Race 2 Win: Sprint Cup Series Race Notes

Sprint Cup Series

Lenox Industrial Tools 301 - Dodge Motorsports Notes & Quotes

Sunday, June 29, 2008
New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Dodge Motorsports Lenox Industrial Tools 301 Race Advance

DODGE AT NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY

Dodge has two wins at New Hampshire. Ryan Newman won the second event in 2004 and Ward Burton was the winner at the first race in 2002. Newman also won the second race in 2002 before joining the Dodge family.

Ryan Newman has started from the pole four times at NHMS, more than any other driver. Newman holds the track qualifying record of 133.357 mph (28.561 sec.) set in September, 2003.

Bill Elliott, driving the No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge, became the oldest pole winner during the 2002 New England 300. Elliott was 46 years, 9 months, 13 days old.

Penske Racing’s Kurt Bush (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge) and Ryan Newman (No. 12 Alltel Dodge) lead all current Dodge drivers with two victories each at NHMS.

Dodge driver Bobby Labonte (No. 43 Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge) is one of four drivers to compete in all 26 races (Jeff Burton, Jeff Gordon and Joe Nemechek) at NHMS.

THE DODGE BOYS

Dodge had its best qualifying effort of the season last weekend at the 1.99-mile road course of Infineon Raceway, capturing six of the top 10 spots led by Kasey Kahne’s second pole of the season.

At NASCAR’s last one-mile oval race (Phoenix) this season, Dodge swept the front row of qualifying with Ryan Newman earning the pole and Elliott Sadler qualifying second.

The 12 Dodge teams entered in the 301-lap race on the 1.058 -mile oval at NHMS will be seeking the manufacturer’s 201st victory in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Dodge teams have posted 40 wins since the manufacturer returned to NASCAR’s premier series in 2001 (including three this year) after being out of the sport since 1977.

Kasey Kahne recorded the 200th win by Dodge in the Sprint Cup Series with his victory in the Pocono 500.

Rusty Wallace took the win in the 1993 inaugural event at NHMS, the first of three for car owner Roger Penske at the track.

NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY TRACK FACTS

This past January, New Hampshire International Speedway was purchased by O. Bruton Smith’s SMI Inc. and renamed New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Commonly referred to as ‘Loudon’, NHMS was once a popular motorcycle circuit known as Bryar Motorsports Park. After nine-months of construction, a new multi-purpose track opened adding popular Sprint Cup and SCCA races at the complex.

NHMS is the largest sports facility in New England with seating for 92,000 spectators.

The July 9, 2000 Cup race at NHMS was the first single day sporting event in New England to draw over 100,000 guests.

DID YOU KNOW?

NASCAR’s ‘Lucky Dog’ originated from an on-track incident at Loudon in 2003. After Dale Jarrett’s car was stuck in the middle of the race track in danger of being hit, NASCAR banned racing back to the caution flag and created the ‘free pass’ to the first car behind the leader not on the lead. The process continues today.

The 2001 New Hampshire event was postponed due to the September 11 terrorist attacks and rescheduled for the Friday after Thanksgiving. Robby Gordon scored his first career Sprint Cup win in that race.

Only one race was held at the track the first four years before the second Sprint Cup Series date was added. Two races have been on the NASCAR schedule since 1997.

In September of 2000, NHMS became the first track outside or Daytona and Talladega to implement restrictor plate racing for Cup Series cars. Jeff Burton won wire-to-wire and the restrictor plate ‘experiment’ was not used again at the New Hampshire track.

DODGE ROOKIE CONTENDERS

Sam Hornish Jr. – The three-time IndyCar Series champion and 2006 Indy 500 winner extended his lead over Regan Smith by eight points in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year standings, 154-146.

Patrick Carpentier – The driver of the No. 10 Dodge Charger from Gillett Evernham Motorsports earned a career-best Cup finish of 23rd last weekend at Infineon Raceway. Carpentier has successfully qualified for the last 11 Sprint Cup events.

Dario Franchitti – The 2007 Indianapolis 500 and IndyCar Series champion failed to qualify at last weekend’s road course at Infineon Raceway.

DODGE DRIVER QUOTES
“I’m not super comfortable with where we are at in the points. We definitely need to keep staying after it and keep gaining points and doing everything we can to stay in the top 12. We definitely have a lot of work to get in (the Chase) and there are a lot of good cars still on the outside and right behind us. We need to keep working. There are a lot of good tracks coming up for us. We’ve been fast at a lot of the upcoming tracks.”
Kasey Kahne
Driver, No. 9 Budweiser Dodge Charger

“Loudon reminds me a lot of The Milwaukee Mile. I’ve competed there in the IndyCar Series and I’ve enjoyed racing at the shorter tracks. Hopefully, that knowledge will transfer over to my first race at New Hampshire.”
Sam Hornish Jr.
Driver, Mobil 1 Dodge Charger

“It’s a fun race track. It has long straightaways and hairpin corners. You really have to drive it into the corner and focus on rolling through the center. It’s one of the most symmetrical tracks we go to in that turns one and two are very similar to turns three and four. It’s really important to focus on the exit of the corners. The toughest part is track position – if you get behind, it is hard to make it up. Because track position is so important, hopefully we’ll be able to continue our record of solid qualifying efforts at New Hampshire this weekend.
Ryan Newman
Driver, No. 12 Alltel Dodge Charger

“I remember going to that first race at New Hampshire in 1993 and seeing a bunch of pure race fans. They were as passionate about our sport as fans in Charlotte or Talladega. It has remained that way through the addition of a second race. They love what we do and they love the show that we put on. That trickles down to the garage area; there are a lot of drivers, crew chiefs and mechanics that are from New England. So it’s important to the life blood of the sport for NASCAR to maintain a large presence in New England.”
Bobby Labonte
Driver, No. 43 Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge Charger

“Look at it this way. When we start practice on Friday’s, most of the field knows what they’re getting into. For the new guys, we need to learn the track, the lines and then figure out what adjustments the car needs to go fast. It’s a challenge but we’ll do our best.”
Patrick Carpentier
Driver, No. 10 Berlin City Auto Group Dodge Charger