, then they have been all year," NASCAR spokesman Jim Hunter said. "It's the same motor all year and they led the points most of the year with that motor.

"So we just don't think it's appropriate, with as few races as there are left on the schedule, to do anything. There's not much we can do to help them."

That's unsettling news for Dodge, which thinks any sort of relief from NASCAR could do wonders for the cynicism its teams currently have.

"It's tough to run out there thinking that, at best, you have a 15th-place car," Julow said. "That's a tough work week and our performance over the past weeks indicates that's always likely. It's tough to keep people's head in it when that's the case, so any kind of relief could have a huge psychological benefit."
 
Untill somebody puts a pretty boy behind the wheel of a Dodge they haven't got a chance.

It has nothing whatsoever to do with the car, it has to do with the star.
 
Dodge won't get any help from nascar. Except maybe getting kicked out of the sport again. I guess the France family has a bow tie tied around their neck all the time! Bunch of stinking chevy fans at the TOP of nascar management!
 
Originally posted by 71Fan
Untill somebody puts a pretty boy behind the wheel of a Dodge they haven't got a chance.

It has nothing whatsoever to do with the car, it has to do with the star.

ie. Newman?
 
Would the all time most popular driver winner qualify as a "pretty boy"?
Don't see that issue at all.
 
The real issue is Nascars dislike for the Dodge brand of automobiles.

Whats going on? Why do they hate Dodge so much? Heck, their brightest star back in the 60's went to Race Drag cars for a season because of Nascar's dislike for Dodge!

Someone needs to tell those guys that this is a sport and not the WWE !
 
Originally posted by Flyboy
Dodge won't get any help from nascar.  Except maybe getting kicked out of the sport again.  I guess the France family has a bow tie tied around their neck all the time!  Bunch of stinking chevy fans at the TOP of nascar management!

HAHAHA your funny did you know that? :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
 
Originally posted by Flyboy
The real issue is Nascars dislike for the Dodge brand of automobiles.  

Whats going on?  Why do they hate Dodge so much?  Heck,  their brightest star back in the 60's went to Race Drag cars for a season because of Nascar's dislike for Dodge!

Someone needs to tell those guys that this is a sport and not the WWE !

you strick again. nascar wants someone BESIDES chevy to win this year. look back at daytona they helped dodge and ford twice before the race. and when chevy asked for help took them like 2 or 3 weeks.
 
Originally posted by mlitefan01
ie. Newman?

Newman's a "young gun" yes, but I wouldn't call him a pretty boy. He doesn't really have much of a personality at all. Hell of a racer though.
 
I just wonder why if Dodge hasn't been competitive and Chrysler-Deimler knows that why don't THEY do something about it? Why is it NASCAR's responsibility to make any make competitive? New rule: NASCAR produces templates of each make competing in the series.......templates from cars found on showroom floors throughout the United States. Every team's car must fit those templates. Safety mods are the only exception. Then race the damned cars as they are. The manufacturer that is not competitive fixes their own problems.......or remains uncompetitive! Get all these "consessions" out of the picture. Drivers and team have to compete by innovations......let the manufacturers do it too.:D
 
Unless I was in a dream world Dodge held the lead in Winston for a pretty long spell.;)
 
Originally posted by pbunch
Unless I was in a dream world Dodge held the lead in Winston for a pretty long spell.;)

But they weren't competitive........or so they say!:) They are just whining........NASCAR needs to turn a deaf ear on the manufacturers and just tell them to fix it themselves if they have a problem. NASCAR brought this on themselves when they started with the aero tinkering crap a couple years ago.:(
 
I don't remember off-hand...but did you feel this way when Chevy was saying that they weren't competetive and got the nose kickouts?
 
Originally posted by followthe18
Newman's a "young gun" yes, but I wouldn't call him a pretty boy.  He doesn't really have much of a personality at all.  Hell of a racer though.

Right on, and in a sport quickly turning to a full on embrace of "cute" drivers and cash marketability, he's refreshing. He reminds me of Cale.
 
The one problem that Dodge has right now is only 2 decent drivers, Elliot and Marlin. The rest aren't that competative even when they were in other makes.
 
Originally posted by paul
I don't remember off-hand...but did you feel this way when Chevy was saying that they weren't competetive and got the nose kickouts?

I assume you were asking me.

As a matter of fact I did.......I think I made a similar statement about it too. I have been consistant on in my thoughts about NASCAR's rules tinkering........especially the aero rules.:)
 
Nascar is going to continue to dance with two partners,That being the fans,and the manufacture.That is there own demon.The answer is to obvious for the minds that rule. :rolleyes:
 
Man ol Mat took a ride.Sorry folks I didn't mean to get off the post.:eek:
 
Originally posted by DE Wrangler 2
I assume you were asking me.

As a matter of fact I did.......I think I made a similar statement about it too.  I have been consistant on in my thoughts about NASCAR's rules tinkering........especially the aero rules.:)

Right on, just wanted to make sure. :) And I agree 100%.
 
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