Catchfence

Dodge Motorsports

· Total Dodge NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Wins: 202

· First Dodge NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Win: Lee Petty, 2/1/53, West Palm, Fla., 100 miles, .5-mile track.

· Last Dodge NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Win: Kurt Busch, 03/08/2009, 2009 Kobalt Tools 500, 127.573 mph avg. speed.

· Total Dodge NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Wins at Darlington: 5

· First Dodge NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Win at Darlington: Buck Baker, 09/7/1964, Southern 500, 117.757 mph avg. speed.

· Last Dodge NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Win at Darlington: Sterling Marlin, 03/17/2002, Carolina Dodge Dealers 400, 126.07 mph avg. speed.

DODGE AT DARLINGTON RACEWAY

· Dodge has five wins at Darlington Raceway – Buck Baker, Buddy Baker (2), Ward Burton and Sterling Marlin.

· Buck Baker posted Dodge’s first win at Darlington Raceway in the 1964 Southern 500.

· Sterling Marlin scored the last Dodge win at Darlington, taking the victory in the 2002 spring race.

· Dodge earned back-to-back wins at Darlington in 2001 (Ward Burton) and 2002 (Sterling Marlin).

· Dodge drivers Kurt Busch (2001), Elliott Sadler (2003) and Kasey Kahne (2004, ’05, ’06) have started from the pole at Darlington.

· Richard Petty had 65 starts at Darlington, more than any other driver.

THE DODGE BOYS

· Dodge’s most recent win in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series was Kurt Busch’s victory in the Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on March 8.

· Kasey Kahne recorded the 200th win by Dodge in the Sprint Cup Series with his victory in the Pocono 500 at Pocono Raceway last season.

· All seven Dodge teams running the full 36-race Sprint Cup schedule are inside the top-35 in 2009 owner points: Kurt Busch (2nd), Kasey Kahne (17th), Reed Sorenson (22nd), David Stremme (25th), AJ Allmendinger (28th), Elliott Sadler (29th) and Sam Hornish Jr. (30st).

· Kurt Busch was the highest-finishing Dodge at the 2008 event at Darlington. Busch started fifth and finished 12th. He has finished 12th in the last two events at the track “Too Tough To Tame”.

· Reed Sorenson is the seventh driver to pilot the No. 43 Dodge since Richard Petty retired at the end of the 1992 season.

DODGE DRIVER NOTES & ANECDOTES

· Kurt Busch (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger) has finished 23rd or better in the 10 races in 2009. He has finished 12th or better in eight of the 10.

· Kasey Kahne’s (No. 9 Budweiser Dodge Charger) three poles at Darlington ties him with Jeff Gordon for most among active fulltime drivers.

· AJ Allmendinger (No. 44 Best Buy Dodge Charger) will be making his third Darlington start this weekend.

· Sam Hornish Jr. (No. 77 Mobil 1 Dodge Charger) finished 38th last year in his only Darlington start.

· David Stremme (No. 12 Penske Racing Dodge Charger) qualified fourth for the 2006 spring event.

· Reed Sorenson (No. 43 Valvoline Dodge Charger) has one top-12 finish in three starts at Darlington.

· Elliott Sadler (No. 19 Stanley Dodge Charger) earned his first-career pole at Darlington in 2003. He finished second in the 2002 spring event.

DID YOU KNOW?

· Kurt Busch has completed 3,253 of the 3,254 laps raced this season (99.97 percent), the most by any driver.

· Kurt Busch sat 24th in driver points after 10 races in 2008. He is currently second, 10 points behind leader Jeff Gordon.

· Kasey Kahne is 81 points outside of the top-12 in driver points.

· Saturday’s NSCS race at Darlington will mark the 106th NSCS race at the South Carolina Superspeedway.

· Only one of the last 19 Darlington races was won from the front row.

· 41 cars broke the track qualifying record in last year’s time trials for the first race on the newly repaved surface.

DRIVER QUOTES:

“I really want to finally beat that old track. With all the history there and with the return to the race being known as the Southern 500, it would be special, that’s for sure. It would certainly be a treasured addition to get my 20th career Cup win at Darlington this weekend and have a trophy to prove we finally did come out of there on top.”
Kurt Busch, No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger

“This time last season, Darlington Raceway was an unknown to me. Although we didn’t have a very good race, I like Darlington and am looking forward to racing there under the lights in the Mobil 1 Dodge. I am so proud to look at the progress of this No. 77 team compared to where we were as a newly-constructed team just a year ago. We’ve had some real good runs and been real strong this
year. I feel like I’m learning all the time. The Mobil 1 team is growing and getting stronger and things are really starting to come together. I think the same can be said for Penske Racing as a whole.”
Sam Hornish Jr. – Driver, No. 77 Mobil 1 Dodge

“This is what NASCAR is all about. I love this race. Darlington is probably the toughest track we race on. It’s a long, hot race. You have 42 guys out there racing you but the one that always seems to win is the track. I think Kyle Busch won there last time and he hit the wall about a dozen times.”
AJ Allmendinger – Driver, No. 44 Best Buy Dodge

“I started going to the races with Richard’s dad (Lee Petty) in 1950 and there wasn’t anyone called a crew chief back then. I don’t know when the title of crew chief came about. I changed the right front tire, did the arguing with NASCAR, loaded and drove the truck and I was the only one with a radio in the pits so I had to make the calls. I guess that’s how I got to be crew chief. Over the years
instead of a coach, manager or anything like that the title for the person calling the shots became crew chief and that’s how it developed.”
Dale Inman – Eight-Time Champion Crew Chief

“We’re doing everything we possibly can in our effort to get Kurt back in Victory Lane this weekend at Darlington. We’re bringing out a brand new Miller Lite Dodge Charger (PRS-608) this weekend and are confident that we’ll be able to run up front. You have to be running in the lead lap at the finish to have a shot at winning it and that’ll be the same goal there this weekend. “
Pat Tryson – Crew Chief, No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge

“Just don’t hit the wall. I think every car on the track is going to hit it (wall); it’s just how hard everyone is going to hit it. It’s a pretty tough track. It’s fast. It’s really going to be tough to pass. I think the key is mainly how hard you’re going to hit it (wall), that’s a big thing.”
Kasey Kahne – Driver, No. 9 Budweiser Dodge

“The next four weeks for me is all about gaining points. We have had great cars every week and do not have the finishes to show for them. [Crew chief] Roy [McCauley] has done a great job preparing these cars and we have just had terrible luck. We were running in the top-five last week with less than 100 laps to go and were caught up in a wreck. My focus for the month of May is to gain as
many points as we can. We are going to a track I really like and have good runs there. We just need to finish races.

“I really like Darlington. It has a rich history and has been a part of NASCAR racing since the beginning. To be able to race at a place where names like Petty, Earnhardt and Allison have all made a name for themselves is really cool. We just need to go there and stay out of trouble all day and get ourselves back in a position to make the chase.”
David Stremme – Driver, No. 2 Penske Racing Dodge Charger

- Darnell Communications for Dodge Motorsports, Press Release