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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.
• First Dodge NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Win at Pocono: Richard Petty, 08/04/1974, Purolator 500, 115.593 mph avg. speed.
• Last Dodge NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Win at Pocono: Kasey Kahne, 06/08/2008, race, 125.209 mph avg. speed.

DODGE AT POCONO RACEWAY

· Dodge has five wins at Pocono Raceway.
· Kasey Kahne is the defending event champion. Kahne started from the pole and led 69 of the 200 laps in collecting his ninth career win. Kahne has scored one win, two top five and four top-10 finishes in 10 Pocono starts.
· Kurt Busch won the 2007 fall race at Pocono, leading 175 of the 200 laps in the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge.
· Richard Petty drove a Dodge to victory in the first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event at Pocono Raceway. He led 152 of the 192 laps run (the race, scheduled for 200 laps, was halted eight laps short of the advertised distance because of rain). Petty won again in 1976 in a Dodge.
· Dodge (Kasey Kahne) holds the track qualifying record with a time of 52.164 seconds at 172.533 mph set in 2004.

THE DODGE BOYS

· Dodge has 202 Sprint Cup Series wins.
· Dodge teams have posted 42 wins since the manufacturer returned to NASCAR’s premier series in 2001 after being out of the sport since 1977.
· 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.
· All seven Dodge teams running the full 36-race Sprint Cup schedule are inside the top-35 in 2009 owner points: Kurt Busch (4th), Kasey Kahne (14th), Reed Sorenson (25th), Sam Hornish Jr. (26th), Elliott Sadler (27th), David Stremme
(29th) and AJ Allmendinger (30th).
· 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.

DODGE DRIVER NOTES & ANECDOTES

· Kurt Busch has earned two perfect driver ratings of 150.0 at Pocono (2005 & 2007). He has two wins, seven top-five and eight top-10 finishes in 16 Pocono starts.
· Elliott Sadler has led 44 laps at Pocono Raceway.
· AJ Allmendinger has one top five and two top 10s in 13 starts in 2009.
· Sam Hornish Jr. is making his 50th Sprint Cup start this weekend at Pocono Raceway.
· David Stremme earned a 13th-place finish at Fontana, his best finish to-date this season.
· Reed Sorenson earned his best start (4th) of the season last weekend at Dover.

DID YOU KNOW?

· All NASCAR Sprint Cup races at Pocono have been scheduled for 500 miles. By design, the inaugural race was reduced to 480 miles due to the energy crisis.
· Kasey Kahne is one of four drivers who are repeat pole winners in the last 26 races at Pocono (Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Denny Hamlin).
· Pocono Raceway opened in 1968 as a three-quarter-mile track. Pocono Raceway held the first race on the 2.5-mile track in 1971.
· Kurt Busch holds the second-best driver rating of all active drivers at Pocono – 106.8 (Hamlin 123.6)
· Pocono Raceway has a unique design. Each turn is modeled after turns at three different tracks: Turn 1 (14 Degrees) after now defunct Trenton Speedway, Turn Two (Nine Degrees – Tunnel Turn) like Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Turn 3 (Six degrees similar to The Milwaukee Mile.

DODGE QUOTES

“It’s a period of the schedule where if you can mount a good charge – if you can thrive while many of the teams are burning out – it certainly can pay big dividends down the stretch,” said Busch, whose Dover finish, his fourth top-five and seventh top-10 of the year, boosted his lead over 13th to 226 points in the current standings. “It can separate the men from the boys, that’s for sure. With the great cars we’re putting out there week in and week out, we’re really looking forward to all the races this summer and we’re optimistic about being competitive in all of them.”
Kurt Busch, No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge

“The straight-aways are so long, you need to get all of the speed down them that you can so your car can come off of turn three as fast as possible. I’ve always liked the uniqueness of the three different corners and the challenge that it presents to the teams to set up your car to be fast at each of the different ends.”
Kasey Kahne, No. 9 Budweiser Dodge

“We’re really confident about all the upcoming races. When you look at what’s ahead and see that it’s Pocono, Michigan, Sears Point, New Hampshire and back to Daytona, it’s easy to get excited. We’ve won races on three of those tracks already and I look for Kurt to be really tough out there on the road course (Infineon Raceway). Kurt is due for a win on the (restrictor-) plate tracks and I don’t think it would surprise anyone to see him win at Daytona. I really looked at Dover as a big hurdle and we came out of there with a top-five finish. I think the next couple of months will be very good for our Miller Lite Dodge Team.”
Pat Tryson, Crew Chief, No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge

“I can’t say enough about the momentum of this Mobil 1 team. Last weekend at Dover, we had a phenomenal race car. It was a true test of patience for all of us to overcome a two-lap deficit after an untimely caution during green flag pit stops. We earned a top-15 finish in the end and gained four spots in both the driver and owner point standings. We’re all looking forward to getting back on track in Pocono and continuing to move forward.”
Sam Hornish Jr., No. 77 Mobil 1 Dodge

“Pocono is close to a home track for me since I am from Pennsylvania. It is one of the most unique tracks on the Cup Series circuit. The different banking and speeds in each corner creates a challenge to get the car comfortable all the way around the track. I always like going to Pocono because it forces you to get creative with adjustments to have a fast car. With a good run last week, the Mobil 1 Dodge is now 26th in owner points and I look forward to keeping our momentum going as we head into Pocono.”
Travis Geisler, Crew Chief, No. 77 Mobil 1 Dodge

I don’t know what we have to do to get rid of this bad luck, but we’ve had a black cloud following us the last couple of weeks. We know we are better than the finishes we have had of late. I’m confident we can turn this around. We really aren’t that far off. On Sunday at Dover we were faster than a lot of those cars that had pretty good finishes. I think if you go ask most drivers they will tell you they like Pocono. Its something completely different. I’m not sure it needs to be 500 miles, but the track is pretty cool.”
AJ Allmendinger, No. 44 Stanley Dodge

“Last week at Dover all four RPM drivers qualified in the top-10 for the first time this year, and Dover is a tough race track. We’re starting to see all of the Petty cars up front a lot more than we did early in the season and we’re all hitting on our setups and racing better. We’ve also had some bad luck that has hurt each and every one of us and cost us some points. Pretty soon everything is going to come together and this team and when it does it should be impressive.”
Elliott Sadler, No. 19 Best Buy Dodge

“I really like Pocono. It is like a big road course. All three corners are different. The track is really fast and you have to be able to carry a lot of speed into the corners to be a contender. I know all three Penske cars will all be strong all weekend. I am really going to rely on Kurt [Busch] a lot. He has had a ton of success there and knows how to really get around the track.”
David Stremme, No. 12 Penske Racing Dodge

“Pocono is a challenging track. The track consists of three corners and none of the three are alike. As a crew chief, you have to focus on one corner and work around the other two. I know David [Stremme] is excited about going to Pocono, which is good for the entire team. We had a successful test in Indy Monday and Tuesday and are looking forward to getting to the Pocono Mountains. Kurt [Busch] has had a lot of success at Pocono and we have all been working together to make sure all three Penske Racing cars have strong runs.”
Roy McCauley, Crew Chief, No. 12 Penske Racing Dodge

“Pocono is a driver’s track. Each turn is dramatically different. Turn 1 is like Indy, Turn 2 is almost like a superspeedway and Turn 3 is flat like some of the short tracks. We ran really well at Dover. Probably should have had a top 10 before we had a problem late in the race. We can take a lot of momentum from Dover on to Pocono and repeat what we did last week.”
Reed Sorenson, No. 43 Valvoline Dodge

- Darnell Communications for Dodge Motorsports, Press Release