Dodge Motorsports Notes & Quotes
NSCS Race Advance
Sylvania 300
New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Sunday, Sept. 25, 2011
DODGE AT NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
. Dodge has three wins at New Hampshire (Ward Burton, Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch).
. Penske Racing’s Kurt Bush has three wins at NHMS. He swept both races in 2004 at the 1.058-mile track before joining the Dodge family. He won the rain-shortened (284 of 300 laps were completed) spring event in 2008.
. Dodge’s Brad Keselowski claimed his first career pole at last year’s fall event at New Hampshire.
. Dodge drivers have captured the pole for five of the last 14 races at New Hampshire when qualifying was not postponed.
CHASE FAST FACTS
. Dodge’s Kurt Busch qualified third and finished sixth at Chicagoland. He is fourth in the standings, 11 points behind the leader.
. Dodge’s Brad Keselowski qualified sixth and finished fifth at Chicagoland. He is sixth in the standings, 14 points behind the leader.
. The last time two Penske Racing Dodges qualified for the Chase was 2005 (Rusty Wallace and Ryan Newman).
. Dodge has not won a championship since the Chase format was introduced in 2004. Kurt Busch won the 2004 title before moving to Penske Racing in 2006.
. Dodge has won four Sprint Cup championships: David Pearson (1966), Bobby Isaac (1970), Richard Petty (1974, 1975).
2011 Chase to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Standings 1. Kevin Harvick 2054 7. Ryan Newman -14 2. Tony Stewart -7 8. Jimmie Johnson -16 3. Carl Edwards -10 9. Kyle Busch -19 4. Kurt Busch -11 10. Matt Kenseth -24 5. Dale Earnhardt Jr. -13 11. Jeff Gordon -25 6. Brad Keselowski -14 12. Denny Hamlin -41
DODGE IN THE CHASE: NEW HAMPSHIRE
. 2004: Former Dodge drivers Jeremy Mayfield and Ryan Newman were in the inaugural Chase. Both had problems in the first event at NHMS with Newman finishing 33rd and Mayfield 35th.
. 2005: Three Dodge drivers (Mayfield, Newman and Rusty Wallace) made the Chase field with Newman winning the opener at NHMS. Newman ended up sixth, Wallace eighth and Mayfield ninth in the final standings.
. 2006: Kasey Kahne was the lone Dodge driver in the Chase field. Kahne started 33rd and finished 16th at Loudon.
. 2007: Kurt Busch was the lone Dodge representative. He started third and finished 25th in the Chase opener at Loudon. He finished seventh in the final Chase standings.
. 2008: There were no Dodges in the 2008 Chase field.
. 2009: Kurt Busch was the lone Dodge representative among the elite 12. Busch started third and finished seventh at NHMS in the Chase opener.
. 2010: Kurt Busch was the single Dodge entry. He started 12th and finished 13th in the first of the 10 Chase races.
2011 SPRINT CUP SERIES SEASON BEST
. Kurt Busch Start: 1st (Kansas, Pocono & Michigan) Finish: 1st (Infineon)
. Brad Keselowski Start: 1st (Charlotte) Finish: 1st (Kansas, Pocono, Bristol)
. Robby Gordon Start: 30th (Daytona) Finish: 16th (Daytona)
FROM THE DODGE ENGINEER: HOWARD COMSTOCK “Now for something completely different. We finally completed the race on the wide-open spaces of Chicagoland Speedway, a 1.5-mile, high-banked track. Now, engineers have to change their thinking completely to deal with the very tight, very flat, one-mile track in New Hampshire. Banking is an engineer’s best friend when he’s trying to come up with a setup to make a 3,500-pound car turn, but the bad news is that at New Hampshire, there’s virtually no banking. Not fooled by any advertised specs, teams know that this track is really flat which makes it difficult to negotiate the turns. Spring selection helps, shock absorbers help, sway bars help, but all of those parts combined won’t be enough to solve the entire equation of New Hampshire.”
FROM THE CREW CHIEF “Loudon is a unique race track. It has aspects of both Richmond and Phoenix all rolled into one. We work really hard to get the car to turn the center (of the corners) and maintain forward drive for late into a run. It’s a very flat layout, which presents a lot of different challenges. With no banking to catch the car, it can be very hard on brakes because the straightaways are long and you can build up a lot of speed before you get to the corner. It is so hard to pass, you really need the complete package to win there – good brakes, handling and pit stops.” Paul Wolfe, Crew Chief, No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger
DODGE MOTORSPORTS QUOTE OF THE WEEK “It’s a huge advantage to have both the Penske Dodges in the Chase from the standpoint of what it means for team morale and what it means for the manufacturing process within Penske Racing.the process goes a lot smoother as far as what it takes to get the company going and get the teams going. I definitely think you want to have all your cars in the Chase. I really do believe that that’s a supreme advantage if for no other reason than what it means to the company and the morale within.” Brad Keselowski – No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger
DODGE QUOTES “We’re off to a good start in the Chase. We led laps and finished sixth in our Shell/Pennzoil Dodge at Chicagoland. That’s a good start, but that’s just one race. We have fast cars. We need to continue to have fast pit stops. We have to keep up with the track with good adjustments and make the car better during the race. If we are successful in managing those factors, we’ll be in position to compete for wins and have good finishes. That’s what we need to do the next nine weeks to challenge for the championship.” Kurt Busch (No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger)
“It’s always a lot of fun when we go up to Loudon to race. The fans really love what we do and they show it by filling the stands. It’s one of those tracks we can go to and almost guarantee that it will be sold out. The racing that we put on at New Hampshire sometimes get a bad rap, but I think it has produced some of the most-exciting finishes over the last few years. It’s a one-mile track, but it races like a short track. There’s a lot of beating and banging and bumping and running – all of the things that the fans love.” Brad Keselowski (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger)
