Thursday, September 27, 2012

Driver Chassis Selections for 2012 Dover AAA 400

Kahne or Kenseth could give the 48 a run for his money Sunday (Getty)
#1-Jamie McMurray: Crew Chief Kevin "Bono" Manion and the No. 1 McDonald's team will use Chassis #1109 for Dover. Chassis #1109 has been used previously this season at Atlanta finishing 24th.

#2-Brad Keselowski: The No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger team will race chassis PRS-813 during Sunday's AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway (DIS). Keselowski last raced this chassis to a fourth-place finish at Pocono Raceway last month. It has been updated to the current Penske Racing specification.
#5-Kasey Kahne: Crew chief Kenny Francis has selected Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 5-717 for Sunday's race at Dover. Kahne has raced this car to three top-10 finishes in three starts this season, including an eighth-place result in April at Kansas Speedway, a track in the Chase.
#6-Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.: RK-696 - primary - last ran at Bristol- finished second. RK-708 - backup - new Nationwide chassis.
#9-Marcos Ambrose: The No. 9 RPM team has prepared chassis No. 743 for this weekend's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Race at Dover International Speedway. This DEWALT Ford was run previously this season at Bristol and Darlington.
#14-Tony Stewart: Chassis No. 14-708: This car debuted in May in the Southern 500 at Darlington (S.C) Raceway where Stewart rallied Chassis No. 14-708 from its 17th-place starting spot to finish third. Its second start came in June at Dover (Del.) International Speedway. It endured a much different outing, qualifying 29th and finishing 25th, 69 laps down after getting caught up in a 12-car accident on lap 10 of the 400-lap race around the 1-mile, concrete oval. With new sheet metal all around, Chassis No. 14-708 returned to the concrete for its third career start in August for the night race at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway. There, the car rallied from being a lap down in 34th place early in the race to vying for the lead with Matt Kenseth on lap 333. Stewart and Kenseth banged fenders and crashed, whereupon Stewart threw his helmet with pinpoint accuracy at Kenseth's car. The resulting 27th-place finish was at least offset by the "10" Stewart received from the Bristol crowd. Chassis No. 14-708 will make its fourth career start and second at Dover in the AAA 400 on Sunday.

#15-Clint Bowyer: Primary chassis No. 733 finished sixth a Pocono in June and eighth at Pocono in August in its only racing action this season. Backup chassis No. 716 finished sixth at Las Vegas and also ran at Kansas, Kentucky and Indy.
#16-Greg Biffle: Primary: RK-809 Last ran Michigan - finished 4th; Backup: RK-803 Last ran Pocono - finished 15th
#17-Matt Kenseth: Primary: RK-802 (Last run at Bristol)
#22-Sam Hornish, Jr.: and his Todd Gordon-led Penske Racing No. 22 Team will be utilizing the "PRS-826" Shell-Pennzoil Dodge Charger this weekend at Dover. This is the same car that Penske Racing teammate Brad Keselowski drove in the May Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. In that race, the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge started 24th and finished fifth. Keselowski's team also utilized this Dodge Charger in the August Michigan race, where they started 19th and finished second. The chassis has been sent back through the Penske Racing shop and updated with the latest components and adorned with the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil color scheme prior to its return to action this weekend at Dover. The "819" chassis will serve as the backup this weekend. It was the car that AJ Allmendinger drove to a second-place finish in the April Martinsville race and served as the backup at several races including Atlanta.
#27-Paul Menard: will pilot Chassis No. 379 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable in this weekend's AAA 400. This Chevrolet was last raced at Pocono Raceway in August, where he started third and finished 11th. It was also utilized earlier this season at Charlotte Motor Speedway (July) in the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race where Menard finished 16th, Kansas Speedway where he finished 18th and Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March where he finished seventh.
#29-Kevin Harvick: will pilot Chassis No.383 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable in this weekend's AAA 400. Harvick raced this chassis at Phoenix International Raceway in March and Dover International Speedway in June, collecting second-place finishes in both events. Most recently, the Bakersfield, Calif., native drove this Chevrolet to a 15th-place finish at Bristol Motor Speedway in August.
#31-Jeff Burton: will race Chassis No. 392 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable this weekend. This No. 31 Chevrolet was utilized in June at Dover International Speedway where engine issues thwarted Burton's top-five run and relegated him to a 22nd-place finish. This was car also raced at Kentucky Speedway in June where Burton piloted this machine to a 24th-place finish after starting 29th.
#39-Ryan Newman: Chassis No. 39-733: It's been four starts and four top-10 finishes for Chassis No. 39-733 since making its debut at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July. At Indianapolis, Newman and his team overcame an ill-handling racecar and used quick pit work to help engineer a run into the top-10. The crew turned the car around in just a couple of days and took Chassis No. 39-733 to Pocono (Pa.) Raceway the following weekend. There, Newman ran in the top-10 for most of the rain-shortened race and finished sixth. Two weeks later, Chassis No. 39-733 was back on track at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, where it finished eighth. Its most recent start came two weekends ago at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill., where it earned its first top-five finish.
#42-Juan Pablo Montoya: Crew Chief Chris "Shine" Heroy and the No. 42 Target team will travel to Dover with Chassis #1111. This Chassis made its debut in last season's finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, leading two laps and finishing 31st after an accident put the No. 42 four laps down. This season, this chassis has seen track time at Bristol finishing eighth, Darlington Raceway, finishing 27th and Dover, finishing 28th.
#43-Aric Almirola:: The No. 43 team has prepared chassis No. 742 for Dover. This chassis ran previously this season at Chicago, Pocono and Darlington.
#48-Jimmie Johnson:: Chassis No. 728 serves as the primary for Johnson at Dover. (Won at Dover and Brickyard, runner-up at Chicago). Chassis No. 681 serves as the backup.
#55-Mark Martin: Primary - 729 - Car won pole at Dover in June, finished third at Texas, 10th at Atlanta with Martin behind wheel. Backup - 732 - raced at Charlotte.
#88-Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: Crew chief Steve Letarte and the No. 88 team will unload Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 88-745 this weekend at Dover. Earnhardt first raced this chassis to a 12th-place finish at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway in August.

#99-Carl Edwards: RK-820 - This car last ran Indy where it finished 29th.

-- From Jayski.com

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