No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Charger Race Facts
Dodge/Save Mart 350 --- Infineon Raceway
Driver: Kasey Kahne
Team Director: Tommy Baldwin
Team Owner: Ray Evernham
Chassis: No. 117
Info: New in-house EMS chassis;
Tested at Kershaw, S.C.
KASEY KAHNE QUOTES
“We tested at Sonoma. It went really well. We learned a lot there. I was much better than I was last year, just with the driving and the course itself. I’m really looking forward to going back. It should be a lot of fun. It’s a track that’s not really as aerodynamic as it is mechanical. We should have a good of shot as anybody there.
“The whole course is a challenge. The cars are always so close together. The competition is close. The corners are sharp, they’re slick. You can overdrive them braking or shifting. And you can easily screw up and get off course. So, there’s a lot to it, but it’s a lot of fun when you can do it right.”
Is it fun to break up the oval racing with a road course?
“Yeah, I enjoy it. I like to go do a road course here and there, and a short track here and there. That’s a lot of fun to be able to just get away from some of these tracks that we hit a lot.”
STATS & FACTS
KASEY KAHNE AT SONOMA
This weekend will mark Kahne’s second NASCAR Nextel Cup Series start at Infineon Raceway.
He started 30th and finished 31st at the raceway last year.
Kahne and the No. 9 Dew Crew tested at Infineon Raceway in a one-day test session this April.
TESTING, TESTING…
Kahne and the No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Charger team tested at Carolina Motorsports Park, in Kershaw, S.C., last Thursday, June 16. The team tested on the 14-turn, 2.235-mile roadcourse in order to prepare for this weekend’s race at Sonoma.
KAHNE CHARGES TO VICTORY AT RICHMOND!!!
Kahne claimed his first NASCAR Nextel Cup Series victory in the spring race at Richmond. Kahne started from the pole position, led seven times for 242 laps, and never fell out of the top ten, en route to his first career victory.
Kahne’s win was also the first of the season for the new Dodge Charger, which returned this year after a 27-year hiatus from NASCAR’s premier series.
RICHMOND WIN MILESTONES
Kahne’s win was the sixth win for Evernham Motorsports, marking the fifth consecutive year that an Evernham Dodge has visited victory lane.
Kahne became the 11th driver to win from the pole position at Richmond, the last of whom was Bill Elliott who won from the top spot in spring of 1992.
Kahne also joined an exclusive club of 13 drivers to earn career wins in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck, Busch and Cup series.
RECORD-BREAKING RUNS
Kahne’s pole position at Richmond was his second of the year, and was 0.003 seconds shy of the track qualifying record.
Evernham Motorsports Dodges currently hold four track qualifying records on the Nextel Cup circuit, (Kahne – Las Vegas and Pocono(a), Mayfield – Dover(a), and Bill Elliott – Texas).
