Weekend preview: Dodge Boys ready for 10-race chase
Posted Friday, Sep 18, 2009, 2:16 pm in Employee News
Kasey Kahne and Kurt Busch will give Dodge a potent 1-2 punch as the Chase to the Sprint Cup Championship begins this weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The 12-driver Chase field is set, and now the focus turns to the final 10 races of the 2009 season that will determine the season’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion. The first test is the 1.058-mile New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
The other 10 Cup drivers joining Kahne and Busch are Mark Martin, Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin, Jeff Gordon, Brian Vickers, Carl Edwards, Ryan Newman, Juan Pablo Montoya and Greg Biffle.
All four manufacturers (Chevy – 6, Dodge – 2, Ford – 2 and Toyota – 2) are represented in the Chase including four previous series champions(Busch, Stewart, Gordon and Johnson). Other notes include:
- Dodge’s Kurt Busch looks to earn his second NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship. He was the 2004 champion
- Kasey Kahne looks to give Richard Petty Motorsports (RPM) their first Sprint Cup championship in 1979 (then Petty Enterprises)
- Penske Racing looks for its first Cup title (Rusty Wallace was runner-up in 1993).
- Jimmie Johnson looks to four-peat as series champion
- Jeff Gordon seeks his fifth Sprint Cup championship
- Tony Stewart looks to become the first owner/driver to win a championship since Alan Kulwicki.
Kasey Kahne (No. 9 Budweiser Dodge Charger) is making his second appearance in the Chase (2006). Since the Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway over the July 4th weekend, Kahne has arguably been the most consistent Cup driver in the garage. In the last eight races, Kahne picked up seven positions in the driver’s point standings.
“We weren’t as good as we needed to be in Richmond,” Kahne said. “We ran 12th and probably could have been 10th by the end of it. There are just a few tracks that we need to keep working hard at and we know what they are.
Hopefully, we can hit on some things if we want to have a chance at a championship. We’re going to do all we can to win races, get the most points we can and hopefully, have a shot at the championship.”
In 11 races at New Hampshire, Kahne has scored one top-five and five top-10 finishes.
Kurt Bush (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger) looks to add to the 22 national championships that team owner Roger Penske has earned over his stellar career across multiple forms of motorsports. Busch, the 2004 Cup series champion, enters the weekend in seventh-place in the Chase, 30 points behind leader Mark Martin. A winner at the spring event in Atlanta, Busch has used consistency and the power of the Dodge R6P8 engine to rebound from a disappointing 2008 season.
“You feel like you’ve got the barrels loaded and the trigger cocked – you’re one of 12 teams that made the finals and now it is playoff time – and you can feel almost invincible,” Busch explained. “It’s like a ‘hey we made it (the Chase) and we’re here to kick (rear end) and take names’ attitude. It just runs rampant within your team.”
For the veteran Busch, starting off fast at Loudon this weekend may be a key to his hopes of bringing home the series championship.
“I know from experience that if you can get it going in the right direction at Loudon, you can keep the momentum growing and sort of build some insurance for something bad happening later on during the 10–race stretch,” Busch added.
In 17 career appearances at New Hampshire, Busch has three wins, six top-five and eight top-10 finishes.
Other Notes:
· All seven Dodge teams are assured starting spots in Sunday’s Sylvania 300.
· Three Dodges finished in the top 10 when the Sprint Cup Series visited NHMS earlier this year. Kurt Busch was third, Sam Hornish Jr. eighth and Kasey Kahne 10th.
· Sam Hornish Jr. (No. 77 Mobil 1 Dodge) captured his seventh top-10 finish of the season last weekend with an eighth-place showing at Richmond International Raceway.
· Reed Sorenson (No. 43 McDonald’s McCafe Dodge) has a 52-race streak without a DNF (did not finish), the longest non-consecutive streak in Sprint Cup racing.
· Elliott Sadler (No. 19 Stanley Dodge) has five top-10 finishes at New Hampshire.
What You Need To Know:
The Race: Sylvania 300
The Place: New Hampshire Motor Speedway (1.058-mile oval)
The Date: Sunday, Sept. 20
The Time: 2 p.m. ET
Distance: 300 laps/317.4 miles
TV: ABC, 1 p.m. ET
__________________
Rick
Nitro Year: 2007 (1 of 113,000 sold)
Nitro Model: R/T 4X4 Stone White
CAT-BACK Exhaust, CAI, Projector Head Lamps
Fully-Equipped w/all factory options
Kahne satisfied making Chase, but wants clear view of future
Friday, Sep. 18, 2009 - 4:55 p.m. ET
NEW YORK -- As he rode in the back of a black, chauffeur-driven SUV to some pie-throwing silliness at the "Live! with Regis and Kelly" show, Kasey Kahne didn't seem to mind the off-track trappings that go with qualifying for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
Clearly, enduring the Thursday media obligations in Manhattan as a Chase driver is better than the alternative -- having the week off as a non-qualifier.
