I thought I would start a thread about Dodge in the upcoming season. So this thread is for all the Dodge fans!
Dodge needs to rebound amid uncertainty in 2007
Manufacturer at critical turning point following seven-win season
By Jarrod Breeze, NASCAR.COM
January 2, 2007
09:45 AM EST (14:45 GMT)
Six years have passed since Dodge returned to NASCAR.
Bill Elliott won the pole for the 2001 Daytona 500 in an Intrepid, ushering in a new era for the manufacturer in the sport in which it had been missing since its last Cup race in 1985.
Paced by Elliott's fifth-place finish, three Dodges placed in the top 10 that February afternoon. Sterling Marlin was the first to return Dodge to Victory Lane since 1977 when he won in August at Michigan.
Marlin had two of Dodge's four wins that season and finished third in points. The years that followed were even better. A Dodge won three of the first five races in 2002, two by Marlin in Chip Ganassi's No. 40.
In all, Dodge won seven times that season and edged ahead of Pontiac, powered by Cup champion Tony Stewart, for third place in the manufacturer standings.
It was runner-up to Chevrolet in 2003 on the strength of Roger Penske's move from Ford to Dodge. Ryan Newman had eight of the manufacturer's nine victories that season.
The Chase years haven't been as kind. Dodge won only four times in 2004 and despite having three drivers in the Chase in 2005, had only three victories that season.
Take away one driver, Kasey Kahne, in 2006, and the wheels almost came completely off, despite edging Ford by one point for second place in the manufacturer standings. Kahne, with six of Dodge's seven wins last year, was the manufacturer's only driver in the Chase.
The highest any Dodge driver has finished in the Chase is sixth, by Newman in 2005.
Since Dodge switched from the Intrepid to the Charger in 2005, and in turn hoping to rekindle a bygone era, a debate has raged as to which model works best. And the results have varied.
Kahne led the series in wins, and his six poles equaled Penske newcomer Kurt Busch. Kahne, who led all Dodge drivers in top-fives with 12 and top-10s with 19, finished eighth in the final point standings.
Busch, in his first year in Penske's No. 2 after winning 14 races and a Cup title in a Jack Roush Ford the previous four seasons, struggled as did teammate Newman. Busch joined Kahne as the only Dodge driver to win a race and record double-digit top-10s (12).
Busch finished 16th in points, two spots ahead of Newman, who suffered through his worst of five full seasons. Throughout the year, Newman was highly critical of the Charger.
Since the edict that Dodge would only race Chargers beginning with the eighth race in 2006, only 57 times in 29 races did a Dodge finish in the top 10. In two races -- at Indianapolis and Atlanta in October -- a Dodge failed to crack the top 10, both times its best finish 12th.
The Charger did have its bright spots, however. On two occasions it had four cars finish in the top 10 -- at Michigan in June and Martinsville in October. At Pocono in June, five Dodges were among the top 12, including three in the top 10.
But the overall struggles of Dodge can be seen in the owner standings. The final few races came down to which Dodge would be left out of the top 35 in owner points. Dodges occupied three of the final four spots in the top 35, with Kyle Petty edging out the Chevrolet of Marlin for 35th place.
Jeremy Mayfield, who along with Newman represented Dodge in the first two Chases, floundered and was released mid-season and replaced by Elliott Sadler. Ray Evernham's No. 19 finished 34th in owner points, with only two top-10s to its credit, or discredit, as the case may be.
In fact, other than Kahne, the highest-ranking Dodge driver in 2006 will be behind the wheel of a Chevrolet in '07. Casey Mears finished 14th in points, one spot ahead of Brian Vickers, the driver he will replace in Hendrick Motorsports' No. 25.
And now the competition gets tougher. Toyota enters the picture for 2007, with a seemingly endless amount of resources expected to test the financial limits of the current manufacturers.
And then there's the Car of Tomorrow. It remains to be seen how that will play out, not only for Dodge but all the manufacturers.
