Stacy Compton Dodge test notes & quotes, day 1

At the conclusion of the first session of Dodge's two-day test at Daytona International Speedway, Stacy Compton shows second on the time sheet with a 50.093-second lap around the famed 2.5-mile speedway. The No. 92 Kodiak team simulated two qualifying runs, posting their fastest time on the final lap. Bill Elliott posted the fastest time of the session with a 50.088.

"You look at the times the other manufacturers ran and we're about where they were at the first day, so I think we're about where we expected to be. The conditions are a lot different now than they were when the others were here last week, but I don't know how that will relate. Right now we're just comparing ourselves with the other Dodge teams and we're in the hunt. I'm awful pleased with the progress we've made already. The guys at the shop did a really good job getting the Kodiak car prepared. I think, in comparison we're okay right now.

"I'm very pleased with everything. The car feels good, it's handling well, the motors are producing, everything's just smooth so far. Dodge has done a great job with this program so far, and the guys at Melling Racing have really worked hard to get us this far. I'm looking forward to it.

"I think maybe we'll have a meeting tomorrow and we'll probably decide to continue to make qualifying runs until about three o'clock, and then we'll probably start working the draft. It's gonna be good to see how these Dodges will run in the draft. We don't know how they'll draft with the other makes, but it'll be nice to know how they'll draft together because it's a good possibility we'll be drafting together a lot come the Daytona 500.

"Being involved with Dodge is going to help us probably more than it will for a lot of times because being a single-car operation, it's almost impossible to compete against your Robert Yates and Roush and Hendrick teams. It's enabled us to become a multi-car team almost. We're not a single-car operation anymore, we're part of a 10-car team. I think that's going to benefit us a lot more than some of the other teams because we will be able to lean on some people. It used to be that if we were struggling at a race track, we wouldn't have an opportunity to talk to somebody else -- we just struggled through the weekend. Maybe now we can go and talk to some of these other teams, and hopefully we can help somebody else as well.

"(Further January testing) depends on how well we do here (whether we'll go to Talladega). We have a date scheduled, but if we're good enough here, we won't waste a test date."

-Daimler/Chrysler