Dodge Motorsports Notes & Quotes – NSCS Race Advance – Richmond

Dodge Motorsports Notes & Quotes

NSCS Race Advance Crown Royal Presents the Matthew and Daniel Hansen 400

Richmond International Raceway                                                                 

Saturday, April 30, 2011                                                                                 

DODGE AT RICHMOND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY

·  Dodge has 17 Sprint Cup wins at Richmond including three since the manufacturer returned to NASCAR’s premier series in 2001.

·  Lee Petty drove a Dodge to victory in the first NASCAR race at Richmond in1953, a 200-lap event on what was then a .5-mile dirt track.

·  Dodge winners in addition to Petty include Buck Baker, David Pearson, Cotton Owens, Bobby Allison, Richard Petty, Dave Marcis, Neil Bonnett, Ryan Newman, Jeremy Mayfield and Kasey Kahne.

·  Kurt Busch won the fall event in 2005 prior to joining the Penske Racing and the Dodge family.  He was runner-up at the fall event in 2009.

DODGE NEWS AND NOTES

·  Brad Keselowski has never started outside of the top 10 in three-career Sprint Cup starts at RIR. 

·  Dodge’s last start from the pole at RIR came at the spring event in 2005.  Kasey Kahne started from the pole and led 242 of 400 laps en route to the win, his first in Sprint Cup competition.

·  Kurt Busch’s last Cup Series win was at the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte last May (31races).

THE DODGE BOYS

·  Dodge has 207 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victories.

·  Dodge’s most recent win came at Charlotte Motor Speedway.  Kurt Busch led 252 of 400 laps en route to victory in the 2010 Coca-Cola 600.

·  Dodge claimed two Sprint Cup victories in 2010.

·  Dodge teams have posted 47 wins since the manufacturer’s return to NASCAR’s premier series in 2001 after being out of the sport since 1977.

·  Dodge has posted wins each season since its return in 2001 including seven wins twice (2002 and 2006).

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

·  In Kurt Busch’s 2004 championship season, his average finishing position was 12.5.  Through the first eight races in 2011, Busch’s average finishing position is 11.2.

2011 SPRINT CUP SERIES SEASON BEST

·  Kurt Busch                Start: 2nd – Phoenix                     Finish: 5th – Daytona

·  Brad Keselowski    Start: 9th – Phoenix                                         Finish: 15th – Phoenix

·  Robby Gordon        Start: 30th – Daytona                                         Finish: 16th – Daytona

RICHMOND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY BEST

·  Kurt Busch                Start – Fourth – 2005 (spring)                     Finish – Win – 2005 (fall)

·  Brad Keselowski      Start – Sixth – 2010 (spring)                     Finish – 14th – 2010 (spring)

·  Robby Gordon      Start – Fourth – 1997 (spring)                     Finish – Fourth – 2003 (spring)

FROM THE ENGINEER “Is Richmond Int’l Raceway a short speedway or a fast short track?  That’s the perennial question engineers have to ponder when the Sprint Cup Series visits RIR twice a year.  The speedway’s long frontstretch lures drivers into a flat and tight first corner faster than the chassis is able to handle and that’s when the short-track brakes you need take over.  Get through that corner, negotiate the narrow backstretch, and start the cycle again.  Every lap here, you need great speed.  Every lap here, you need great brakes.  Every lap here, you need great handling.  And by the way, you need all three for the entire 400 laps.” Howard Comstock, Dodge Motorsports Engineering

FAST FIVE!

• The Dodge brand has teamed with Universal Pictures and Robby Gordon Motorsports for a multi-tiered partnership supporting the upcoming action-thriller “Fast Five” that will be released in theaters on April 29.  Robby Gordon’s No. 7 Dodge Charger R/T has carried the “Fast Five” paint scheme throughout the month of April and will be on the track at Richmond International Raceway this weekend.  Fans have also had the opportunity to register for one of five custom “Fast Five” 2011 Dodge Charger R/T models that will be given away.  As part of the partnership with Robby Gordon Motorsports, 200 fans will enjoy a special “Fast Five” movie viewing with Robby Gordon on Saturday, April 30, at Movieland at Boulevard Square in Richmond and four lucky fans will be chosen as VIP guests of Robby Gordon Motorsports for Saturday night’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at RIR.  Actor/singer Tyrese Gibson, who plays the role of Roman Pierce in “Fast Five”, is scheduled to visit RIR on Saturday.  The No. 7 Fast Five/SPEED Energy Dodge Charger will be competing in Saturday night’s Crown Royal presents the Matthew & David Hansen 400.  To enter, consumers may visit www.Dodge.com/FastFive to receive a sweepstakes entry by completing the registration form and answering a Dodge Charger trivia question. Consumers may enter up to one time per day throughout the duration of the sweepstakes. Entrants may earn an additional sweepstakes entry by Tweeting the Dodge brand promotional message and sweepstakes link to their Twitter followers. The sweepstakes runs through Sunday, April 30.

DODGE QUOTES “The thing about racing at Richmond is that it seems like the best cars always come out on top.  You have to come in there thinking that the yellow flag will prevail like it normally does and we’ll have some restarts at the end of the race.  We usually have a period of long green-flag racing in the middle portion of the race, too.  With that in mind, we hope to have our Shell-Pennzoil Dodge capable of running solid during that stretch and still be adjustable enough to be able to really get after it in a short sprint to the finish if it comes down to that and it usually does.” Kurt Busch, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger R/T

“Richmond is a track I love going to; I really like racing under the lights.  The finale of the Fast Five promotion with Dodge and Universal is winding up at RIR and we’ve got a lot of fun things planned for the weekend.  I’d like to put the Fast Five Dodge Charger up front in qualifying and get a good finish for Dodge, our VIP guests and fans.” Robby Gordon, No. 7 Fast Five/SPEED Energy Dodge R/T

“I feel really good about our Penske program on the short-track side.  I think our cars have shown some speed.  We haven’t gotten the finishes that we’d like, but we’re doing the right things.  We were strong at Bristol and got caught up early in a wreck.  We were strong at Martinsville and just didn’t quite put the whole race together.  I feel like if we put an entire race together not only can we run well, we have an opportunity to win at Richmond.” Brad Keselowski, No 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger R/T

DODGE MOTORSPORTS QUOTE OF THE WEEK “We’ve been finishing the laps and that’s been crucial in keeping us up there in the points,” said Busch, who was ninth in points at this time last year with one win, three top-five finishes and four top-10s.  “But our Shell-Pennzoil Dodge Team is smart enough to know that just finishing the laps won’t be enough on down the road.  We have to take the finishing the laps and scoring top-10s and bump it up to the next level.  If we’re gonna be in serious contention come September, we have to start threatening for wins and finishing in the top-five.” 

Kurt Busch, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger R/T