The 2007 season is shaping up as a pivotal year in NASCAR. Dodge needs to step up.
The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.
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Dodge may run different model for COT events
Chevy has already announced they will run Impala in '07 COT races
By Dave Rodman, NASCAR.COM
HAMPTON, Ga. -- Dodge may follow the example Chevrolet announced on Friday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, racing two different car models in the 2007 Nextel Cup Series, officials with DaimlerChrysler and NASCAR said on Saturday.
Chevrolet announced it would race the Impala SS in the 16 races next season designated for the Car of Tomorrow, while maintaining the current Monte Carlo SS in the other 20 points races.
Chevrolet ultimately plans to use only the Impala by 2009, when the COT will be deployed for the full season.
Mike Accavitti, director, Dodge Motorsports said DaimlerChrysler was contemplating doing a similar program, using the Charger for the "standard" races. He declined to confirm the Avenger as the proposed COT.
"Looking at what Chevy announced yesterday, from a marketing guy's perspective, it's a very good idea on how to leverage the sport," Accavitti said on Saturday. "But that's all I'm going to talk about."
Accavitti said Dodge had made inquiries within the proper timeframe to be able to compete with an alternate COT model.
"If we decide to go that way, NASCAR's going to have to approve it, and the timeline on that is really between us and NASCAR," Accavitti said. "As I said, I looked at what Chevy did and it's a very good idea on how you leverage NASCAR into that mainstream to mean more to those consumers.
"So that's probably a very good idea to take [that path]."
Nextel Cup Series director John Darby confirmed Dodge's plan, but also declined to cite a specific model.
"Yes they do have time, and they have met the criteria for submitting a possible Car of Tomorrow that would be an alternate to the Charger," Darby said. "In fairness to Dodge, I won't name [model] names, but we're aware of the possibility of a change and all the rest of that.
"The 2007 Charger has been submitted and approved for use as a current, standard car, and we have been put on notice and have looked at some things with Dodge with the possibility that, depending on their marketing platforms and production schedules, that a new model could be involved in the Car of Tomorrow.
"Nobody at NASCAR wants to rain on their parade, so we'll let Dodge make that announcement."
A Ford Racing representative said that manufacturer had no plans to deviate from using the Fusion as both the standard car and the COT.
Lee White, senior vice president/general manager of Toyota Racing Development, said that while at one point early in the game Toyota had thought about using a different model in the Busch Series, there was never any plan to use anything but the Camry across the board in Nextel Cup.
"It potentially might have been the Solara," White said of the proposed Busch car. "But with the time constraints being what they are, we never even progressed beyond some discussion at the company level, of doing that.
"Frankly, at this point it's just simpler and easier to be like everyone else and to run the Camry in Busch and in Cup.
"There's no intention or even thought, in my mind, being given by anyone in the company to splitting the Car of Tomorrow off and running anything but the Camry."
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Dodge may run different model for COT events
Chevy has already announced they will run Impala in '07 COT races
By Dave Rodman, NASCAR.COM
HAMPTON, Ga. -- Dodge may follow the example Chevrolet announced on Friday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, racing two different car models in the 2007 Nextel Cup Series, officials with DaimlerChrysler and NASCAR said on Saturday.
Chevrolet announced it would race the Impala SS in the 16 races next season designated for the Car of Tomorrow, while maintaining the current Monte Carlo SS in the other 20 points races.
Chevrolet ultimately plans to use only the Impala by 2009, when the COT will be deployed for the full season.
Mike Accavitti, director, Dodge Motorsports said DaimlerChrysler was contemplating doing a similar program, using the Charger for the "standard" races. He declined to confirm the Avenger as the proposed COT.
"Looking at what Chevy announced yesterday, from a marketing guy's perspective, it's a very good idea on how to leverage the sport," Accavitti said on Saturday. "But that's all I'm going to talk about."
