| | Associated Press
TALLADEGA, Ala. -- One year into Dodge's Winston Cup project
and everything is right on schedule.
At least that's what Bob Wildberger, senior manager for Dodge's
NASCAR operations, said Friday at Talladega Superspeedway.
"Frankly, we're right on target," Wilderberger said on the
one-year anniversary of the announcement that Dodge would return to
NASCAR's top stock car series after a 16-year absence.
The new Dodge Intrepid RT body style that will make its racing
debut in February in the season-opening Daytona 500 was approved by
NASCAR on Aug. 1. Wildberger said the engine parts DaimlerChrysler
hopes to use in its new Winston Cup engines were presented to
NASCAR on Sept. 27.
There is no firm date by which the new Dodge engine is expected
to be approved, but Tim Culbertson, program manager for Dodge
Winston Cup engineering, said, "The process appears to be going
forward normally. It just takes time."
Meanwhile, on-track testing, which began May 2, continues with
all five teams recruited by Dodge scheduled to take part in tests
on Talladega's 2.66-mile oval on Monday and Tuesday.
Dodge's re-entry into Winston Cup is being led by former crew
chief Ray Evernham, whose new Evernham Motorsports team will field
Intrepids for Bill Elliott and Casey Atwood. Other teams involved
in the program include Bill Davis Racing with drivers Ward Burton
and Dave Blaney, Petty Enterprises with Kyle Petty, John Andretti
and Buckshot Jones, Melling Racing with Stacy Compton and Chip
Ganassi Racing with Sterling Marlin and a driver still to be named.
"The biggest surprise for me has been no surprises,"
Culbertson said. "We're meeting our performance goals and we're
meeting our timing goals."
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