Michigan II: Jeremy Mayfield preview

JEREMY MAYFIELD QUOTES

"We pretty much know what kind of bit us (at Michigan) last time, the reason we didn't have a good finish there last time. But, we're going to go out there and go into it just like we would each and every week, and Friday morning, roll off the truck and do what we always do, and not change the way we do things, and just go from there. A couple weeks ago, I was the one making comments, 'You know the guys in the top 10 have all the pressure and the guys out of the top 10 don't.' But I'll tell you now; the pressure is not really on us. We've got nothing to lose, we're just going to keep racing like we've been, and we're going to go to Michigan and improve drastically from the first race. I mean, we're going to be a lot better, and should be in good shape there if nothing happens."

HAS THE POINTS RACE AFFECTED COMPETITORS' DRIVING?

"I've noticed that everyone we've been racing has been running well, and we're all fighting for the same spot and that's pretty cool. Everybody's just done a great job, I mean, there's a lot of great race teams out there right now that are running good and you can tell that with this new points system, that everybody from all the way back has stepped it up and has their programs running good. That's the biggest thing. I'm starting to notice the cars not racing in points. I mean, wherever they're at during the race, I used to never worry about that. I never even thought about that, but now I keep an eye on them and so do my crew guys. Kenny and them let me know every day that the cars around us were in trouble, and just do the best we could to bring the thing home, and just have a good day, and that's what we done. So I've noticed we been racing a little different in that aspect."

STATS & FACTS

JEREMY MAYFIELD AT MICHIGAN

* Mayfield has made 21 starts at Michigan with two top-fives and three top-10s at the track. His best finish of fourth came at the track in 2001(a). He earned his best start of fifth in 1999(b).

HANG 10!

* Mayfield moved into the coveted 10th-place spot in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series standings after racing at Watkins Glen. He is 24 points ahead of 11th-place teammate Kasey Kahne in NASCAR's "Race for the Chase."

* Mayfield is just 58 points out of ninth place. Only 29 points separates the 10th and 12th positions.

* This is the highest that Mayfield has ever ranked after 22 races in a NASCAR Cup Series season.

WHAT A TURNAROUND

* Mayfield is NASCAR's most improved driver in the Cup Series so far this season. His current rank of 10th is 19 positions better than where he stood at this point last year. The table below compares Jeremy's totals after 22 races in 2003 and 2004.

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