Dodge Motorsports NSCS Race Advance Autism Speaks 400 Dover International Speedway Sunday, May 16, 2010
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Contact: Matthew Simmons Adam Saal Dodge Motorsports Notes & Quotes - NSCS Race Advance - Dover International Speedway May 10, 2010, DOVER, Del. - For Immediate Release Dodge Motorsports NSCS Race Advance Autism Speaks 400 Dover International Speedway Sunday, May 16, 2010 www.media.chrysler.com www.twitter.com/teamdodge DODGE AT DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY • Dodge has five wins at Dover: Richard Petty (2), Ryan Newman (3). • Richard Petty gave Dodge its first Dover victory at the Delaware 500 – in 1974. He led 491 of the 500 laps. • Dodge has started from the pole at Dover seven of the last 13 times qualifying has taken place. The pole winners were Newman (4), Jeremy Mayfield (2) and Rusty Wallace (1). • Dodge’s Kurt Busch is one of only three drivers to have scored top-five finishes at both Dover races last year (Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth). THE DODGE BOYS • Dodge has 206 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victories. • Dodge’s most recent win came at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Kurt Busch led 129 laps en route to victory in the Kobalt Tools 500. • Dodge claimed four Sprint Cup Series victories in 2009. • Dodge teams have posted 46 wins 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 it’s return in 2001 including seven wins twice (2002 and 2006). DOVER NUGGETS • Kurt Busch made his NASCAR Sprint Cup debut at Dover in 2000. He started 10th and finished 18th in the fall event. He also competed in the Craftsman Truck Series event that weekend, posting a victory in his only start in a truck at ‘The Monster Mile’. • Dodge has earned 12 pole positions at Dover. The first by Bobby Isaac (129.538 mph) in 1970 and most recent by Ryan Newman (152.925 mph) at the spring event in 2007. DID YOU KNOW? • Kurt Busch has 12 top-10 starts in 13 races at Dover. • Sam Hornish Jr. earned a career-best Dover start of ninth at last year’s spring race. • Brad Keselowski will be making his first-career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start at Dover this weekend. In six Nationwide starts at Dover, Keselowski has one win along with three top-five and five top-10 finishes. • Keselowski is currently only 47 points out of the Top 20 in the Sprint Cup driver standings. • Hornish’s best Dover finish of 13th came at last year’s spring event. • Busch’s best finish at ‘The Monster Mile’ came at the fall event in 2006 when he finished fourth. DODGE DRIVER QUOTES “At Dover, it seems like there are so many guys who are competitive. Even when they cut it back from 500 laps to 400 laps; it’s still one of the toughest and most demanding races. All the corners can be treacherous and if someone gets out of shape coming out of (Turn) 2; it’s so narrow that you can sweep up a whole bunch of cars into the mess. We just hope we’re able to run up front with them there this weekend and have a shot at getting a win.” Kurt Busch, No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger “Dover is very much like a roller coaster that you are in control of. The drops are very severe and the load that is put on your body doesn’t go left to right, it goes straight down. So you feel yourself essentially getting shorter when you go into the corners and your body compresses. Fighter pilots call that a ‘z-load’ axis. Coming out of the corners, you are almost driving uphill and blind. It’s very hard on your body, very physically demanding, and it can take its toll on you after a long race.” Brad Keselowski, No 12 Dodge Charger “It's like they built a little ramp at the end of each of the straight-aways by about six inches that just launches the whole car into the corners. Obviously, the front end is heavier on these cars, so when you get in there, the front is more secure and the back wants to slide around. So you're easy on the brakes until you know the car is set then you can brake a lot harder. I like Dover; it's a lot of fun and we usually run really well there in the spring race. I’m looking forward to this weekend and hopefully learning more to help when we return there in the fall.” Sam Hornish Jr., No. 77 Mobil 1 Dodge Charger FROM THE CREW CHIEFS “Dover is one of my favorite race tracks on the circuit; it is very demanding on the car and drivers. Watching the cars drop off the straightaway into the 24 degree-banked corners really gives you a feel for how fast they are going. The key to Dover will be getting the car stable during the entry phase of the corner because the back of the car really wants to slide out. A good qualifying position has always been important but that is more because of the tight pit road than the difficulty to pass on the track. In the past few races the track has widened out a lot in the corners and has allowed for good side-by-side racing. The Mobil 1 Dodge team is ready to take on the ‘Monster Mile’.” Travis Geisler, No. 77 Mobil 1 Dodge Charger “Track position is important, so you have to place more of an emphasis on qualifying. The track will change a lot throughout the race so the biggest concern is making sure you keep up with that through your adjustments.” Jay Guy, No. 12 Dodge Charger FROM THE ENGINEER – HOWARD COMSTOCK, DODGE MOTORSPORTS, NASCAR ENGINEERING "A lot of people think of Dover as just a big Bristol, but it's not necessarily that simple. Cars may still run just as fast at Bristol minus a bunch of sheet metal, but Dover’s 32 miles per hour faster average makes aerodynamics an important part of any Dover setup. If Darlington last week is any indication, the new spoiler configuration has added downforce to the cars, increased speeds even more and made aerodynamics that much more important." DODGE HISTORICAL DATA • First Dodge NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Win: Lee Petty, 2/1/53, West Palm, Fla., 100 miles, .5-mile track. • First Dodge NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Win at Dover: Richard Petty, 9/15/1974, Delaware 500, 113.64 mph avg. speed. • Last Dodge NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Win at Dover: Ryan Newman, 9/26/2004, MBNA 400, 119.067 avg. speed. DODGE BOYS NSCS 2010 BEST • Kurt Busch - Start - 2nd - Bristol, Finish - Win – Atlanta • Brad Keselowski - Start - 6th - Richmond Finish - 12th – Martinsville, Darlington • Sam Hornish Jr. - Start - 2nd - Texas, Finish - 13th - Martinsville • Laps Led (Race) - Kurt Busch (278) - Bristol • Laps Led (Total) - Kurt Busch (470) -###- Additional information and news from Stellantis are available at: https://media.stellantisnorthamerica.com .