Catchfence

Dodge Motorsports

• 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 Infineon: Juan Pablo Montoya, 6/24/2007, Save Mart 350, 74.547 mph avg. speed.

DODGE AT INFINEON RACEWAY

• Dodge Motorsports has one win at Infineon Raceway. In 2007, former Dodge driver Juan Pablo Montoya led the final seven laps in his Dodge Charger to claim his first career victory.
• Kasey Kahne (2008) and Kurt Busch (2006) have started from the pole at Infineon Raceway.
• Kurt Busch has seven straight top-15 starts at Infineon, the longest current streak.
• Kasey Kahne is one of two drivers to have posted three straight top-10 starts at Infineon, the longest current streak (Ryan Newman is the other).
• Kurt Busch leads all active Dodge drivers with 60 laps led at Infineon.
• Dodge’s Kurt Busch sat 19th in driver point’s heading into Infineon Raceway last year. Busch currently sits fourth,

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 and assured starting spots in Sunday’s race: Kurt Busch (4th), Kasey Kahne (15th), Sam Hornish Jr. (24th), Reed Sorenson (26th), Elliott Sadler (27th), AJ Allmendinger (31st) and David Stremme (32nd).
• 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 scored seven straight top-15 starts at Infineon, the longest streak by any driver.
• Kasey Kahne is 91 points behind 12th-place Jeff Burton for the final spot in the Race to the Chase with 11 races remaining.
• Elliott Sadler has twice scored a career-best finish of sixth at Infineon (2002,’05).
• AJ Allmendinger will be making his first Infineon start in a Dodge.
• Sam Hornish Jr. has earned three top-10 finishes this season.
• David Stremme will be making only his second NSCS Infineon start of his career.
• Reed Sorenson will make his 125th career NASCAR Sprint Cup start at Infineon.

• Drivers completing all 110 laps on the 1.99-mile road course will have made 1,100 turns when the checkered flag falls.
• Dodge’s Kurt Busch has competed in eight races at Infineon scoring three top-five finishes.
• Five of the previous 20 races at Infineon were won by the pole winner (25 percent).
• The last three races at Infineon were won from starting positions outside the top-10 including Dodge’s win in 2007 when former Dodge driver Juan Pablo Montoya started 32nd.
• There have been 12 different pole winners in 20 races at Infineon.
• Qualifying has never been canceled at Infineon.
• There has been only one last-lap pass in 20 races at Infineon.
• The fewest cautions for a Sprint Cup Race at Infineon – 3. The most – 9.
• Infineon Raceway has collected 56 tons of material for recycling since the program began in 2004.

DODGE QUOTES

“The demands at Infineon (Raceway) are all‐encompassing; pretty much across‐the‐board. “Most insiders agree that this weekend’s race could come down to a fuel mileage battle. A super call on pit road could send a team to Victory Lane. A really tight battle could see a guy with the best‐handling car.”
Kurt Busch, No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger

“Road course racing has been tough for me. We’ve qualified well and run some good laps at times. We just don’t finish the races where we want to finish the races. That’s a big part of the whole year and being in the Chase is running well at those tracks. I need to step it up on the road courses for sure and do more than just qualify well, we need to race up-front.”
Kasey Kahne, No. 9 Budweiser Dodge Charger

“In preparation for Infineon we went to VIR last week to test and it went great. Infineon has always been a good track for me. There’s a lot of up hill and down hill parts of the track that make it exciting and the esses are very fast. The double file restarts should make for a very crazy race. Our plan will be to qualify well, keep it on the black top all day, pass as many cars as we can and hope our fuel window plays in our favor.”
Elliott Sadler, No. 19 Stanley Dodge Charger

“I am eager to get out to Infineon Raceway. We have worked really hard on our road course package over the last several months and have made some real gains. Kurt [Busch] is really strong at the road courses and I have used him as a resource. The goal is to keep our Dodge Charger on the course all day and I am confident we will have a strong run in the Penske Dodge. This team has done a tremendous job all year. We just can’t catch a break. I am really looking forward to going back to tracks for the second time. [Crew chief] Roy [McCauley] now has a notebook to go off of as a baseline. We will go back with setups that cater to my driving style and will have more time during practice to fine tune our machine.”
David Stremme, No. 12 Penske Racing Dodge Charger

“The key to success at Infineon Raceway is keeping all four tires on the pavement all day long. David [Stremme] has worked extremely hard on his road course skills over the last couple of months and has made tremendous improvements. Road course racing is very technical. As a driver, you have to be able to do multiple things at one time. We only get two stops to adjust on the car so we need to be strong right out of the gate. I think all the testing we have done will really pay dividends when it comes down to the race. I am looking forward to the race and getting our Penske Dodge a strong result.”
Roy McCauley, Crew Chief, No. 12 Penske Racing Dodge Charger

ON THE ROLE OF HIS FATHER: “He is everything in my career. Between him and my Mom, my Dad was racing before I was ever born so I feel like I was born at a race track. Growing up I watched him race at the local dirt tracks in Californian. He gave up racing so we could afford me racing. He is my biggest fan. He even has an AJ tattoo. He’s one of those Dad’s that is always a part of my career. I’m racing because of him.”
AJ Allmendinger, No. 44 Best Buy Dodge Charger

ON HIS FATHER’S ROLE IN HIS CAREER— “My mom and Dad did a lot. I started out racing at six. Growing up racing, they put a lot of time effort and money into my career. Once I got a little older and running in the American Speed Association it took even more time and more money. We had a lot of volunteer help from close friends. It was a lot of time away from home, but we ran good and had a good time.”
Reed Sorenson, No. 43 Valvoline Dodge Charger

- Darnell Communications for Dodge Motorsports, Press Release