Catchfence

STATESVILLE, N.C. – The No. 43 Valvoline Dodge sort of moved its race shop out west this week as it prepares to race Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway—its second consecutive West Coast race. Instead of returning to the team’s States­ville, N.C. base to prepare race cars, the No. 43 team—along with the other three Richard Petty Motorsports teams—traveled directly to Las Vegas after racing at California Speedway last Sunday. The teams left Ontario, Calif. Monday morning at 6 a.m. and drove to Las Vegas where they plan to spend the next three days preparing their racecars.

Quotes

Keith Barnwell — General Manager/Spotter, Richard Petty Motorsports: “I think this year we are trying to make it easy because we are making it one trip for two races. We’re kind of going old school like they used to do in the truck series or even like they did in the Cup series back in the 1970’s. We’re flying to Vegas, driving to California, racing California – spending Sunday night in California in case we had a rainout like we had last year. Then we’ll drive back over to Vegas on Monday. Give the crew chiefs a chance to debrief the cars in Vegas in case they want to turn the car back around and run the same car again.

“But, it’s also a matter of everyone being away from their home just like they were for SpeedWeeks. The good news about that is once we get back into North Carolina after the Vegas race we’re going to work Monday and Tuesday – some guys will probably work Wednesday, but then Mark (McArdle, Vice President of Competition) is giving us the rest of the week off. Hopefully everyone will get a chance to get reacquainted with their families then.” · Sorenson turned 23 years old on Feb. 5.

· 2009 marks Sorenson’s first season behind the wheel of the legendary No. 43 Dodge for Richard Petty Motorsports.

· Sorenson’s No. 43 Dodge was the second-highest finishing Richard Petty Motorsports car at California last week (21st).

· Sorenson has gained at least 100 points in the first two races of the 2009 season.

· Sorenson finished ninth in the season opening Daytona 500.

· Sorenson’s average start in 2009 in 25th, while his average finish is 15th.

· The No. 43 team is planning a visit to Nellis Air Force base while visiting Las Vegas.

· In the first two races of 2009 the No. 43 has completed 401 of 402 possible laps.

· Valvoline will serve as the primary sponsor of the No. 43 Dodge for the first time this season at Las Vegas.

Richard Petty Motorsports, Press Release

Notes of Interest

FROM A TEAM COORDINATION PERSPECTIVE, WHAT KIND OF CHALLENGES DOES THE BACK-TO-BACK WEST COAST SWING THROUGH CALIFORNIA AND LAS VEGAS PRESENT?