Dodge Motorsports Notes & Quotes
NSCS Race Advance
Hollywood Casino 400
Kansas Speedway
Sunday, Oct. 9, 2011
DODGE AT KANSAS SPEEDWAY
· Dodge has two wins in 11 previous races at Kansas: Ryan Newman (2003) and Brad Keselowski (2011).
· Dodge has three poles at Kansas: Jason Leffler (2001), Kasey Kahne (2006) and Kurt Busch (2011).
· Penske Racing earned a Kansas sweep in June, winning the pole (Kurt Busch and the race (Brad Keselowski). Keselowski started 25th, the farthest back in the field a race winner has started.
· Busch has started all 11 previous races at Kansas. He has led the most laps twice (2007, 2011) and scored three top-10 finishes.
CHASE FAST FACTS
· Dodge’s Kurt Busch qualified second and won at Dover. He gained five positions in the standings to fourth, nine points.
· Dodge’s Brad Keselowski qualified 15th and finished 20th at Dover. 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 (after 29 of 36 Events)
1. Kevin Harvick 2122
2. Carl Edwards 2122
3. Tony Stewart -9
4. Kurt Busch -9
5. Jimmie Johnson -13
6. Brad Keselowski -14
7. Matt Kenseth -14
8. Kyle Busch -15
9. Jeff Gordon -19
10. Dale Earnhardt Jr. -34
11. Ryan Newman -41
12. Denny Hamlin -68
DODGE IN THE CHASE: KANSAS
· 2004: Jeremy Mayfield led a race-high 72 laps on the way to a fifth-place finish. Ryan Newman was sidelined by an accident and was credited with 33rd-place in the final rundown.
· 2005: All three Dodge drivers in the Chase finished on the lead lap led by Rusty Wallace. Wallace rallied from a 33rd-place starting position to finish seventh. Jeremy Mayfield placed 16th followed by Ryan Newman in 23rd.
· 2006: Kasey Kahne started from the pole and led 11 laps but finished 33rd.
· 2007: Kurt Busch was the long Dodge driver in the Chase. He started 12th, led the most laps (76) and finished 11th in a race shortened from 267 to 210 laps.
· 2008: There were no Dodges in the 2008 Chase field.
· 2009: Kasey Kahne scored a solid sixth-place finish while Kurt Busch rallied from a 39th-place starting position to finish 11th.
· 2010: Kurt Busch was the single Dodge entry. He started ninth and finished 13th, completing all 267 laps.
THE DODGE BOYS
· Dodge has 212 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victories.
· Dodge has five victories this season, three by Brad Keselowski (Kansas, Pocono and Bristol) and two by Kurt Busch (Infineon, Dover). Dodge’s most recent win came at Dover. Busch led five times for 90 of the 400 laps.
· Dodge teams have recorded 52 victories since the manufacturer’s return to NASCAR’s premier series in 2001 after being out of the sport since 1977.
STATS OF THE WEEK
· Kurt Busch led the STP 400 in June at Kansas Speedway four times for 152 laps, a record for number of laps led in a Sprint Cup race at the 1.5-mile speedway. He also led the most laps (76) in the 2007 event. For the season, Busch has led a total of 706 laps in 17 of the 29 Sprint Cup races.
· Brad Keselowski’s qualifying position of 25th was the deepest a Kansas race winner has started from in the 11 Cup races at the 1.5-mile speedway. He has an average finish of 12.3 in three races at the track.
2011 SPRINT CUP SERIES SEASON BEST
· Kurt Busch Start: 1st (Kansas, Pocono & Michigan) Finish: 1st (Infineon, Dover)
· Brad Keselowski Start: 1st (Charlotte) Finish: 1st (Kansas, Pocono, Bristol)
· Robby Gordon Start: 30th (Daytona) Finish: 16th (Daytona)
FROM THE DODGE ENGINEER: HOWARD COMSTOCK “Get ready, here they come. Love them or hate them, four of the last seven Chase races are at 1.5-mile tracks. We start the string this weekend at Kansas. But don’t believe it when you hear that all mile-and-a-half tracks are the same. They’re not. The four 1.5-mile tracks that teams face in the Chase have different bank angles in the turns, different radii in the turns, different doglegs on each front stretch and different straightaway lengths. We run different top speeds at each, run different average speeds at each and lose different amounts of time per lap as tires wear at each. Other than those factors, they are all 1.5-miles in length; maybe that’s what people say make them all the same.”
DODGE QUOTES: ON RACING AT KANSAS “I don’t know what it is about the Kansas track. The year that I won the championship, I finished sixth and that had been the highlight so far. It’s a flat mile-and-a-half that reminds me of Las Vegas when it was built and flat. It’s just a tough combination. If you’re just a tick off, you feel like you play catch-up most of the weekend and if you unload fast, you’re tough to chase down.” Kurt Busch, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger R/T
“This is a sister car to our ‘758’ that we won Dover with last weekend. Since the last time out, we’ve gone back and completely redone this car with our latest stuff. It’ll be a good car for Kansas and we can’t wait to get back out there. We’re heading in there with the attitude that we have some unfinished business to take care of this time around.”
Steve Addington, crew chief, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger R/T
“Wow. So much has happened this year since we won at Kansas, but I don’t want the significance of that win lost in the fact that we won two more races and made the Chase. That win at Kansas was special because we knew we were doing the right things to be successful, but just didn’t get the luck needed to win. Winning at Kansas was a validation, of sorts, and it was definitely the catalyst for what we were able to accomplish as the summer months wore on. We won the race on fuel mileage, but we had a very fast car throughout the race. We ran in the top-10 most of the day. With a fast Miller Lite Dodge and good fuel mileage, I’m confident about our chances this weekend.”
Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger R/T
“Even though we were able to get the win in June from the 25th position, we really want to qualify better this weekend at Kansas. Track position and clean air are key at that track. Once we got Brad out in front, it was like it was a completely different Miller Lite Dodge. Not only were we able to pick up the win the last time we were there, we also learned a lot about our car. We’ve seen improvement each time we have gone back to a track for the second time and I expect the same thing this weekend. The Chase battle is getting tight so we want to come out of here with a good finish.” Paul Wolfe, crew chief, No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger R/T
