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[/media-credit]VFW Sport Clips Help a Hero 200
Darlington Raceway
Friday, May 11, 2012
SAM HORNISH JR. – No. 12 Alliance Truck Parts Dodge Challenger Crew Chief: Chad Walter
Career Stats: Starts: 41 Wins: 1 Top Fives: 3 Top 10s: 9 Poles: 0 Laps Led: 124
2012 Season Stats: Starts: 8 Wins: 0 Top Fives: 1 Top 10s: 3 Poles: 0 Laps Led: 9
• Fourth in Nationwide standings, 60 points behind leader Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
• Only previous NNS start at Darlington came in 2008 when he scored an 11th-place finish on the lead lap.
• Has completed all but one lap in eight NNS races this season (1,541 of 1,542 possible laps – 99.93 percent).
BRAD KESELOWSKI – No. 22 Snap-On Dodge Challenger Crew Chief: Jeremy Bullins
Career Stats: Starts: 176 Wins: 17 Top Fives: 77 Top 10s: 107 Poles: 12 Laps Led: 2,825
2012 Season Stats: Starts: 8 Wins: 0 Top Fives: 4 Top 10s: 4 Poles: 0 Laps Led: 71
• Best finish in five previous NNS starts at Darlington is seventh-place in 2010.
• Best Darlington start – third-place – also came in 2010.
• First NNS Darlington start came in 2007.
• Has four top-five finishes this season, including a pair of second-place efforts.
DODGE QUOTES: “Everybody accepts the fact that you’re going to get into the wall, that you’re going to have a Darlington stripe, but you don’t want it to lead you into problems. Almost everybody is going to have excitement at the end of the race, but you don’t want to do it on lap one or in practice. You’ve got to take care of your equipment. My big thing is I’m trying to do with a different mindset this year of what’s acceptable and what’s not acceptable, make sure I take care of the car and do the right things so that I’ve got an opportunity to win at the end.” — Sam Hornish, Jr.
DARLINGTON RACEWAY NUMBERS
• Dodge has one NNS win at Darlington – Jamie McMurray (2004 fall race). McMurray leads all Dodge drivers with three top-five finishes at the 1.366-mile superspeedway.
• Dodge has five top five and 13 top-10 finishes at Darlington.
• The most Dodge drivers to finish in the top 10 at Darlington were three in the 2004 fall race: McMurray (winner), Casey Mears (sixth) and Reed Sorenson (ninth).
DODGE IN THE NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES
• The most recent Dodge driver to score a top five at Darlington is Justin Allgaier in 2009 (fifth-place).
• Dodge is fielding two full-time entries in the series this year. Sam Hornish Jr. is competing for the series championship while Brad Keselowski and Parker Kligerman are sharing the driving duties in the second Penske Racing entry.
• Dodge claimed its first NASCAR championship in 2010 when Penske Racing’s Brad Keselowski captured the driver’s title.
• Dodge has 41 wins in the series including seven in each of the last two seasons. The first Nationwide Series win came in 2002. In 2005, Dodge had 11 wins in the series. A Dodge has started from the pole 48 times.
FROM THE CREW CHIEF “I don’t think tire wear takes a high priority like it used to at Darlington. Track position is really important because of the single-line nature that Turns 1 and 2 have and how it sets you up for the rest of the corner. It doesn’t take long for the leaders to get away. How good your car is kind of depends on what you can do to manipulate your track position.” — Chad Walter, Crew Chief, No. 12 Alliance Truck Parts Dodge Challenger
