Dodge Motorsports Notes & Quotes
NSCS Race Advance
Wonderful Pistachios 400
Richmond International Raceway
Saturday, Sept. 10, 2011
DODGE IN THE CHASE
. Kurt Busch clinched his sixth appearance in the Chase for the Sprint Cup with a fourth-place finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Busch is the 2004 NSCS champion.
. Brad Keselowski clinched a wild card spot in the Chase with a sixth-place finish at Atlanta, his 10th top-10 this season. Keselowski will be making his first career Chase appearance.
. The last time two Penske Racing Dodges qualified for the Chase to the Sprint Cup was in 2005 with Rusty Wallace and Ryan Newman.
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 in 1953.
. 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 at RIR in 2005 before joining Penske Racing.
DODGE STAT OF THE WEEK
. Dodge’s Brad Keselowski No. 2 Dodge has an average finish of 3.25 in the last five Sprint Cup Series races. Keselowski has tallied six consecutive top-10 finishes.
2011 DODGE SPRINT CUP REWIND
. Race 1: Kurt Busch won the Bud Shootout and a Gatorade Duel during Speedweeks.
. Races 12-15: Dodge earned four consecutive poles.
. Race 13: Brad Keselowski won at Kansas; first Dodge win of the season.
. Race 16: Busch dominated at Infineon for first win of the season and first road-course victory of his career.
. Race 21: Keselowski, racing with a broken left ankle, earned his second win of the season at Pocono Raceway.
. Race 23: Keselowski moved up to 12th in Cup driver standings. . Race 24: Keselowski won his third race of the season. Moved up to 11th in points. Current No. 1 wild card driver.
. Race 25: Busch and Keselowski clinched spots in the Chase.
DID YOU KNOW? . Dodge has qualified at least one driver for the Chase for the Sprint Cup for the third consecutive season. . Penske Racing is the only NASCAR Sprint Cup team to lock all their drivers into the Chase. . Dodge’s Kurt Busch is the only Chase driver that has remained inside the top 10 in the driver standings all season. The lowest he’s been in the top 10 in the first 25 races was ninth following Dover.
THE DODGE BOYS . Dodge has 211 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victories. . Dodge’s most recent win came at Bristol Motor Speedway. Brad Keselowski led 89 of the 500 laps en route to victory. The victory was the fourth for Dodge in 2011. . Dodge teams have posted 51 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).
2011 SPRINT CUP SERIES SEASON BEST . Kurt Busch Start: 1st (Kansas, Pocono & Michigan) Finish: 1st (Infineon) . Brad Keselowski Start: 1st (Charlotte) Finish: 1st (Kansas, Pocono, Bristol) . Robby Gordon Start: 30th (Daytona) Finish: 16th (Daytona)
DODGE MOTORSPORTS QUOTE OF THE WEEK “I’ve lived my whole life wanting to have a shot at a Cup championship and here I am. I’ve got a legitimate shot at it.” Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger R/T
FROM THE ENGINEER “As we approach the last race before the Chase to the NASCAR Sprint Cup begins, and both Penske Dodges are already locked into the playoffs, you would think teams might be able to take a breather. Not so. There’s still plenty of opportunity at Richmond and everyone will be trying hard to get the last bit of advantage they can. A race win pays bonus points and so that would be job one, but if there are some setup ideas that the teams have been reluctant to try during their fight just to get in the Chase, now might be the time to roll them out. The team may not be able to engineer a win this week, but could still benefit greatly in the Chase from some nuggets they could dig up at Richmond.” Howard Comstock, Dodge Motorsports Engineering
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.
“Because we’re locked in, many might look at it as a ‘throwaway race’ because of the buffer we’ve built. We’re looking at it as an additional opportunity to try some things that we probably wouldn’t have otherwise. It’ll be nice to go into Saturday night’s race without having to be really conservative and worried about keeping up with where this driver is running or where that driver is running.” Kurt Busch, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger R/T
“Richmond is such a great track to have as the cutoff for the Chase. What I mean by that is the short track atmosphere, the ability to run two-wide there. You always have a little pit strategy sprinkled in with what to do, when to pit for your final time or even two tires throughout the race. So, it keeps you on your toes. And any track that does that is a track that can bring in somebody that has that string of luck that evening to get them into the Chase.” Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger R/T
“Richmond is a fast short track that has a lot of challenges. It almost drives like a speedway because the corner speed is very high. It takes the right balance of having the car turn in the center without giving up forward drive off the corner. Fuel mileage and pit strategy come in to play at times so you need to make sure you stay on top of that throughout the race. Richmond is a track where a driver can make a big difference and I feel that plays into our hands with Brad behind the wheel.” Paul Wolfe, crew chief, No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger
