Friday, October 28, 2011

Driver Chassis Selections for Martinsville

Note: Not all teams list their chassis in PR releases

#1-Jamie McMurray: Crew Chief Kevin "Bono" Manion and the #1 McDonald's team will be bringing chassis #1116 to the Tums Fast Relief 500. This chassis was used for the first time last month at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

#2-Brad Keselowski: will race chassis PRS-803 during Sunday's Tums Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway. This is a new chassis to the #2 fleet.

#6-David Ragan: Primary: RK-747 Last ran Martinsville - finished eighth; Backup: RK-755 Last ran Richmond - finished fourth

#5-Mark Martin: Crew chief Lance McGrew has chosen Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 5-651 for Sunday's race at Martinsville. This is the same chassis Martin drove to a 10th-place finish at Martinsville in April.

#9-Marcos Ambrose: The #9 RPM team has prepared chassis No. 754 for the 500-lap race at Martinsville Speedway. This Stanley Ford Fusion has been run previously this season at the Martinsville spring race and both Dover (Del.) International Speedway and Pocono (Pa.) Raceway events.

#14-Tony Stewart: Chassis No. 14-587: This car made its debut in March 2010 at Martinsville Speedway, where it qualified fifth and finished 26th. Prior to Martinsville, Chassis No. 14- 587 never turned a wheel on the racetrack. With a new body honed in the wind tunnel, it was tested at The Milwaukee Mile June 1 in preparation for its second career start in June at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon. There, Chassis No. 14-587 earned a hard-fought second-place finish, for after starting 25th, it fell to 33rd after a lap 36 pit miscue on the team's first stop. Two late-race cautions allowed Stewart to regain his lost track position, and with a savvy two-tire pit call, Stewart wheeled Chassis No. 14-587 to pass second-place Kurt Busch on the penultimate lap. The car returned to New Hampshire for the first event of the 10-race Chase for the Championship, where in its third career start, it qualified third before leading three times for 100 laps. But while leading with less than two laps to go, it ran out of fuel. Stewart coasted around the 1.058-mile oval for the final circuit of the 300-lap race and finished 24th, the last driver on the lead lap. Clint Bowyer, who served as Stewart's primary competition for much of the race, wound up with the victory. Chassis No. 14-587 revisited Martinsville for round six of the Chase, where it qualified sixth and rallied back from two pit-road miscues during the race, but a flat right-front tire with less than 10 laps remaining relegated it to a 24th-place finish. With another new body, this car made its first start of 2011 and fifth overall at Phoenix International Raceway in February. It started 18th and led four times for 59 laps before an ill-timed caution period late in the race jettisoned solid pit strategy and left it with a seventh-place finish. Chassis No. 14- 587's second start of 2011 came at Richmond International Raceway back in April, where it qualified 31st and rallied its way to a ninth-place finish. The car sat idle until returning to Richmond in early September for it seventh career start where it logged its third straight top-10 finish.

#17-Matt Kenseth: RK-790 (brand new chassis)

#18-Kyle Busch: Chassis No. 315: This chassis will make its fourth-ever start in Sunday's TUMS Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. In its first outing in July's Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Busch started a distant 29th but still managed to bring home a respectable 10th-place finish. Next up, No. 315 headed to Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, where Busch started 17th and went on to score his fourth win of the season in the Pure Michigan 400. In its most recent outing, Busch started eighth and finished a respectable 11th in the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon.

#20-Joey Logano: Chassis No. 309: This chassis will make its fourth-ever start in Sunday's TUMS Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. In its first outing in June's 5-Hour Energy 500 at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway, Logano started 19th and finished 11th. Next up, No. 309 headed to Kentucky Speedway in Sparta for the inaugural Sprint Cup Series race at the 1.5-mile oval, where Logano started 15th and went on to finish 14th. In its most recent outing, Logano started 16th in the September race at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway and appeared headed for a solid top-15 finish midway through the race, but engine trouble forced him to
retire on lap 296 of 400 and he placed 35th.