Kahne bucked long odds to make the Chase. Driving the No. 9 Dodge for Richard Petty Motorsports, a team that lately has experienced more incarnations than Vishnu, Kahne secured his spot in the Chase with an 11th-hour win Sept. 6 at Atlanta and a strong, problem-free 12th-place run last Saturday at Richmond.
Kahne can point with pride at the two victories, five top fives, 10 top 10s and 13.9-average finish that he and crew chief Kenny Francis have engineered this year in the face of lingering uncertainties surrounding the organization that employs them.
In contrast, RPM's three other drivers -- Elliott Sadler, Reed Sorenson and AJ Allmendinger -- collectively have two top fives to show for the season, both coming in the season-opening Daytona 500, where Allmendinger and Sadler finished third and fifth, respectively.
"That just shows you what an amazing job the No. 9 team has done this year," Kahne said Thursday over a lunch of salmon and mashed potatoes at the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square, where all 12 Chase drivers paraded through print, broadcast and fan interviews before heading to New Hampshire for Sunday's Chase opener, the Sylvania 300.
The Chase for the Championship began today under gorgeous sunny New England skies. Unlike the last several races at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway this one would not end early due to rain. After 300 laps, it was Mark Martin and the #5 Kellogg’s Chevy edging out Denny Hamlin’s #11 FedEX Toyota, and the drifting #42 Target Chevy driven by Juan Montoya.
For most of the day it was Juan Montoya who had the superior car, especially on the short runs. He led most of the laps, driving hard at times as he laid it all out trying to close on his first win of the year. But the final battle in the closing laps with Mark Martin and Denny Hamlin left him scrapping for third place. He used his car up a bit moving up several positions in the final laps—and Mark had just enough car left to stay out front.
The Dodge Boys in general didn’t have a great outing. Kurt Busch was the exception as he had his #2 Miller Lite Dodge upfront in the hunt for the win all day. Kurt was either in first or in the top 5 most of race. His car was hooked up for long green runs. The blue deuce, Dodge was involved in one minor incident on lap 162. Upon exiting his pits, Kurt ran into David Ragan’s UPS Ford, the bump sent David spinning backwards into his pits. The incident incurred some minor cosmetic right front damage to the Miller Lite Dodge, but it didn’t harm the performance of the car overall. Kurt would continue challenging for the win. Unfortunately, pit strategy didn’t fall his way and although two cautions fell in the final 14 laps, Kurt found quickly his setup wasn’t strong enough to hold on second spot—he would finish in 6th place, but today’s finish moved him up to 5th place in Championship points.
Kasey Kahne’s day was just terrible! He blew the engine in his Budweiser Dodge only 66 laps into the race. Personally, I would to be the fly on the wall when the motor department tears that engine down. What broke? Why? Championships cannot be won by finishing in 38th place.
Today’s finished moved Kasey to last place (12th) in Chase Championship points. With the strong competition in this year’s Chase field, it will take a miracle for Kasey to win the crown this year. And so, the team that Ray Evernham (later partnering with George Gillett to form GEM, and as of last year Richard Petty to form RPM) built, the one team that Dodge invested with to provide the leadership to bring Dodge back to NASCAR finds itself with an insurmountable challenge to climb in the final 9 races. It’s sad to see this team’s relationship with Dodge ending. We can only hope the next 9 rounds will go better for Kasey.
Round 2 of the Chase Championship will be held at the Monster Mile in Dover next Sunday. Historically this is a strong track for Fords and Chevys. The last time a Dodge won a race here was in 2004 when Ryan “the Rocket” Newman was driving for Penske racing. Maybe, Kurt can resurrect some of Penske magic and find his way to victory lane. Stay tuned in to see what happens at this very tough racetrack.
Dodge Boys finishes from today’s running of the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway:
#2 (Miller Lite), Kurt Busch, 6th
#19 (Stanley Tools), Elliott Sadler, 8th
#44 (Berlin City Auto Group), A.J. Allmendinger, 25th
#12 (Penske Racing), David Stremme, 28th
#09 (Miccousukee Resort and Gaming), Aric Almirola, 29th
#43 (Reynolds Wrap), Reed Sorenson, 36th
#77 (Mobil 1), Sam Hornish, Jr., 37th
#9 (Budweiser), Kasey Kahne, 38th
#37 (Long John Silver’s), Tony Raines, 43rd
Posted Monday, Sep 21, 2009, 11:48 am in Employee News
Kurt Busch is off to a good start in the 2009 Chase for the Sprint Cup, finishing sixth in Sunday’s Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H. Late-race cautions hampered Busch’s chances of an even better finish in his No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge.
