"We've got a good package and we'll be all right tomorrow," Evernham said, referring to the first round of qualifying for the Feb. 18 race.

	Former champion crew chief Ray Evernham spearheaded Dodge's return to the NASCAR Winston Cup Series.

The former crew chief, who guided Jeff Gordon to 47 race victories and three Winston Cup championships, left Hendrick Motorsports late in the 1999 season to oversee the development of Dodge's new car and engine and -- at the same time -- build his own two-car team.

His drivers at Evernham Motorsports -- former series champion Bill Elliott and 20-year-old rookie Casey Atwood -- were 25th and 37th among the 50 drivers who made it onto Daytona International Speedway's 2.5-mile oval Friday.

Evernham said his goal in Saturday's time trials, which will lock in only the top two spots, is for Elliott to qualify in the top 15 and Atwood in the top 25.

The hardest part of his new role as team owner is directing while keeping hands off his new Dodge Intrepids.

"For the No. 19 car (Atwood's), we're putting in our qualifying engine, getting the front end a little smoother and working on the weight," Evernham said. "In my new role, it's hard not to get involved in the actual work. I'm trying to give the guys some ideas on what to expect and be a mentor, but a team owner is not the same person as the crew chief."

"We're ecstatic that we're in the hunt," said Bob Wildberger, senior manager of NASCAR operations for Dodge Motorsports. "Now it's up to the teams. They know they've got the equipment they can work with."

Although they only had preseason testing to go on, Wildberger said he isn't surprised by the early Dodge results.

"It's hard to say who is going to end up on top, but I've got a lot of faith in these guys," he said.

Lou Patane, soon-to-retire vice president of Dodge Motorsports operations and Mopar Performance Parts, said, "We've got some in the front of the field, some in the middle and some down deeper. From an engineering perspective, we've done a reasonably good job for providing the teams the resources to be competitive.

"What you saw on the track today was what each team did to implement those resources."

Robby Gordon, driving for Morgan-McClure Racing, and Michael Waltrip, driving for Dale Earnhardt Inc., were the two fastest drivers, while new teammates Ricky Craven and Andy Houston, were seventh and eighth in their first official appearances for Cal Wells' PPI Motorsports.

"Today, we kind of established our expectations for tomorrow and they're pretty high," Craven said. "But we won't know until tomorrow morning's practice who the real contenders are because there are always two or three teams that emerge.

"Then there may be one or two surprises during qualifying, so you hope to be one of those 10 cars that have a shot."