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Dodge Motorsports NSCS Race Advance
Ford 400
Homestead-Miami Speedway
Sunday, Nov. 22, 2009
Additional Statistics Attached
HISTORICAL DATA
• First Dodge NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Win: Lee Petty, 2/1/53, West Palm, Fla., 100 miles, .5-mile track.
• Last Dodge NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Win: Kurt Busch, 11/08/2009, 2009 Dickies 500, 147.137 mph avg. speed.
THE DODGE BOYS
• Dodge has 205 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series wins.
• Busch has scored at least one victory in each of the last eight years (2002-2009).
• Kahne recorded the 200th win by Dodge in the Sprint Cup Series with his victory in the Pocono 500 at Pocono Raceway last season.
• Dodge teams have posted 45 wins since the returning to NASCAR’s premier series in 2001 after being out of the sport since 1977.
• Dodge has recorded four wins in 2009; Busch (Atlanta-1, Texas-2), Kahne (Infineon & Atlanta-2).
• All six Dodge teams are in the top-35 in 2009 Sprint Cup owner points.
DODGE AT HOMESTEAD-MIAMI SPEEDWAY
• Dodge has one NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win at Homestead-Miami Speedway (Bill Elliott -2001).
• Kahne (No. 9 Budweiser Dodge) is the most recent pole winner (2006) for Dodge at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
• Dodge driver Elliott Sadler has competed in all seven events at HMS.
• Kahne leads all Dodge drivers with 90 laps led at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
DODGE IN THE CHASE
• Kurt Busch is currently fourth in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings, 211 points behind the leader. He has finished 6th, 5th, 11th, 8th, 10th, 17th, 30th, 1st and 6th, respectively, in this year’s Chase races.
• Kasey Kahne is currently 10th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings, 476 points behind the leader. He has finished 38th, 8th, 6th, 34th, 3rd, 32nd, 2nd 33rd and 15th, respectively, in this year’s Chase races.
• Busch has led in eight of the nine Chase races this year.
• Two Dodge drivers (Jeremy Mayfield and Ryan Newman) were in the inaugural Chase in 2004.
• In 2005, three Dodge drivers (Mayfield, Newman and Rusty Wallace) made the Chase field with Newman winning the opener at New Hampshire.
• Kahne was the lone Dodge driver in the 2006 Chase field. He finished eighth in the final Chase standings.
• The Chase field was expanded from 10 to 12 drivers in 2007. Busch was the lone Dodge representative; he finished seventh in the final standings.
• There were no Dodges in the 2008 Chase field.
• Busch and Kahne are the Dodge representatives in the 2009 Chase for the Sprint Cup.
THE CHASE – KURT BUSCH AT HOMESTEAD-MIAMI
• Busch started 38th and finished 43rd in last year’s event at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
• Busch clinched the 2004 NSCS championship at HMS.
• In eight starts at HMS, Busch has one win and three top-five finishes. He has led 49 laps.
• Busch is one of only two drivers to win at HMS from the pole position. The second is Bill Elliott.
• Busch has earned two career poles at HMS (2002,’04), most among current Sprint Cup drivers.
• Busch is making his fourth Chase appearance and second driving a Dodge.
• Average start: 16.2 Average finish: 21.5
THE CHASE – KASEY KAHNE AT HOMESTEAD-MIAMI
• Kahne started 18th and finished sixth in last year’s event at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
• In five starts at HMS, Kahne has one top-five and two top-10 finishes.
• Kahne has posted top-five starts in four of his five Homestead races.
• Kahne earned the pole and led 90 laps in 2006 en route to his best HMS finish of fourth. Kahne’s 5.8 starting average in five races at Homestead is the best among drivers with more than one start at the 1.5-mile track.
• Kahne won six races in 2006 and finished eighth in the final standings in his only other Chase appearance.
• Average start: 5.8 Average Finish: 17.6
DID YOU KNOW?
Kurt Busch, No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge, is the youngest pole winner at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Busch earned the pole at the 2004 event at the age of 24 years, 13 months, 3 days.
QUICK FACTS
Kurt Busch (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge) is currently fourth in the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver standings – an improvement of 14 positions from the 2008 season when he was 18th going into the season finale.
DRIVER QUOTES
“Pat (Tryson) has been a great team leader and we’ve had a lot of success together and a ton of fun along the way. While it’ll be sad knowing that Homestead will be our final race together, we’ve pledged to put all emotions aside and focus on scoring one final trip to Victory Lane there this weekend.”
Kurt Busch, No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger
“I feel like that we’ve had a good season. I think you have to have different expectations for where you’re at in your career and where you’re at with your team and company. For where we’re at, the 9 guys, our whole team, myself included, this is probably the year that I’ve crashed the least in any year that I’ve been in NASCAR. There are a lot of things that we’ve done this year as a team that are much better than what we’ve done in the past. It’s just things that we can build on and try to stick together and make progress moving into next season.”
Kasey Kahne, No. 9 Budweiser Dodge
“As the 2009 season comes to a close, it has been a year of progress and learning for myself and the No. 77 team. Overall, we have performed better this season with seven top-10 and three top-five finishes. We also had our first victory in the NASCAR Showdown. The short-track program has been our strong suit this year, but we have made steady progress in our intermediate program all year. I’m looking forward to ending the season on a high note this weekend in Homestead and I am excited for what the 2010 holds for the Mobil 1 team.”
Sam Hornish, No. 77 Mobil 1 Dodge
“I am really looking forward to this weekend. We are bringing a brand new car, which will be pretty cool. Homestead-Miami Speedway is an awesome track. You can run side-by-side because of the progressive banking, which is fun for both the drivers as well as the fans. Running the last three races in the No. 12 Penske Dodge has really been a success. It has given us a head start on next year. I have learned a lot about how we do things at Penske Racing. Coming into a new organization, half the battle is trying to understand the processes and I think I have a firm understanding on how and why we do things. I am really looking forward to the off-season and getting ready to race in Daytona.”
Brad Keselowski, No. 12 Penske Racing Dodge
