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Dodge Motorsports Notes & Quotes - NSCS Pep Boys Auto 500 Race Advance - Atlanta Motor Speedway

Tuesday October 21, 2008

 

HISTORICAL DATA
· Total Dodge NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Wins: 201
· First Dodge NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Win: Lee Petty, 2/1/53, West Palm Beach, Fla., 100 miles, .5-mile track.
· Last Dodge NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Win: Kurt Busch, 6/29/08, Loudon, NH, 317.4-miles, 1.058-mile track, 2008 Lenox Industrial Tools 301.
· First Dodge NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Win at Atlanta Motor Speedway: Bobby Allison, Atlanta 500, 03/29/1970, 139.554 avg. mph
· Last Dodge NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Win at Atlanta Motor Speedway: Kasey Kahne, 03/19/2006, 192.553 avg. mph
· First Dodge NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Win at this event: Richard Petty, Dixie 500, 07/28/1974, 134.610 avg. mph
· Last Dodge NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Win at this event: Dave Marcis, Dixie 500, 11/07/1976, 127.396 avg. mph

DODGE AT ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY
· Dodge has visited victory lane six times at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Five came before the track was reconfigured in 1997.
· Ryan Newman has started from the Bud Pole seven times at AMS and shares the mark for most poles with Buddy Baker. Newman started from the No. 1 spot in six consecutive races (2003-2005).
· Kasey Kahne started from the Bud Pole and won the spring race at AMS in 2006. It was his first of a series high six wins during the season. Kahne has four top-five and five top-10 finishes in nine starts at Atlanta.
· Dodge has earned the pole position in eight of the last 11 races at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

THE DODGE BOYS AT ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY
Kasey Kahne recorded the 200th win by Dodge in the Sprint Cup Series with his victory in the Pocono 500 at Pocono Raceway earlier this year.
Kurt Bush gave Dodge its last Sprint Cup victory when he won the LENOX Industrial 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in June.
The Dodge R6P8 engine made its NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut at Kansas Speedway in the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger driven by Kurt Busch. He also competed with the new engine at Lowe’s Motor Speedway and Martinsville Speedway. Penske Racing and other Dodge teams are expected to use the engine at other events this year. These are steps toward full implementation in 2009, well ahead of the 2010 NASCAR mandate.
Bryan Clauson will be attempting his debut in the Sprint Cup Series at AMS in the No. 40 Target/Guitar Hero World Tour Dodge. Clauson, a 19-year-old from Noblesville, Ind., has competed in the 24 NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) races during the 2008 season, driving the No.40 Fastenal Dodge. He has collected one pole, one top-five and two top-10 finishes.

ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY TRACK FACTS
The first NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway was the Dixie 300 in 1960. The track opened as a standard 1.5-mile oval. It was remeasured to a 1.522-mile distance in 1970. In 1997, the track was reconfigured to a 1.54-mile quad oval with the start-finish line shifted to the backstretch. The 1997 fall event was the first on the quad oval.
Sunday’s race at Atlanta Motor Speedway will mark the second time the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ “new car” has raced at the 1.54-mile quad oval.
The track qualifying record of 197.478 mph (28.074 sec.) was set in 1997 by Geoffrey Bodine.
Bobby Labonte holds the race record of 159.904 mph (3:07:45) set on Sunday following Geoffrey Bodine’s qualifying mark the previous day.
The winner has come from the front row 24 times (14 from the pole) in 98 races at AMS. The fifth starting spot has produced 13 winners.

DID YOU KNOW?
Bobby Labonte has six wins at AMS. He started from the Bud Pole and won the fall event in 1996, one of 14 wins from the No. 1 starting position. In addition to six wins, he has 12 top-five and 13 top-10 finishes at AMS. He has led 958 laps in 31 starts.
Bobby Isaac finished second in a Dodge in the 1964 Atlanta 500. Only 10 of the 39 starters were running at the finish. The April 5th race was slowed by four cautions for 19 laps.
The Wood Brothers have claimed 12 wins at Atlanta, most by a car owner.
In early September 2004, AMS was used as a shelter for evacuees in recreational vehicles from Florida fleeing Hurricane Francis.
A F2 tornado spawned from the remains of Hurricane Cindy caused heavy damage to the speedway on July 6, 2005. The National Weather Service confirmed the tornado had winds of 120 to 150 mph.
The Reed Sorenson Charity Golf Classic presented by Autotrader.com will be held Thursday, October 23, at Eagles Landing Country Club in Stockbridge, Ga. The event is a major fundraiser for the Atlanta chapter of Speedway Children’s Charities.

DODGE ROOKIE CONTENDERS
Sam Hornish Jr. – The three-time IndyCar Series champion and 2006 Indy 500 winner is tied for the lead in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year standings with Regan Smith. Hornish finished 34th at Martinsville.

Dodge Driver Quotes:

“Atlanta is one of my favorite race tracks. It’s a fast track and it’s wideenough so there are multiple grooves for racing. I like the fact that it lets the driver figure out where the car is handling best. It makes it a little more challenging but it’s also a lot of fun.” Kasey Kahne, No. 9 Budweiser Dodge Charger

“Atlanta is a pretty special racetrack for me. I qualified and finished in the top-five for the first time in my truck career there in March. That was a moment that told me that I could do this, that if I worked hard enough I could compete at a high level. That race was a big shot in the arm to our team and we’ve been pretty competitive since then. I feel confident we can have a similar run this weekend in the No. 45 Marathon American Spirit Motor Oil Dodge. Hopefully that will have the same ‘springboard’ effect to the rest of the year.” Chad McCumbee, No 45 Marathon Spirit of America Motor Oil Dodge

FRONTSTRETCH LIVE AT THE TRACK THIS WEEKEND AT LOUDON!
Popular writer Amy Henderson will be tracking all the action at New Hampshire from inside the garage, giving you the stories you’re looking for with a special edition of our Newsletter planned over the weekend. It all culminates on Sunday with her special participation in our LIVE blog during the Lenox Industrial Tools 301, paired with our usual panel of expert analysts! It’s three days of going the extra mile for you … so we hope you enjoy it!

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

 

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