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[/media-credit]SRT Motorsports – Dodge NSCS Race Advance
FedEx 400
Dover International Speedway
Sunday, June 3, 2012
DODGE AT DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
· Dodge has six wins at Dover: Richard Petty (2), Ryan Newman (3) and Kurt Busch.
· Dodge is the most recent Sprint Cup winner at Dover. Kurt Busch scored a victory last October. He led 44 laps en route to victory.
· Richard Petty gave Dodge its first Dover victory. He led 491 of the 500 laps en route to victory in the 1974 Delaware 500.
· Dodge has started from the pole 12 times at Dover. The first was by Bobby Isaac (129.538 mph) in 1970 and the most recent by Ryan Newman (152.925 mph) at the spring event in 2007.
DODGE NEWS AND NOTES
· Brad Keselowski has posted top-10 finishes in three of the last four Cup races.
· A.J. Allmendinger has led 152 laps in Sprint Cup competition at Dover, the most of any track on the circuit. He led 143 laps at the 2010 fall event.
· Dodge owns the Sprint Cup qualifying record at Dover set in 2004 (Jeremy Mayfield, 22.288 sec., 161.522 mph).
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
· 3 – Number of drivers currently inside the top 12 in the driver standings that have earned multiple wins this season (Brad Keselowski, Denny Hamlin and Tony Stewart).
· 4 – Number of jet dryers available for track drying this weekend at Dover; it takes approximately 90 minutes to dry the all-concrete surface.
· 13 – The number of Cup races won from the pole at Dover.
· 66 – Number of race winners that have started inside the top 10 in the 84 Sprint Cup races at Dover (79%).
2012 SPRINT CUP SERIES SEASON BESTS
· A. J. Allmendinger Start: 1st (Kansas) Finish: 2nd (Martinsville)
· Brad Keselowski Start: 5th (Bristol) Finish: 1st (Bristol, Talladega)
· Robby Gordon Start: 17th (Daytona) Finish: 41st (Daytona, Phoenix)
FROM THE ENGINEER – “With 75 plus laps between scheduled pit stops and the fact that 2012 Sprint Cup Series has seen the lowest number of caution flags in the last 20 years, engineers are pretty nervous going to Dover this week. Dover is a very tough place to race, tougher if your chassis isn’t perfect, and tougher yet if you can’t make pit stops to make adjustments. Teams have learned over the years to deal with the concrete surface, adjusting to it as the race progresses. But if there aren’t pit stops to provide the opportunities for adjustments, you better be near perfect before the green flag ever falls.” Howard Comstock, SRT Motorsports Engineering
DODGE QUOTE OF THE WEEK “It is pretty insane, especially to go into turn one. It feels like the bottom drops out from under you. It seems like it disappears when you take off and once it lands, it is like a punch to the guy. When it compresses, it compresses so hard. It feels like you honestly drop 50 feet in the air and land. The biggest thing is to have a good balance when it does land that the car isn’t moving around at all and isn’t tight or loose. You want it to land nice and smooth and have the confidence to get it turned and get back to throttle, especially in qualifying. In the race you lay the corner back so much that the bottom, when it lands, is not as critical. In qualifying you are so fast that once you land you have to be back in the throttle.” A.J. Allmendinger, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger R/T describes the thrill of racing at Dover
FROM THE CREW CHIEFS: “What makes Dover so difficult is the fact that it has so much load – you’re asking the car to do a lot of different things. Then, you combine the way that the track’s concrete rubbers-in and it really makes your front tires slick. It’s always a challenge to find front grip and what you end up doing is taking away rear grip. It’s very hard on the equipment and the driver, so you have to do a good job of taking care of both.” Paul Wolfe, No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger
“AJ has identified Dover as his personal favorite track ever since our first conversations between driver and crew chief. I could tell from the Goodyear test we did there back in April that he loves racing there.” Todd Gordon, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger
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
· Dodge Motorsports can be followed on Twitter at @teamdodge.
· There will be four jet dryers available for track drying this weekend at Dover; it takes approximately 90 minutes to dry the one-mile, all-concrete track.
· Crew chief Paul Wolfe made 16 starts in the Nationwide Series from 2003-2005. Two of those starts came at Dover in 2003 and 2005, where he finished 16th in each event.
DODGE QUOTES: “I love going to Dover and really look forward to getting back there for this weekend’s race. It’s my favorite track on the circuit. It has high banks, it’s really fast and I’ve had a lot of success there over the years. It’s always been my favorite track since I started racing in the Cup Series in 2007. Plus, Dover has one of the greatest trophies of the season, so it’s one I really want to take home.” A.J. Allmendinger, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger
“Dover is a great racetrack, one that I’ve had success on in the Nationwide Series, but we haven’t had the results in the Cup Series. We’ve had fast Miller Lite Dodges, but we haven’t put an entire race together yet. A lap around Dover is pretty spectacular. That roller coaster feeling you get climbing and falling off the corners is amazing. I feel pretty confident going back there and I’d like to think that Dover is one of my better tracks. (Crew chief) Paul (Wolfe) does a great job in making in-race adjustments and that is very important at Dover because the track changes drastically as rubber gets laid down. There are tracks that are temperamental due to the weather, but at Dover it’s the track rubber that can have you scratching your head.” Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger
