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[/media-credit]DODGE NEWS AND NOTES
· The 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Dodge Charger R/T will be revealed on Sunday, March 11 in the Neon Garage at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
· The Dodge Charger Pursuit vehicle made its debut last weekend at Phoenix, serving as the pace car for both NASCAR races. It will serve as the pace car for both races this weekend.
· Brad Keselowski gained 17 positions in the NSCS driver standings after his fifth-place finish last weekend at Phoenix International Raceway. He’s now 12th in the standings, 37 points behind the leader.
· A.J. Allmendinger earned a career-best finish of 19th at last year’s Sprint Cup event at LVMS. He has one Cup Series start driving a Dodge at LVMS where he finished 33rd (2009).
· Robby Gordon leads all Dodge drivers with 12 career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at LVMS with a career best finish of 12th (2006).
DODGE AT LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
· Dodge has one win at LVMS – Sterling Marlin was the 2002 winner.
· Dodge has three poles at LVMS – 2004 (Marlin), 2007 (Kasey Kahne) and 2010 (Kurt Busch). Busch posted a lap time of 26.614 seconds (188.719 mph).
DODGE HISTORICAL DATA
· First Dodge NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Win: Lee Petty, 2/1/53, West Palm Beach, Fla., 100 miles, .5-mile track.
· Last Dodge NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Win: Kurt Busch, 10/2/2011, AAA 400, Dover Motor Speedway, 119.413 mph avg. speed.
THE DODGE BOYS
· Dodge has 212 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series wins.
· Dodge teams have posted 52 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).
DID YOU KNOW?
· SRT Motorsports Engineering tallied over 2,000 emails and 600 drawings in developing the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Dodge Charger that will be revealed Sunday in Victory Lane at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
· The Dodge Charger street car is the only rear-wheel-drive model in Sprint Cup Series competition that is available with a V-8 engine.
· SRT Motorsports includes all of Chrysler Group’s NASCAR racing efforts for Dodge and RAM.
· Dodge is an Official Passenger Car of NASCAR.
LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY FAST FACTS
· NASCAR’s premier series has competed in the state of Nevada 15 times. Las Vegas Motor Speedway has hosted only 14 of those Sprint Cup events. The other race was at Las Vegas Park Speedway in 1955.
· Only one NSCS race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway has been won from the pole position (Kyle Busch – 2009).
· Of the 14 Sprint Cup races at LVMS, only four have been won from a top-five starting position (29%).
NEW CAR TALK – 2013 NSCS DODGE CHARGER R/T “In the past we’ve said, ‘Let’s have similar shapes and we’ll make ‘em look different with decals.’ We wanted real hard identity, real features that you see on the street car incorporated in the race car. That’s kind of how we got started, how the design process started. Approximately 2,000 e-mails and 600 drawings later, we’ve got a car that is running on the race track.” Howard Comstock, SRT Motorsports Engineering
QUICK FACTS · The first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at LVMS was held on March 1, 1998 and won by Mark Martin. · Eight different drivers have posted wins in Sprint Cup competition at LVMS. · There will be six jet drivers available for track drying purposes during the weekend. · It takes approximately 120 minutes to dry the 1.5-mile track after a significant rainfall. · Sterling Marlin was the winner of the 2002 Sprint Cup race at LVMS. He’s the oldest driver to win at the track (44 years, 7 months, 32 days).
FROM THE ENGINEER – RACING AT LAS VEGAS “We only visit the LVMS once a year and that means two things. First, the drivers haven’t been here in a year so there’s some fast re-education that has to happen for them. And second, the teams have a thinner book of notes to refer to and that puts extra pressure on the engineers to come up with the setups that will get the drivers up to speed in the least amount of time. Some teams say that they learn about this track right up to the last lap of the race. As engineers, our job is to drastically short cut that process.” Howard Comstock, SRT Motorsports Engineering
DODGE QUOTE OF THE WEEK “It gives me goosebumps to think that car is going to be on the track and everyone is going to know that’s a Charger. It’s going to hit you in the side of the head because it looks so much like it. I’m proud of that. I’m proud that I was able to be a part of making that car look like our car that we call the Charger.” Mark Trostle – Head of SRT, Viper, Mopar and Motorsports Design on the 2013 NSCS Dodge Charger R/T
DODGE QUOTES “I look for the two Penske Dodge teams to work really closely together this weekend and be able to maximize all the practice time we have on the schedule. Vegas (LVMS) has been a struggle for me in the past, but we’re coming in there optimistic that we can improve. I look to get better on the track and our Shell-Pennzoil Dodge Team can continue to get stronger overall.” A.J. Allmendinger, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger
“Las Vegas in a Cup car is extremely fast, one of the fastest mile-and-a-half tracks that we visit. The key is running the whole race without getting into trouble. It’s such an ‘edge’ track and you have to really stay tuned in mentally. You need to concentrate on hitting your marks, but you also have to charge the corner. As a team I’m excited at how fast our cars have been to start the season. Hopefully, we’ll hit the jackpot this weekend with the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger.” Brad Keselowski, No 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger
“Vegas is very fast for a mile-and-a-half track and it can be one of the most challenging places for setting up a car. There is a fine line you have to walk between fast and wrecking and there is little margin for error. We’ve had good cars to start the season and we want to continue that this weekend.” Paul Wolfe, crew chief, No. Miller Lite Dodge Charger
