Team: Evernham Motorsports
Car/sponsor/make: No. 9 Dodge Dealers Dodge
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| | Elliott |
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STATS
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Year
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Rank
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Wins
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Top 5
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Top 10
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Best finish
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2002
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13
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2
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4
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6
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First, twice
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Career
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43
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55
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166
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First, 21 times
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2002 recap
The good: Times were tough for the Georgia native while he owned and operated his own race team, but 2002 marked the second successful year
for him while driving for another team owner -- Ray Evernham.
Season highlight: Elliott is a legend in NASCAR racing. Easily the highlight of his season was putting that name in the winner's column at one of the most legendary tracks ever - Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Elliott won the Brickyard 400 in 2002, and he did it one week after winning at Pocono, Pa.
The bad: The end of the season was terribly disappointing for Elliott, who went through a five-race span of finishes of 30th or worst which began with six races to go and included mechanical problems, wrecks and some days when he plain could not keep up with other cars.
Season lowlight: A 42nd-place finish at Martinsville, Va., after qualifying third at the short track. Elliott was involved in a wreck early on and basically limped around the track to avoid any last-place finishes for the year.
Key stat: 24. That's how many times Elliott qualified for a starting position among the top 10. Remarkable.
2003 outlook
What needs to be done: Elliott is a masterful qualifier, he needs to find a way to use that early track position more in his favor. If the team puts a little more faith on what the handy-dandy tell-it-all computers say instead of relying on past experience (I know, it's a terrible thing but that's what we've come to in the sport), it might help, as well.
Prediction: Looking at the top finishers in the points standings from 2001, and comparing them to 2002, there is not much evidence that suggests last year's most successful drivers will be back atop the leaderboard. And yet, Elliott has made a career out of being reliable, so it is probably a good bet to say he'll be contending for another top 10.
Your take
Can Elliott keep his recent stride going, and maybe even break through
to win another Winston Cup championship? Or has his time passed? Here are your thoughts.
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