Go to content Go to navigation Go to recent PR reports Go to search

Dodge Motorsports Notes & Quotes - Martinsville Speedway Advance

Wednesday March 26, 2008

 

Sunday, March 30, 2008
Martinsville Speedway
Goody's Cool Orange 500

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.

Quote 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

Current Dodge Motorsports Drivers
at Martinsville Speedway (ALL Races)
StartsDriverBest StartYearBest FinishYear
15Kurt BuschPole2006Win2002
8Kasey Kahne52006, 0722005
12Ryan NewmanPole2002, 0422007
18Elliott Sadler92004, 0572006
4Reed Sorenson162006 122006
2Juan Pablo Montoya23200782007
30Bobby LabontePole1995Win2002
54Kyle PettyPole199221991
15Robby Gordon112002202005
N/APatrick Carpentier——
N/ADario Franchitti——
N/ASam Hornish Jr. ——
Martinsville Speedway
Wins in a Dodge

DriverYear
Lee Petty1953
Lee Paschal1953
Jack Smith1956
Buck Baker1956
Bobby Isaac1970,71
Richard Petty1973,75
Dave Marcis1975
Rusty Wallace2004

You read the columns of your favorite writer every week. You play Frontstretch Fantasy Racing games, and you even get the Frontstretch newsletter delivered to your email inbox daily. But have you joined the Frontstretch Forums? Talk about your favorite driver, join in the discussion on all of the latest news and rumors in NASCAR, and brag to your fantasy racing opponents about how well you’re doing. Click here to join our growing community today!

This report was provided by an outside PR source and posted by Kim DeHaven.

 

©2000 - 2008 Kim DeHaven and Frontstetch.com. Thanks for visiting the Frontstretch!