This year's season of the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series, specifically the first ever NASCAR Car of Tomorrow (COT) race will be the stage for the racing debut of Chrysler Group's all-new 2008 Dodge Avenger. After several test drives for the 2008 Dodge Avenger, the team is now heading in the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee to put the car on its first racing appearance next week, followed by 15 other racing events of the NASCAR Car of Tomorrow.
Mike Accavitti, Director of Dodge Motorsports and SRT Marketing, Chrysler Group said:
“Dodge is ready for the challenge at Bristol, and we think the Dodge Avenger is the car to beat. We believe that the Avenger can bring Dodge a championship in the future, and we can’t wait to start that campaign this weekend."
“And, for the first Dodge driver to win a COT race, we will donate an all-new Dodge Avenger to the charity of his choice,” he added.
The 2008 Dodge Avenger is equipped with a Word Engine that offers an improved fuel efficiency and low exhaust emissions without affecting the car's powerful performance. The 2008 Dodge Avenger also comes with quality interior parts like those VW GTI parts found on the VW GTI model.
The drivers of major Dodge teams are excited on the racing debut of the new 2008 Dodge Avenger. They are pleased to join the 2008 Dodge Avenger at the NASCAR Car of Tomorrow racing events. Here is what they said.
David Stremme, driver of the No. 40 Coors Light Dodge:
“You can test it all you want, but we’re not going to know what we’re really dealing with until we race it. Some of the guys have been complaining about it, but I’m anxious to race it. Anything can and usually does happen at Bristol, so it should be a very interesting race for the competitors and a very entertaining one for the fans.”
No. 2 Miller Lite Crew Chief Roy McCauley:
“With the Avenger there’s a large window of opportunity, and the people that do their homework the most will exploit that window of opportunity initially. The garage area is full of the smartest racers in the world, and they will catch up. Everybody will catch up, but I think a couple of cars will be dominant initially because they’ve done their homework ahead of time.”
Elliott Sadler, driver of the No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge and former Bristol winner:
“I think we’re all excited about getting the Avenger on the racetrack for the first time and to carry it to Bristol of all places, we’re definitely going to test its durability and how it holds up under pressure. Bristol is an action-packed race, and it’s always a tough race. Being the first COT race in the history of NASCAR makes it even more exciting."
“Everybody will bring their best stuff. You want to get started on the right foot. The Avenger is a great tool. We feel like Dodge has done a great job giving us everything to work with correctly. Hopefully, we can put it all into motion and have a good weekend." he added
Kasey Kahne, driver of the No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge:
“That will be the first bigger track we have with the Avenger. It’s going to be an eye-opening weekend. It’s going to be tough to make that car work there. It’s going to be much different than what it’s been in the past, but I’m looking forward to the challenge. I think Darlington is going to be a bigger change in the way cars run than Bristol. I think Bristol will be similar to what it’s been in the past with the COT, and Martinsville will be similar. Darlington will be a big change, and that’s when all 43 drivers and teams will figure out the cars are a lot different than what we’ve been racing.”
Lastly, Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Avenger who won last year’s Food City 500 commented:
“I just always get a spring in my step when we come back to Bristol. I enjoy this place like no other. At this place, 500 laps is without a doubt the hottest ticket in NASCAR. We’re definitely excited about the Dodge Avenger and what it can do for our team. Having the first COT race at Bristol will be just like jumping into a full tank of sharks and swimming around with them. It’ll probably come down to survival.”
Jeff Green, the driver of No. 66 Best Buy Chevrolet Monte Carlo, spent Monday and Tuesday testing at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in preparation for the much-anticipated Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup event on the Memorial Day weekend.
Green, a stock car racer in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series, unofficially posted the eighth fastest time of the afternoon session, with a lap of 30.034 seconds at an average speed of 179.796 miles per hour. Green’s No. 66 Best Buy Chevrolet was the fourth-fastest among all Chevrolet teams on Monday. The car is equipped with refined race parts far from the performance of the Chevrolet pickup ring & pinion gear set.
It also was announced that the No. 66 Best Buy Racing team will take Chassis No. 409 to Darlington Raceway this weekend. The team tested with this chassis at Bristol Motor Speedway in March, and competed with it in the debut race of the Car of Tomorrow at Bristol. Green qualified ninth and finished sixth in said race tied with a sixth place run at the Phoenix International Raceway. It was his best finish for this year.
Green's 1990 Nashville Speedway USA championship led to his first venture in NASCAR. For several years, he raced part-time in the Busch Series before thriving as a full-time driver in 1995 and 1996. He then went through a two-year NEXTEL Cup stint with Diamond Ridge Motorsports and Felix Sabates. Green returned to the Busch Series in 1999. In three seasons, he won the 2000 championship by 616 points, a series record which remained until last year. Additionally, he finished second twice.
When asked if he is still enjoying the Car of Tomorrow, Green answered: “Absolutely. We’ve got to work on getting more rear grip, which is what I was dealing with early on at Richmond, but our lap times were very competitive. We’re working on getting our brake issues fixed. I know Harold (Holly) and the guys would love to have had the whole week to focus on brakes before this weekend, so the test at Lowe’s (Motor Speedway) really added to their workload. It’s going to be a busy couple of weeks, especially when you add in the Dover test, but at least we’ve got a couple of races in Charlotte coming up and the guys will get to sleep in their own beds.”
How cool is it as a driver to have gone to Victory Lane at “The Lady In Black?” Green has this to say: “It’s an amazing feeling to win there. It’s one of those tracks that you saw on TV when you were growing up. Daytona, Bristol and Darlington - those are the “heritage” tracks where you really want to win. I mean, you want to win at every track, but winning at a place like Darlington is just special. It’s icing on the cake.”
Green is not the only excited person in the team. Harold Holly has this to say: “All those historical tracks like Darlington and Bristol, all those places, that’s something you can really go back and cherish. That day was a really special day, because Jeff and (Matt) Kenseth were really duking it out on the track. We had been leading that race and Kenseth got by us on a restart and took off. We got another caution and beat him out of the pits, and Jeff figured out what Kenseth had done to get by him the time before, and they had a pretty good duel going there at the end. We were really fortunate to win that race.”
Holly noted, “Bristol is one of the tracks where we haven’t won. We finished second there a couple of times. Bristol and Michigan (International Speedway) are probably the biggest two. Michigan is such a big track, and the surface is so challenging to get a hold on. If you win that race, you’ve really done your homework and your car’s right, your crew is right and it just takes everything being put together to win at a place like that.”
|
|