By Dustin Long
The Roanoke Times


CONCORD, N.C. -- Car owner Ray Evernham has been to Victory Lane with both his cars this season for the first time in team history. He has a car in the championship chase for the second consecutive year. He has what is considered one of the sport's top young drivers in Kasey Kahne.

All would seem to be pretty good for Evernham.

Yet, as he talks, there is more than a hint of frustration in his voice. Evernham, comfortable talking in front of large crowds, was not as smooth Saturday afternoon in a press conference to announce a new sponsor. He apologized for missing the bullet points to the presentation because he was focused more on the performance of Jeremy Mayfield and Kahne.

Afterward, he spoke of the struggles and work that remains.

"From my world I know that we're capable of a lot better results than we're giving,'' Evernham said. "We're off-balance with our cars and that frustrates me because I know how good my people are, I know how good my stuff is and we just can't seem to hit it. Until I've got a car in the top five every week, I'm not going to be happy.''

Evernham said the key is nothing secret. He needs better horsepower, better aerodynamics, better pit stops and improved driving.

"If I felt like we were operating at 100 percent of our potential and that's the best everybody could do, I would be happy," he said. "But, right now, I just don't believe we're operating at 100 percent our potential and that's my responsibility.''

Mayfield entered Saturday night's race at Lowe's Motor Speedway ninth in the points and Kahne was 20th.

Wow. :(

I have no doubt Ray will get his teams up to 100% and more!

They are building to that 100%, I think you could take Ray's comments negative but I don't believe they are ment to be negative.

He knows the potential to do more is there and they've just got to put all the pieces in the right place for it to work........and when Ray gets those pieces in the right place, watch out!

And I think all of us know that no one can out-work Ray Evernham.

He'll get it right. We know he hires great people, who can do the job well. But sometimes it takes a little while to get everyone in the right spot.

He'll get it right. He's Ray Evernham.

Amen!

Wow! yeah i mean when i read that i don't really see it as negative, i mean for him to admit it and not front it like some teams do, Ray just old them how it was. and that means he is trying everything he can to fix it, and when Ray tries, Ray finds out!

Evernham Motorsports will reach Evernham's potential.It just takes time. Jack Roush, at first, wasn't very good but look where he is today. You can't anticipate that the organization will be successeful after only a few years. I'm sure Ray will be a big owner in the near future.

All he was doing was stating the areas that they need to work on. Nothing negative about that. They have goals to work toward. They will get there.

On top of what you all are saying Ray is one of those people that is always looking to improve. Even if he's good at something he wants to go one step further and be great. Which I give him credit for, and one reason why I like Kasey being there.

yea, Ray's teams could win 20 races a year and he'd still be looking for more.....

gotta love Ray

:ray