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[/media-credit]SRT Motorsports – Dodge NSCS Race Advance
Goody’s Fast Relief 500
Martinsville Speedway
Sunday, April 1, 2012
DODGE AT MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY
· Dodge drivers have recorded 10 wins at Martinsville Speedway since the track opened in 1949. Lee Petty got the first Dodge win on May 17, 1953. Dodge has three sweeps at the track (1953, 1956 and 1975).
· Dodge drivers posting wins at Martinsville include Lee Petty, Jim Paschal, Buck Baker, Jack Smith, Dave Marcis, Rusty Wallace, Bobby Isaac (2) and Richard Petty (2). Wallace posted the last Dodge win at Martinsville in the 2004 spring event, one of seven victories for Wallace, but his only win at Martinsville in a Dodge.
DODGE NEWS AND NOTES
· SRT Motorsports Engineering will unveil its updated R6P8 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series engine this weekend at Martinsville. The refreshed R6P8 will power both the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger and No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger from Penske Racing.
· Dodge driver Brad Keselowski’s career best Sprint Cup finish at Martinsville was 10th at the 2010 fall event.
· A.J. Allmendinger had a career best Martinsville finish of ninth in the 2009 spring race, driving a Dodge.
· The No. 7 SPEED Energy Dodge Charger from Robby Gordon Motorsports has been withdrawn from this weekend’s event.
DODGE QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“We are excited to launch our new “closed deck” engine block with Penske Racing Engines for the Sprint Cup Series at Martinsville this weekend. We are very pleased with the performance and durability of our previous “open deck” block, but are introducing design changes to help improve head gasket life and future capability for power increases. The post machining and processing time at Penske’s engine shop will be significantly reduced. We will also take advantage of weight improvements that come along with the base block material changing to “compacted graphite iron” similar to the other manufacturers. We worked closely with NASCAR to ensure the changes are compliant and have competitive parity.” Dave Bailey, SRT Motorsports Engineering
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: Brad Keselowski, 03/18/2012, Food City 500, Bristol Motor Speedway, 93.037 mph avg. speed.
FROM THE ENGINEER – RACING AT MARTINSVILLE “Martinsville is the ultimate heat management test – managing the heat that the cars generate on this very tight track and managing the heat under the collar of any driver that’s not leading the race. The engineers have to confine their focus to the heat that’s generated by the car; doing that ultimately helps keep the driver a little cooler under the collar as well.
“I would argue that a Martinsville Sprint Cup race generates more parts-destroying heat from the engine, transmission, rear axle and brakes than any other race, not just in this series, but in all motorsports anywhere in the world. Coming up with efficient and effective cooling systems will be at the top of every engineer’s to do list this week before this grueling test of components, unmatched anywhere in the world.” Howard Comstock, SRT Motorsports Engineering
THE DODGE BOYS
· Dodge has 213 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series wins.
· Dodge teams have posted 53 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?
· 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. · SRT Motorsports is competing for championships in all three NASCAR touring series in 2012.
RACE NUGGETS · A.J. Allmendinger’s career-best finish at Martinsville Speedway came in 2009 while driving a Dodge Charger. He finished ninth. His best finish this season is 15th which came last weekend at Auto Club Speedway. Brad Keselowski’s seesaw start to the season has produced finishes of 32nd, 5th, 32nd, 1st and 18th in the first five NSCS. He led a career best 232 laps at Bristol two weeks ago en route to victory. He has started inside the top 15 only once this season – Bristol (3rd).
MARTINSVILLE — THE NUMBERS
· 4 – number of jet dryers available for track drying this weekend.
· 34 – number of races at Martinsville won from the front row.
· 46 – different winners in 126 races.
· 56 – different pole winners.
DODGE QUOTES “I thought that we had a good test for Martinsville. It’s one of my better tracks. I think that we need to keep making gains on it (race results). We struggled a bit last weekend getting a 15th-place finish. That’s not great, but we’re moving in the right direction. We need to go there, have a good car and keep building on what we’ve learned the first five races. It’s early in the season. I try and remember that it’s only my fifth race with Todd (Gordon) and we’re still trying to learn each other a bit. We’ve had fast cars all year. We just need to keep building on it race after race and continue to get better. I ran top-10 there in a Dodge before and I really like how Martinsville sets up to race. I’m excited to get there.” A.J. Allmendinger, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger
“Coming off the last short-track run that we had in Bristol in which we won, I’m excited to get to Martinsville this weekend. I think that our short-track program has been one of our strengths. This will be a true test for us. I feel that Martinsville owes us one after we ran so well there last fall only to get pushed up the track late in the race. We’ve tested at Little Rock in preparation for this weekend and I think that we’re bringing a pretty good package. The key for me is to be patient at Martinsville. You can’t use your stuff up too early in the race. You have to let the race come to you and stay away from contact. Anything can happen short-track racing. You have to make sure that you have all the fenders on it at the end.” Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger
