BAZEMORE QUALIFIES NO. 2 FOR FIFTH TIME THIS SEASON

COLUMBUS, Ohio (June 12, 2004) - Whit Bazemore, driver of the Matco Tools
Iron Eagle Dodge Stratus Funny Car, qualified No. 2 for the fifth time this
season at National Trail Raceway and has now qualified in either first or
second in the last five races.

In today's third round of qualifying, Bazemore held on to his No. 1 status
from last night's record-breaking session (4.774/325.92), posting a
4.911/267.37 lap. In the final session, however, after smoking the tires to
a 10.902/78.26 run, he was bumped from No. 1 to No. 2 by Cruz Pedregon who
surpassed Bazemore's E.T. record with a 4.769-second pass. Bazemore, the
Funny Car championship points leader, still holds the track record for
speed.

"There's no shame in being second best," he said. "In both runs today we
were not really concentrating on our race-day setup because Lee (Beard, crew
chief) feels we have a pretty good handle on that.

"Instead, we were trying a few things this morning and then this afternoon
we were really trying to go for it. We just tried too hard for the
conditiions. We weren't trying to run 4.75, we were trying to run really
quick. We just overpowered the track a little bit, and that's the way it
goes.

"We'll be ready to race tomorrow. Its going to be a tough day, as it always
is and we'll try to get a good result."

Bazemore faces Jeff Arend in the first round of eliminations tomorrow, which
begin at 11 a.m.

Contact: Judy Stropus
DON SCHUMACHER RACING