Dodge Motorsports Notes & Quotes
NSCS Sprint All-Star Race Advance
Charlotte Motor Speedway
Saturday, May 21, 2011
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DODGE AT THE SPRINT ALL-STAR RACE
• Kurt Busch won the 2010 Sprint All-Star Race, starting from the pole and leading three times for 19 laps including the last eight. He was the fourth driver to win the race from the pole and the seventh driver to sweep the All-Star race and Coca-Cola 600 in the same season.
• Dodge has won two of the last three Sprint All-Star events; Kasey Kahne drove a Dodge to victory in the 2008 event after being voted into the race by the fans. He was the first fan vote winner and the third driver to win after transferring from the Showdown.
• Kurt Busch will be making his 10th consecutive All-Star race start Saturday night and his first in the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger. He drove the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge to victory last year.
DODGE NOTES
• Brad Keselowski started third and finished seventh in last year’s All-Star in the No. 12 Penske Dodge. He is one of 28 entries for the Sprint Showdown which will be run prior to the All-Star race. His 2009 Sprint Cup win earned him a berth in the All-Star race last year, but those 2009 winners do not have automatic berths in the All-Star field this year.
• Brian Keselowski has entered his No. 92 Dodge in the Showdown.
SPRINT ALL-STAR RACE FAST FACTS
• Saturday night’s Sprint All-Star race will have a 22-car field as 19 drivers are already qualified for the event. The winner and runner-up from the Showdown and the driver with the most fan votes not already in the field will be added to the starting grid Saturday night.
• The first All-Star event was held at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 25, 1985 and won by Darrell Waltrip.
• The first All-Star event offering a $1 million payday to the winner was the 2003 event won by Jimmie Johnson.
• All but one of the 26 previous All-Star event has been held at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The exception was the second edition at Atlanta Motor Speedway in 1986.
• The fewest number of cars in the All-Star field was 10 in 1986; there were 27 entries in the 2002 event.
• The all-star race was known as The Winston from 1985-2003 and the Nextel All-Star Challenge from 2004-2007. Since 2007, the All-Star race has carried the Sprint sponsorship.
• There have been seven different winners in the last seven All-Star races; the record for lead changes is 10.
• The Showdown will be run in two 20-lap segments.
• The All-Star race will be 100 laps run in segments of 50, 20, 20 and 10 laps.
QUOTE:
“You jump into the All-Star Race and it’s just a whole different atmosphere and attitude. This race is just an entirely different animal. It’s a 10-lap shoot-out at the finish, with a cool million dollars on the line. You can bet that things will surely get heated up and there will be fireworks for sure. You have to be really smart in the first portions of the race. But, you have to have a car that will go at the drop of a dime when you have fresh tires and a restart. It’s basically like those last 10 laps are like 10 straight qualifying laps with other cars around.”
Kurt Busch – No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger
