Dodge Motorsports NSCS Race Advance
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Good Sam RV Insurance 500
Pocono Raceway
Sunday, Aug. 7, 2011
POCONO RACEWAY
· Dodge has six wins at Pocono Raceway: Richard Petty (1974, 1976), Bill Elliott (2002), Ryan Newman (2003), Kurt Busch (2007) and Kasey Kahne (2008).
· Dodge’s Kurt Busch dominated the 2007 fall race at Pocono en route to victory, leading 175 of 200 laps in the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge.
· Dodge has started from the pole three times at Pocono since its return to Sprint Cup racing in 2001: Bill Elliott (2002), Ryan Newman (2003) and Kasey Kahne (2008).
· Dodge holds the track qualifying record at Pocono: Kasey Kahne, June 2004 (52.164 sec. 172.533 mph).
DODGE NEWS AND NOTES
· Kurt Busch started from the pole and led three times for 37 laps in the first visit to the track in June. He finished second. In 21 starts at “The Tricky Triangle”, Busch has two wins along with eight top-five and 11 top-10 finishes. His driver rating of 104.1 is third best among active Sprint Cup drivers.
· Brad Keselowski started 20th and finished 23rd in the June event.
THE DODGE BOYS
· Dodge has 209 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victories.
· Dodge’s most recent win came at Infineon Raceway. Kurt Busch led 76 of the 110 laps en route to victory in the Save Mart 350. The victory was the second for Dodge in 2011.
· Dodge teams have posted 49 victories 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).
· Dodge claimed two Sprint Cup victories in 2010.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
· Dodge’s Brad Keselowski gained two positions to 21st in the Sprint Cup driver standings after his ninth-place finish in the Brickyard 400; he’s 16 points outside the top 20.
· All 67 NASCAR Sprint Cup races at Pocono have been 500-mile events.
· There have been 29 different race winners at Pocono.
DID YOU KNOW
· Dodge’s Kurt Busch has 12 combined wins at the six race tracks leading up to the Chase: Pocono (2), Michigan (2), Bristol (5) and Atlanta (3).
· Dodge’s Kurt Busch led 306 laps en route to his two Pocono wins: 2005 (131) and 2007 (175).
2011 DODGE SPRINT CUP REWIND
· Race 1: Kurt Busch won the season-opening Bud Shootout and a Gatorade Duel at Daytona International Speedway.
· Races 12-15: Dodge earned four-consecutive poles.
· Race 13: Keselowski won Kansas. First Dodge win of the season
· Race 16: Busch dominated at Infineon. Earned first win of season and first road-course victory of his career.
ODDS AND ENDS
· Kurt Busch is the only driver in the Sprint Cup Series who has been in the top 10 in the season point standings every race. Two other drivers – Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart – have been in the top 12 all season.
· There have been 14 different Cup Series winners in the 20 races this season – eclipsing the total (13) for all 36 races last season.
· Dodge’s Kurt Busch has won a NSCS race in each of his first 10 seasons – the second longest active streak amongst current Cup Series drivers.
· Only one of the last 12 Sprint Cup races Pocono has been won from a starting spot outside the top 15.
· NASCAR will have 10 jet track dryers standing by for duty during the weekend. It takes approximately 120 minutes to dry the 2.5-mile track after a significant rainfall.
· There have been six sweeps (win both races) at Pocono.
· Last Dodge NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Win at Pocono: Kasey Kahne, 06/08/2008, Pocono 500, 125.209 mph avg. speed.
FROM THE ENGINEER “Ever since the Sprint Cup Series started racing at Indianapolis, the adage has been if you run good at Indy you’ll run good at Pocono. If only it were really that easy for engineers. Both tracks have relatively flat corners and both are 2.5-mile tracks, but beyond that they start to diverge pretty quickly. Indy doesn’t have three corners more than 90 degrees, the ever-dangerous tunnel turn, or drivers shifting gears each lap. We saw in the first Pocono race this year that all three of those factors played into an early exit for several top teams. I think Indy is a picnic for engineers compared to the challenges they face at Pocono.” Howard Comstock, Dodge Motorsports Engineering
DODGE MOTORSPORTS QUOTE OF THE WEEK “We continue to bring better and stronger cars to every race and that’s what we have to do if we’re going to make the Chase and go after the championship during the final 10 races of the season. I’m really pleased with how our team has come around in the last couple of months. I may get a little fiery out there behind the wheel, but Steve and the guys know how I am and I love them for that. We all want to excel and that’s what we’re after – this weekend at Pocono and for the rest of the season.” Kurt Busch, driver, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger R/T
DODGE QUOTES “When the dust had settled there back in June, we had left a little out there on the table. I guess it may sound a little greedy, but it’d be fair to say that we’re coming back in there looking to do one better this time around.” Kurt Busch, driver, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger R/T
“Pocono has always been a track when you had to look at fuel mileage strategy. When you look at how this season has gone, that has to be your chief concern. The fact that you can pit there easily without losing a lap, it will be huge on everybody’s radar screen.” Steve Addington, crew chief, No. 2 ShellPennzoil Dodge Charger R/T
“Now that we are starting to go back to tracks a second time, I really expect the Miller Lite Dodge team to be more competitive than we were on the first visit. Pocono this weekend will give us a chance to see what we learned from the race in June. I thought we had a car that could run in the top-five in that race, but we broke a shock mount early on and that basically ended our chances for a good finish. Our flat track program has been pretty solid this year. I was really proud of our performance at Indianapolis last weekend. That gives me confidence that we can go to Pocono and get a strong result. We’ve seen it before where someone runs well at Indy and they’re able to come right back and do the same at Pocono because the tracks do have some similarities.” Brad Keselowski, driver, No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger R/T
