Hendrick Fights Handling Problems at Dover

DOVER, Del. (June 1, 2002) -- Ricky Hendrick and his GMAC Financial Services Chevy fell a lap down early and never recovered, settling for a 25th-place finish in the MBNA Platinum 200 NASCAR Busch Series race at Dover (Del.) International Speedway on Saturday. "I think that maybe I didn`t give the team the right information on what we should have planned for today," said Hendrick. "We missed the chassis setup and it hurt us all day. We`ll continue to try and dig and keep going. “To go through bad times and stay strong and be a good team is a lot harder than being a good team going through the good times. We'll eventually pull through this deal and get running well again. “Right now, we're in a slump. We had some problems today and it hurt us, but we'll come back and try harder next time." Hendrick started 17th in the 43-car field thanks to a strong qualifying run of 151.386 mph on the one-mile concrete oval on Friday. The NASCAR Busch Series rookie fought a tight-handling race car throughout the afternoon, making it difficult to navigate the No. 5 Chevrolet through the high-banked turns of Dover International Speedway. "Once you get a lap down at Dover it is almost impossible to get it back, " said Hendrick. "We needed to be a little freer in the center of the corner. “We just haven't been running as well as we needed to be. We will go back, regroup and figure out what's going on. It just wasn't our day." Team GMAC crew chief Lance McGrew reiterated Hendrick’s statements. "Everything that we tried didn't work," he said. "The car was tight and we adjusted it about every way you can adjust it and it still stayed tight. “We're bringing a different car to Nashville this week so hopefully we'll do better." Hendrick and his GMAC Chevy are headed to Nashville Superspeedway to race under the lights in the TRAX 300 on Saturday, June 8 at 7 p.m. Eastern. The event will be telecast live on FX and broadcast on MRN Radio.