#22-Kurt Busch: will be racing the "PRS-755" Shell-Pennzoil Dodge Charger at Martinsville Speedway this weekend. This will be the first race for the "Double-Deuce" team with this chassis. However, teammate Brad Keselowski drove this car, dressed in the Miller Lite #2 colors, to a sixth-place finish from a 14th-place start in the Sept. 4 Advocare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

#27-Paul Menard: will pilot chassis No. 349 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. This #27 Chevy Impala was a brand new addition to the RCR fleet for the 2011 season and was last seen on track at Martinsville Speedway in April, where Menard started 16th and was forced to settle for a 38th-place result after on-track damages caused the motor to expire, prematurely ending the day for the team.

#29-Kevin Harvick: will race chassis No. 332 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. It is the same chassis Harvick drove to his first NSCS win at Martinsville Speedway in April. The No. 29 team has utilized this Chevrolet a total of six times so far in 2011 earning two wins (Martinsville and Richmond International Raceway) and three top-five finishes. Harvick finished 12th at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in the team's most recent race with this car.

#31-Jeff Burton: will race chassis No. 317 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. This #31 Chevy has seen on-track action on three previous occasions this season. The first competitive laps came at Bristol Motor Speedway in March where Burton started 20th and finished in the 17th position. The South Boston, Va., native drove this RCR entry to an 11th-place finish at Dover International Speedway in May and a 33rd-place finish at Pocono Raceway in June.

#33-Clint Bowyer: will pilot chassis No. 324 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. This Chevy, built new in 2010, accumulated two top-10 finishes during the in 2010 NSCS season at Auto Club Speedway (started-13th, finished-second) and Texas Motor Speedway (started-7th, finished-7th). The five-time Sprint Cup Series race winner also drove this racer twice in 2011 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (started-28th, finished-15th) and most recently at New Hampshire Motor Speedway when Bowyer ran out of gas while leading with two laps remaining, settling for a 26th-place finish.

#36-Dave Blaney: will pilot the No. 910 chassis this weekend at the Virginia track. He most recently piloted the chassis at Dover International Speedway. He also drove the chassis in California, Texas, Darlington, both races at Pocono and Bristol in August.

#39-Ryan Newman: This will be the fourth start for Chassis No. 39-645 this season and the second start for the chassis at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. The chassis made its first start in April at Martinsville, where Newman started second and finished 20th, two laps down. Newman led three laps and was in the top-10 for much of the first 300 laps of the 500-lap race, but a broken header pipe and a flat left-rear tire caused him to lose two laps. The next start for Chassis 39-645 was in July at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, where Newman started on the pole and led 118 of 301 laps en route to his 15th career Sprint Cup Series victory. The last on-track appearance for this chassis came in September at Loudon, where Newman started on the pole and led the first 62 laps before finishing a disappointing 25th. A cut tire with less than five laps remaining dropped Newman from 11th to 25th.

#42-Juan Pablo Montoya: Crew Chief Jim Pohlman and the #42 Target team are bringing chassis #1110 to Martinsville Speedway this weekend. This chassis was last run in September at New Hampshire, where Montoya started 31st and finished ninth. The chassis was also used in the first race at Loudon in July, and the first Martinsville event where Montoya finished fourth, overcoming a 27th-place qualifying effort.

#43-A.J. Allmendinger: The #43 Richard Petty Motorsports team has prepared chassis No. 729 for this weekend's event at Martinsville Speedway. This AdvoCare Ford Fusion was run previously this season at Phoenix Raceway, Martinsville, Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, Pocono (Pa.) Raceway and in New Hampshire.

#48-Jimmie Johnson: will drive chassis No. 653 in Sunday's race. He finished 11th in that chassis at Martinsville in April. Johnson finished 31st in backup chassis No. 590 at Richmond International raceway in September.

#88-Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: Crew chief Steve Letarte will unload Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 88-654 for this weekend's race at Martinsville Speedway. This will be the second time that Earnhardt has raced the car, which he drove earlier this season to a second-place finish at Martinsville.

#99-Carl Edwards: RK-791 This is a new car

- compiled by Jayski.com

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