Accavitti said Dodge had made inquiries within the proper timeframe to be able to compete with an alternate COT model.
"If we decide to go that way, NASCAR's going to have to approve it, and the timeline on that is really between us and NASCAR," Accavitti said. "As I said, I looked at what Chevy did and it's a very good idea on how you leverage NASCAR into that mainstream to mean more to those consumers.
"So that's probably a very good idea to take [that path]."
Nextel Cup Series director John Darby confirmed Dodge's plan, but also declined to cite a specific model.
"Yes they do have time, and they have met the criteria for submitting a possible Car of Tomorrow that would be an alternate to the Charger," Darby said. "In fairness to Dodge, I won't name [model] names, but we're aware of the possibility of a change and all the rest of that.
"The 2007 Charger has been submitted and approved for use as a current, standard car, and we have been put on notice and have looked at some things with Dodge with the possibility that, depending on their marketing platforms and production schedules, that a new model could be involved in the Car of Tomorrow.
"Nobody at NASCAR wants to rain on their parade, so we'll let Dodge make that announcement."
A Ford Racing representative said that manufacturer had no plans to deviate from using the Fusion as both the standard car and the COT.
Lee White, senior vice president/general manager of Toyota Racing Development, said that while at one point early in the game Toyota had thought about using a different model in the Busch Series, there was never any plan to use anything but the Camry across the board in Nextel Cup.
"It potentially might have been the Solara," White said of the proposed Busch car. "But with the time constraints being what they are, we never even progressed beyond some discussion at the company level, of doing that.
"Frankly, at this point it's just simpler and easier to be like everyone else and to run the Camry in Busch and in Cup.
"There's no intention or even thought, in my mind, being given by anyone in the company to splitting the Car of Tomorrow off and running anything but the Camry."
*cough* Challenger *cough*
New Nose should help a lot in the non COT races. I see Dodge doing well, with a resurgence of Ganassi, thanks to Juan Pablo Montoya and Reed Sorenson.
/Was there at the August Michigan race that Sterling won
//Man was it really wet and rainy
Sadler, Busch and Montoya Usher in the Dodge Avenger Era for NASCAR Competition
DETROIT (January 9, 2007) -- Dodge’s NASCAR stars Elliott Sadler, driver of the No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge, Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge and Juan Pablo Montoya, driver of the No. 42 Havoline Texaco Dodge, joined Dodge executives today to unveil the new Dodge Avenger production car and its racing counterpart – the Dodge Avenger Car of Tomorrow.
“It was really cool to be part of today’s announcement,” said Elliott Sadler. “We’re looking forward to seeing the Dodge Avenger on track later this year. It’s exciting to get to come to Detroit and introduce the Avenger. Hopefully, we’ll get to take it to victory lane later this year.”
The details on the new Dodge Avenger for NASCAR competition, along with photos of today’s event at the Detroit Auto Show, are available for www.dodgemotorsportsmedia.com. For information please contact Debby Robinson at drobinson@clearblue.biz or 312.505.4336.
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Dodge introduced the Avenger as its Car of Tomorrow model on January 9 in Detroit. A little more than a week later the Avenger was turning heads at Daytona when Kurt Busch topped the speed charts on the last day of testing at 191.188 mph, more than 4 mph faster than with what Busch refers to as the CORN--Car of Right Now. Paul Menard's No. 15 Dale Earnhardt Inc. Chevrolet ran 187.099 mph on Wednesday afternoon. "It was a nice shakedown for us to get ahead of the competition," Busch said after the run. The Avenger makes its debut in competition on March 25 at Bristol Motor Speedway. . . .
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By Jerry Bonkowski
Yahoo! Sports
March 9, 2007 11:35 pm EDT
LAS VEGAS – If plastic surgery – particularly a nose job – is good enough for celebrities like Michael Jackson and Joan Rivers – Dodge figured it was worth putting its celebrated Charger under the knife, as well.
