David Stremme, No. 40 Lone Star Steakhouse & Saloon Race Advance
Dickies 500 – Texas Motor Speedway
No. 40 TEAM FACTS:
Making Strides: Rookie David Stremme has made considerable strides in his 31 NEXTEL Cup Series starts this season. He has improved his average starting position six spots, from 29th to 23rd, and his average finish is 23rd as well, which is an eight-spot jump over the second half of the season. His highest starting spot is third at Daytona in July and his highest finish is 11th at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in August.
Autograph Seekers Alert: Stremme and teammate Casey Mears will be signing autographs this Thurs., Nov. 2 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Bono’s Race Place of Plano in Plano, Texas.
Chassis: Crew Chief Steve Lane and the No. 40 crew are taking chassis No. 619 for the event this weekend. This is the second time this season Stremme will pilot this car. The car which was brand new earlier this season finished 26th five weeks ago at Kansas Speedway.
Earlier this Season: Back in April at Texas Motor Speedway, Stremme left the great state of Texas with his best finish of the season in his seventh start, finishing 21st in the Samsung/Radio Shack 500. The No. 40 Dodge went a lap down early due to a tight handling race car, but Stremme and the crew battled to get the handling corrected and bring home a 21st-place finish.
Texas Two-Step: This will be Stremme’s second NEXTEL Cup Series start at Texas Motor Speedway. He has three Busch Series start and his average starting spot is 19th and his average finish is 21st. His highest start of second came in the fall of 2005 and his highest finish is 17th in the spring of 2005.
Rookie Ranks: Stremme is currently sixth in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year standings. With 157 points, he is 120 points behind leader Denny Hamlin and only 24 points behind fifth-place J.J Yeley.
NASCAR NEXTEL Cup points standings: Stremme is currently 34th in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup driver standings and the No. 40 Dodge is 34th in the owner standings. There are now three races remaining in the 2006 season.
David Stremme Quote:
“The team has become much stronger the last few weeks, we have gelled as a group and work together really well. We have learned from our mistakes over the season and we are improving each week. Now all we need is better luck. Over the last five weeks we have had some good weekends (Charlotte and Martinsville) and we have had some not so good weeks (Talladega and Atlanta), which have not been our doing. I like Texas as a racetrack and I am looking forward to racing these next three weeks. I think the team can get a top-10 finish at one of these final tracks.
“This is the same car we tested at Miami-Homestead a few weeks ago and at Kansas. We did not have the best finish at Kansas but we learned a lot for this weekend and that is what we needed to do.”
