Race 2 Win: Sprint Cup Series Race Notes

Sprint Cup Series

Goody’s Cool Orange 500 - Dodge Motorsports Notes & Quotes

Dodge Motorsports Notes & Quotes
Martinsville Speedway Advance

DODGE CHARGER

The 2008 Dodge Charger lineup features five teams with 12 drivers.

Ryan Newman won the season-opening Daytona 500 in the No. 12 Alltel Dodge Charger, his first restrictor-plate victory. Teammate Kurt Busch finished second, giving car owner Roger Penske his first restrictor-plate victory and his first 1-2 finish in 25 years of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series racing.

Kasey Kahne was the only driver with three top-10 finishes in the first three races of 2008. His seventh-place finish at Bristol gives him four for the season. No Sprint Cup Series driver has posted a top 10 in all five races; four drivers have four.

The Dodge Charger has won at least one race in NASCAR’s premier series since it returned in 2005 and has 137 wins since 1966. Dodge has 198 wins with all nameplates.

Dodge continues the winning tradition legends Richard Petty, David Pearson and Bobby Isaac established in the 1970s by designating the Charger as the nameplate Dodge teams will use in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in 2008 and beyond.

DODGE AT MARTINSVILLE

The last Dodge victory at Martinsville Speedway came in the 2004 spring event with Rusty Wallace taking the win.

Dodge has 10 wins at Martinsville including three sweeps (1953, 1956 and 1975).

Dodge drivers with wins at Martinsville include Lee Petty, Jim Paschal, Buck Baker, Jack Smith, Bobby Isaac, Richard Petty, Dave Marcis and Rusty Wallace.

Nine of the 12 Dodge drivers entered in Sunday’s race are in the top 35 and guaranteed a starting spot. The three drivers that must qualify for the race on speed are Kyle Petty and rookies Dario Franchitti and Patrick Carpentier.

Three Dodge drivers are in the top 12 in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings – Kasey Kahne, Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch. Kahne is sixth, Newman eighth and Busch 10th.

Kurt Busch and Bobby Labonte had wins at Martinsville before they joined the Dodge Motorsports family. Busch swept both races in 2003. Labonte won the spring race in 2002.

DODGE ROOKIE CONTENDERS

Dario Franchitti – The reigning Indianapolis 500 and IndyCar Series champion is the current Raybestos Rookie of the Year leader, holding a slim one-point advantage. Franchitti is outside the top 35 and not guaranteed a starting spot at Martinsville. He must qualify for the race on speed.

Sam Hornish Jr. – The three-time IndyCar Series champion and 2006 Indy 500 winner has posted the best finish by a rookie in 2008 – 15th at Daytona. He was also the top-finishing rookie at Atlanta. Hornish, in the top 35 in owner points, is the only rookie guaranteed a starting spot at Martinsville

Patrick Carpentier – For the second time this season, Carpentier will attempt to qualify for the 43-car field at a track he has never visited. Qualifying has been cancelled because of rain at two – California and Bristol – of the first five events this season.

MARTINSVILLE TRACK FACTS

Martinsville Speedway opened in 1947, before NASCAR was first organized, as a dirt track with 750 seats.

Martinsville Speedway is the only track among those originally sanctioned when NASCAR was formed to still host racing in the series.

The track was paved in 1955.

Starting up front at the .526-mile track is definitely an advantage. The winner has started from the front row 31 times in 118 events, 17 from the pole.

Only 29 of the 118 previous races have been won from a starting position outside the top 10 and only five from outside the top 20.

.Richard Petty has 15 wins at Martinsville, four more than Darrell Waltrip in second.

DID YOU KNOW?
Each season since the Chase was implemented in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in 2004, seven drivers that were in the top-10 following the first race at Bristol qualified for the Chase. When the number of drivers was expanded to 12 in 2007, 10 of the drivers in the top 12 following Bristol made the Chase. Eight drivers currently in the top 12 in points made the Chase in 2007. The four newcomers at this point are Dodge drivers Kasey Kahne and Ryan Newman along with Greg Biffle and Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

Quotes of the Week:
“I have a lot of experience at Martinsville and that should help us qualify our way in to Sunday’s race. This is not an enviable position to be in, but I have a good team around me and we can dig our way out of this. We just need a little bit of good fortune, more than anything. We’ve had fast cars all year, but mechanical gremlins have gotten the better of us lately. But I can tell you that no one on this team is giving anything less than 100%.”
Kyle Petty, Driver
No. 45 Marathon American Spirit Motor Oil Dodge Charger

“Martinsville is going to be a tricky place to get around. I’ve heard stories of guys hitting absolutely everything on that track, including the pace car. I hope we’re not one of those guys.”
Patrick Carpentier, Driver
No. 10 Charter Communications Dodge Charger