The NASCAR-approved offseason surgery was done to potentially make the Charger's nose more aerodynamic and more competitive, especially on the 1½-mile tracks where the manufacturer struggled at times last season. The bandages were taken off Friday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and what a beautiful site it was to behold for the folks back in Auburn Hills, Mich.
Where Dodge oftentimes looked like an ugly duckling with the way it struggled on mid-range tracks much of last season – first with the old Intrepid nose and then an all-new Charger nose that ultimately proved to need a lot more work – it appeared absolutely perfect during qualifying for Sunday's Nextel Cup race.
"It's awesome," said Elliott Sadler, who will start on the inside of the second row in Sunday's Cup race here at Vegas, Sadler was one of six Dodge drivers to qualify in the top seven spots Friday.
"Definitely in qualifying, Dodge was the car to beat," said polesitter Kasey Kahne, driver of the No. 9 Dodge. "There's a lot of them up there."
It doesn't hurt that Sunday's race – UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 – is co-sponsored by Dodge's parent company.
"It's a DaimlerChrysler race and we wanted to have a good starting spot for Sunday and a good pit road selection and we were able to do that," Sadler added. "With this being the Chrysler race, [having] two front rows of just Dodges is a big deal."
Kahne led the Dodge barrage by earning the pole with a hot lap of 184.856 mph, followed by Dodge drivers David Stremme, Sadler and rookie Juan Pablo Montoya. Chevrolet driver Jeff Burton will start fifth, followed by the Dodges of Scott Riggs and Reed Sorenson. Las Vegas native Kurt Busch rounds out the top 10 in his No. 2 Dodge.
Dodge won seven of last season's 36 Nextel Cup races, but only four were on 1½mile surfaces – with all four won by Kahne. Those four victories not only helped establish Kahne as a consistent winner, they also helped him eventually lead the series with six overall wins. He also tied Busch with a series-leading six poles.
"Evernham Motorsports figured it out early in the year how to make the Charger to work last year and we had some poles and ran up early in the last year," said Kahne, who amassed a series-high six wins and 12 poles in 2006.
While Kahne and Evernham Motorsports obviously figured out what to do with the Charger's nose, their counterparts at Penske Racing and Chip Ganassi Racing just could not get on-track, both literally and figuratively, and wound up collectively struggling for most of 2006.
"Last year, if you got back in traffic, you were struggling to get back to the front, to have a little bit cleaner air," Kahne said.
Once NASCAR approved offseason modifications to make the Charger nose more aero-friendly and keep it stuck to the track, the future suddenly started looking much brighter. Friday's qualifying was as strong an indicator of that.
"The intermediate stuff is a big improvement," Stremme said of his own team's progress. "We're not where we want to be, but it's still a big improvement."
Kahne was equally as happy at winning the pole, but was a bit more realistic in his expectations of what Friday's doings will mean for Sunday's race.
"It's qualifying and qualifying is cool when you're on the pole," Kahne said. "Other than that, it doesn't mean a whole lot on what's going to go on Sunday."
Still, Friday's qualifying effort proved that Kahne is more than ready to pick up where he left off last season on 1½-mile tracks, potentially starting with his first career Las Vegas Cup win.
"I think the Dodge Motorsports Dodges and all Dodge teams are just a little bit more equal," Kahne said. "It seems like everybody's figured out what we did last year. We have a new nose, and that's part of the reason why maybe it's because it's easier to figure out."
Veteran motorsports writer Jerry Bonkowski is Yahoo! Sports' NASCAR columnist. Send Jerry a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast.
Updated on Friday, Mar 9, 2007 11:35 pm EST
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Dodge Avenger to Debut on Sunday at NASCAR’s Fastest Short Track
Dodge Avenger to Debut on Sunday at NASCAR’s Fastest Short Track
Mar 21, 2007
AUBURN HILLS, MI (March 21, 2007) -- The Dodge Avenger, which joins the Dodge Charger in NASCAR NEXTEL Cup competition this season, makes its racing debut Sunday in the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway – the first NASCAR Car of Tomorrow (COT) race.
