SRT Motorsports - Dodge Sprint Cup Series Race Advance - Watkins Glen

August 7, 2012 , WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. -  For Immediate Release
SRT Motorsports - NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Race Advance
Finger Lakes 355
Watkins Glen International
Sunday, Aug. 12, 2012
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www.srtmotorsports.com

DODGE AT WATKINS GLEN INTERNATIONAL
· Dodge is seeking its first win at the very fast, seven-turn, 2.45-mile Watkins Glen road course.
· Brad Keselowski finished second in his No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge in last year’s visit to The Glen, his second Sprint Cup start at the track.
· Dodge started 1-2 at the 2006 Sprint Cup race at Watkins Glen; Kurt Busch started from the pole, led 38 laps before finishing 19th. Kasey Kahne started second in the Dodge Dealers Dodge from Evernham Motorsports.

DODGE NEWS AND NOTES
· Dodge’s Brad Keselowski has recorded five consecutive top-10 finishes in the Sprint Cup Series. He won at Kentucky, finished eighth at Daytona, fifth at New Hampshire, ninth at Indianapolis and fourth at Pocono.
Keselowski is seventh in the series point standings, the highest he’s been ranked all season.
· Dodge’s Sam Hornish will make his eighth Sprint Cup start at Pocono. He scored a career-best finish of fourth in the No. 77 Dodge Charger at the August race in 2009.

THE DODGE BOYS
· Dodge drivers have recorded 215 wins in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
· Dodge teams have posted 55 victories since the manufacturer’s return to NASCAR’s premier series in 2001 after being out of the sport since 1977.
· Dodge has posted wins each season since its return in 2001 including seven wins twice (2002 and 2006).

DODGE HISTORICAL DATA
· 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: Brad Keselowski, 06/30/2012, Quaker State 400, Kentucky Speedway, 145.607 mph avg. speed.

DID YOU KNOW?
· The Dodge Charger street car is the only rear-wheel-drive model in Sprint Cup Series competition that is available with a V-8 engine.
· Follow Dodge Motorsports on Twitter @teamdodge.
· Brad Keselowski win at Pocono in 2011 came after he had fractured his left ankle earlier in the week in a testing accident at Road Atlanta.
· The Dodge Charger street car is the only rear-wheel-drive model in Sprint Cup Series competition that is available with a V-8 engine.

TURNING BACK THE CLOCK
The 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event at Watkins Glen was delayed after rain postponed the green flag until Monday. Racing on a broken left ankle suffered during testing a week prior at Road Atlanta, Dodge’s Brad Keselowski was looking to play Superman and lead Penske Racing to back-to-back Sprint Cup wins (he won the week before at Pocono). Starting 12th, Keselowski raced inside the top five the final 52 laps, battling leaders Kyle Busch and Marcos Ambrose. A caution on lap 87 of the scheduled 90 circuits extended the race for a green-white-checkered finish. On the restart, Keselowski and Ambrose charged off into Turn 1 with Ambrose taking the race lead shortly after en route to his first Sprint Cup win. Keselowski finished second.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
· 8 – Number of jet dryers available for track drying this weekend.
· 19 – Number of Sprint Cup races that have been won from a top-five starting position at The Glen (in 29 races).
90 – Number of scheduled laps for Sunday’s Cup race.

FROM THE CREW CHIEFS
“I’m a big fan of Watkins Glen. Going there brings back a lot of memories from my first visits to the track when I was a kid. I still have some family and friends that are in the area, so it’s good to see them while there. The Glen is a high-speed course that is well-suited for stock cars. There is actually some banking in some of the corners and you don’t have to be as technical as you do at Sonoma. You really have to pay attention to forward drive throughout the race at the Glen. The goal is to find a balance that will allow you to pit early and also race hard at the end.”
Paul Wolfe, crew chief, No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger R/T

“I am really looking forward to working with Sam this weekend at Watkins Glen. He had a really strong race weekend in his last visit to a road course. He started eighth, led laps and finished a solid fifth at Road America back in June. I think he can bring some of that momentum with him to Watkins Glen this weekend.”
Todd Gordon, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger R/T

DODGE QUOTES:
“Watkins Glen is an extremely fast road course. It’s not nearly as technical as Sonoma and it doesn’t require as much finesse, but you still have to hit your marks. At the Glen, you need to concentrate on where you can brake heavily and where you can put the power down when you need to so that you carry big runs down the straightaway. To me, Watkins Glen is more of a stock car driver’s road course. You can throw your car around a little more than Sonoma, especially with the new runoff areas because you don’t have to worry about getting stuck in the sand traps anymore. I’m still learning how to be a better road course racer, but it’s starting to click with me. I was really proud of our second-place run at the Glen last year. Hopefully we can be one spot better on Sunday.”
Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger

“My early background was pretty much all about racing on road courses. It was like 90 percent road courses and only 10 percent ovals. I really like Watkins Glen. The corners there are fast and lead into the straightaways, so it is all about momentum. We are really looking forward to being in a Cup car again there this weekend.”
Sam Hornish Jr., No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger

FROM SRT MOTORSPORTS
“We’ve spent an intense five months working to identify and evaluate all options for our future involvement in NASCAR. A number of opportunities emerged, and our team worked diligently to put a structure together to fit our overall business and competitive objectives. While we have been pleased and enthused with the amount of interest from teams and sponsors over that time, in the end, we simply couldn’t develop the right structure. It’s an extremely difficult decision to know that we won’t be there for our fans next season. It’s important to note that we have not lost focus on 2012 or the commitment to our partnership with Penske Racing in both the Sprint Cup Series and Nationwide Series this season.”
Ralph Gilles, President & CEO, Street and Racing Technology and Motorsports