Mayfield to carry the torch for Evernham

STATESVILLE, N.C. -- Folks forget that Evernham Motorsports is only three years into its competitive existence. Expectations were so lofty from the outset that folks fail to realize their remarkable evolution.

	Jeremy Mayfield

In three full seasons, Evernham has tallied four victories, eight Bud Poles and 27 top-five finishes in 108 races. Twenty-five percent of the time, Evernham Motorsports Dodges have finished in the top-five.

Fifty percent of the time they finish in the top-10. Both are remarkable stats for a two-car team in today's Nextel Cup Series.

By the end of NASCAR 2003, Evernham was a dominant force week in, week out. In eight of the final 10 events last year, either Bill Elliott or Jeremy Mayfield finished in the top-10.

Elliott won Rockingham and was dominant at Homestead and Kansas, where he and Mayfield finished second and third. Mayfield gave Ryan Newman fits at Richmond and Dover, finishing second both times. For the first time, an Evernham driver graced the stage at the Winston Cup banquet in Manhattan, as Elliott finished ninth in the NASCAR Top 10.

The average age of the other nine teams in the NASCAR Top 10 was 16.6.

So heading into the new campaign, expectations are lofty.

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"The future for 2004 and beyond looks bright for Evernham Motorsports," said team owner Ray Evernham. "Dodge has exercised an option on a commitment and made a commitment to be a long-term sponsor of the 9 and 19. Our engine program is solid and growing. We're starting to build our in-house chassis.

"I've got a great management staff in place. I feel more comfortable about the people I've got up here supporting me. Right now the future looks bright, and we're going to continue to build that future. If we continue to use our map and focus on our progress going forward, the forward progress will continue."

In 2004, the semi-retired Elliott will run several races in the No. 91 Dodge and work to help develop young Kasey Kahne, his replacement in the No. 9. Meanwhile, Mayfield is a weekly contender for the first time in several years.

	Kasey Kahne Credit: Sherryl Creekmore/NASCAR

"We've got the best of driver combinations here," Evernham said. "Bill Elliott will be testing and doing development and coaching. Jeremy Mayfield is our journeyman driver and his finishes at the end of '03 really gave us confidence knowing he would be in the midst of things in '04.

"I'm excited about Kasey Kahne, and I'm excited about his future. He's cut from the same mold as Gordon, Stewart and Newman."

Kahne ended the 2003 Busch Series season with a victory at Homestead, and he joins crew chief Tommy Baldwin on the new-look 9 team. Mike Ford, Elliott's crew chief on the 9 car, departed Evernham during the offseason to head up Dale Jarrett's crew at Robert Yates Racing.

"I'm real excited about being with Evernham Motorsports and Dodge. Bill Elliott and Jeremy Mayfield will be a big help to me, and obviously so will my crew chief Tommy Baldwin," said Kahne, a fresh-faced 23-year old.

"That No. 9 car was one of the best last year, if not the best, with Bill, so I've got some big shoes to fill. I'm going to work as hard as I can to do my job."

To bolster his Nextel Cup effort, Kahne will compete in the Busch Series on a limited basis.

	Mayfield (left) with Ray Evernham Credit: Sherryl Creekmore/NASCAR

"We're going to try to run every Busch race we can," he said. "I think the Busch practice and race will help the Cup side. I think the Cup practice will help the Busch race on Saturday.

"I think it's going to be a good situation. As long as the weather cooperates, I think there's an opportunity to run every single race. It would be great if we could do that."

Mayfield, meanwhile, sees his role change in 2004, from student to mentor.

"Before I was depending a lot on the senior driver for information. Now I feel like I can pick through some of that stuff," Mayfield said. "I know what Kasey is going to be going through. I know the things he's going to be doing and questions he's going to be afraid to ask.

"I've never been in this position (senior driver) so I'm looking forward to it. Wild Bill is still around and he can help both of us. As long as he's around, maybe I'm not the senior driver. Maybe I'm the junior senior driver."

Mayfield ended the year on a tear, jumping from 25th to 19th in the standings over the final 10 events. Following the season's 10th event he was 33rd. He plans to better that considerably this time around.

"I think the system is in place for us and (last year) won't happen again as far as getting into a slump that you can't get out of. The way it's set up, we're not going to have those bad races.

"Everybody has a bad race every now and then, but the system is in place now and I think we're going to come out of the box running strong in 2004."