Preparing for NASCAR’s 16 COT races in 2007 has kept the candle burning at both ends for most NASCAR NEXTEL Cup teams since the end of last season. The Avenger, Dodge’s racing version of the COT, has been tested at tracks throughout the country getting ready for the ultimate test in Thunder Valley, Tennessee this coming weekend.
The all-new 2008 Dodge Avenger, the street-legal version of this great new race car, is a mid-size sedan combining bold, aggressive Dodge styling with innovative interior features, high-levels of safety and reliability, exhilarating performance and excellent fuel efficiency of 30 miles per gallon (mpg) on the highway (32 mpg based on 2007 EPA fuel economy standards). Production of the all-new 2008 Dodge Avenger began at the Sterling Heights (Michigan) Assembly Plant in February and will start to arrive in dealer showrooms next month.
NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow program is a collaborative effort by the sanctioning body, manufacturers, teams and industry suppliers to develop a safer, less expensive race car using a more common design. The common design will debut on a very uncommon track where the winner is often determined by survival of the fittest as well as fastest.
The intimidating .533-mile Tennessee oval is the highest-banked and fastest short track on the circuit. It’s banked 36 degrees in the corners and 16 degrees in the straight-aways. Five hundred high-speed laps at Bristol are not for the feint of heart.
“Dodge is ready for the challenge at Bristol, and we think the Dodge Avenger is the car to beat,” said Mike Accavitti, Director - Dodge Motorsports and SRT Marketing, Chrysler Group. “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,” Accavitti added.
Dodge drivers also feel the new Dodge Avenger has great potential for the future.
Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 12 Alltel Dodge Avenger, holds the qualifying record at Bristol with a sub-15-second lap of 128.709 mph set on March 21, 2003. Newman and his Penske Racing teammate Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Avenger, joined about 50 other teams for a COT test at Bristol in late February.
Many Dodge teams were pleased and eager for a return visit to see how their Dodge Avengers stack up against other Cars of Tomorrow in race conditions.
“You can test it all you want, but we’re not going to know what we’re really dealing with until we race it,” David Stremme, driver of the No. 40 Coors Light Dodge said. “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.”
Busch won last year’s Food City 500 in only his second start in the Penske Racing Dodge. The 2004 series champion has won five of the last 10 races at the .533-mile track, and No. 2 Miller Lite crew chief Roy McCauley said he’d bet on his driver to win a dump truck race at Bristol.
“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,” McCauley said. “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.”
Former Bristol winner Elliott Sadler, driver of the No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge, is chomping at the bit to become the first driver to win in a Dodge Avenger and also the first NASCAR driver to take the COT to victory lane.
“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,” Sadler said. “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,” added Sadler. “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. “
Some drivers contend that it will be more difficult to pass at Bristol with the COT, subsequently resulting in more caution flags in the 500-lap event. Other drivers maintain that the COT will not get a true test of its potential until later in the season. Kasey Kahne, driver of the No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge, says the Dodge Avenger 500 on Mother’s Day weekend in May in Darlington, S.C., will provide the first real test for the COT.
“That will be the first bigger track we have with the Avenger,” Kahne said. “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.”
Like Bristol, Darlington demands the most out of man and machine. The aerodynamics of the Dodge Avenger might not be tested on the short tracks at Bristol and Martinsville, but drivers will become familiar with the car that’s scheduled to compete in half of the final 10 Chase races.
Bristol will provide the first hurdle for the COT, and that’s just fine with Busch.
“I just always get a spring in my step when we come back to Bristol,” Busch said. “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.”
-- Dodge Motorsports
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Dodge in the 2007 Season
Dodge Avenger
Dodge Avenger to Debut on Sunday at NASCAR’s Fastest Short Track
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