Busch’s Dodge Charger was fast. He wasn’t outside the top 10 except during the lone green-flag pit cycle late in the race. He spent most of the day in the top five and led the race on three occasions for 33 laps.
Dodge’s second entry in this year’s 12-driver Chase—Kasey Kahne in the No. 9 Budweiser Dodge Charger—wasn’t as successful. Kahne had engine problems early in the race, exiting on lap 66 of the 300-lap event. He finished 38th.
Busch was riding along comfortably in second place, but three cautions in the final 23 laps set up three double-file restarts and opened the door for a series of challenges from numerous drivers. Busch was able to hold the second spot on the first restart, but wasn’t as successful on the final two.
“It was a fight,” Busch said. “We had a good car. We were a top-five car. You could have thrown a blanket over the five that finished up front. We just didn’t make good adjustments at the end. We lost the handle on the Miller Lite Dodge. If there had been no cautions, we would have finished second. It was tough, a hard-fought battle all day. The Miller Lite Dodge was good and then it was bad. We just lost the handle at the end. We could have finished second, but the last debris caution and all those cautions at the end took that opportunity away. Our car was no good on restarts.”
An anxious moment for the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge team came on pit road during the fourth caution on lap 162. Busch was fourth at the time and crew chief Pat Tryson elected to go with a bit of pit strategy, calling for a fuel-only stop. As Busch accelerated from his pit stall, David Ragan was turning into his pit just ahead. Busch made contact with the right front fender, causing some sheet-metal damage. The top six cars didn’t stop, so Busch was 10th for the restart.
“That’s what happens on a fuel-only stop,” said Busch. “Fuel only stops put everybody in jeopardy. I just didn’t see him. It happened at the last minute. I just pulled out and the 6 (David Ragan) was pulling in. As it turned out, it put us on the right cycle. I don’t know how the damage affected it, but the car was definitely off after that.”
Busch is fifth in the Chase standings, 65 points behind race winner and point leader Mark Martin.
“We had a good Miller Lite Dodge today,” Tryson said. “It just came down to us pitting that one time when we took fuel only and got damage on the right-front fender when we hit the 6 car on pit exit. We made one adjustment on that long run that probably made the car too free for the yellow flag runs. Overall, it was a good run for us. It was a good way to start the Chase. We’re still in the big picture of things. We just need to keep getting better and head to Dover and try to have another solid run.”
The day ended early for Kahne as the No. 9 Budweiser Dodge was sidelined with engine problems on lap 66. He finished 38th which drops him to 12th in the Chase standings.
“We had a good car,” Kahne said. “I think we were up to eighth or ninth. It seemed like our Budweiser Dodge was decent. We had some things to do to make it better. It’s disappointing. It’s better than last week because we wouldn’t have been in the Chase. We just have to work extra hard now. I don’t know how this all works. You never know in the Chase if you can have a mulligan or not. This team is doing a nice job. Hopefully, we can make gains in those final nine (races).”
Kahne is 12th in the Chase standings, 161 points behind the leader.
Elliott Sadler, despite being involved in a seven-car mishap just past the halfway point of the race, finished eighth in the No. 19 Stanley Dodge Charger. It was his best finish since the July race at Daytona.
“We made wholesale changes from last night that really helped our Stanley Dodge,” Sadler said. “This race was very gratifying for everyone on this team. It was a good run for us. We learned some things today that really helped our car. We found some things that I like to have in the race car that we can build on from here on out. Hopefully we can build on that for the final nine races.”
NASCAR Sprint Cup Chase standings
(First of 10 races in the Chase)
1. Mark Martin, 5,230
2. Jimmie Johnson, 5,195
3. Denny Hamlin, 5,195
4. Juan Pablo Montoya, 5,175
5. Kurt Busch, 5,165
6. Tony Stewart, 5,156
7. Ryan Newman, 5,151
8. Brian Vickers, 5,140
9. Greg Biffle, 5,138
10. Jeff Gordon, 5,128
11. Carl Edwards, 5,117
12. Kasey Kahne, 5,069
Driver, team, finish
Kurt Busch, No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge, 6th
Elliott Sadler, No. 19 Stanley Dodge, 8th
AJ Allmendinger, No. 44 Berlin City Dodge, 25th
David Stremme, No. 12 Penske Dodge, 28th
Reed Sorenson, No. 43 McDonald’s McCafe Dodge, 36th
Sam Hornish Jr., No 77 Mobil 1 Dodge, 37th
Kasey Kahne, No. Budweiser Dodge, 38th
__________________
Rick
Nitro Year: 2007 (1 of 113,000 sold)
Nitro Model: R/T 4X4 Stone White
CAT-BACK Exhaust, CAI, Projector Head Lamps
Fully-Equipped w/all factory options
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