Dodge teams, across the board, are struggling, and it’s time for some answers
Remember when Kurt Busch was such hot stuff on the NASCAR tour? Not lately.
(Photo by Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR)
By Mike Mulhern
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DARLINGTON, S.C.
So it was called the Dodge Challenger 500…..maybe it should have been called the ‘Dodge Challenged’ 500, because Dodge teams – again, another week on the NASCAR tour – were challenged to get anything going Saturday night at Darlington Raceway.
About the only thing Dodge had out front all night was the pace car.
And it’s about time somebody at Dodge gets called on the carpet about the way this season is progressing….or rather not progressing.
Yes, Dodge teams looked great at Daytona, Ryan Newman and teammate Kurt Busch going one-two, in upsetting both Toyota and Chevy men.
But since then it’s been a litany of excuses, and no more wins. Not even a good scent of one.
Dodge is not only last in the Sprint Cup manufacturers’ race, Dodge is also last in Nationwide (Busch) racing, and last in NASCAR Truck racing.
The top Dodge finisher at Darlington – Kurt Busch. His brother is the hottest thing in NASCAR, and wound up winning, again. Kurt? Well, since leaving Ford’s Jack Roush two years ago to join Roger Penske, the elder Busch has just about fallen off the radar. Kurt Busch this season isn’t even a top-20 runner; his Daytona run is his only top-10.
Kurt Busch, once used to the boos that now greet his kid brother, would probably love to get any reaction from the crowd this season.
Still Kurt Busch tries to put an upbeat spin on things: “The Charlotte test paid dividends. With this right-side tire being the same at Charlotte and Darlington, we just kept the same frame of mind for four days straight, which really helped us.”
Kasey Kahne might have had something to work with, but he crashed during practice. “We had to go to our back-up car for the race, and it wasn’t nearly as good as our primary car,” Kahne, 22nd, says. “We struggled on power a bit. But we kept it off the wall, which is a positive.”
Dodge horsepower has been questioned by several teams. The car maker is introducing a new engine this season.
Lack of horsepower wasn’t the only problem facing Dodge’s Juan Pablo Montoya, who finished 23rd: “We went a lap down early and struggled with handling. I thought our Dodge was really good in practice and qualifying…we just struggled in the race.”
The Saturday night story for the rest of the Dodge guys was even worse:
Robby Gordon – 33rd. He crashed in practice, and his crew had to do some major bodywork before the race: “I have to take my hat off to my crew. They put a new body on the car.
“And for us to run as good as we ran, and then break an alternator wire, is a huge disappointment.
“It’s just a wire (on the George Gillett-Ray Evernham engine he leases). I don’t know if Gillett-Evernham has broken one before…
“It takes two batteries to start it, and I forgot to switch it over to one battery (for the 500). So it just didn’t have a backup.
“If I’d have known, and not worn out both batteries from the get-go, it probably would have been okay.
“A mistake on my part.
“On the other side, we shouldn’t have failures. To be honest with you, stuff shouldn’t break. These are pretty archaic race cars and pretty simple to work on.”
Robby Gordon watches his crew repairing his Darlington Dodge
(Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Sterling Marlin, filling in at Chip Ganassi’s for injured Dario Franchitti, ran 34th. “The car got real hot,” Marlin said. “There was a problem with the cooling system, and we had to pit to cool me off.”
Newman continues to hit potholes. This time he was a very disappointed 37th. And that drops him out of the Sprint Cup tour’s top-12. “We had problems throughout the race, and it ended up costing us in the points,” Newman fretted. “We’re going to have to work harder and hopefully rebound at Charlotte.”
Ryan Newman’s Daytona 500 trophy is about all he’s got to show for the season so far
(Photo by Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR)
Sam Hornish Jr., who may be regretted jumping from Indy-cars to NASCAR, is averaging a 30th place finish this spring. No top-10s; only two top-20s. And Saturday night – a 38th: “I’m pretty sure we had a right-side front tire go down. As soon as I turned in the corner it just went straight.
“The car was handling real good; we’d moved up a couple of spots already, and I felt really good about what we were going to be able to do.
“The days when we feel like we’re really out to lunch, we go out and run without a hitch…and the days when we’re going to go out there and get a top-15 or a top-10 we have a problem.
“We’ll have to figure out how to get around that sooner or later.”
For Patrick Carpentier, this event was expected to be a challenge – heck, he’d never seen the track before. And this place, well, if you don’t know the line, the other drivers tend to lose patience.
“This was a step ahead again,” the Canadian rookie said, after finishing 40th. “We’ve led on an oval… and for a guy that did road course stuff (most of his career), I’m happy.
“We keep learning.
“But once we lost laps in the pits there’s nothing I can do. I can’t battle with the guys; they all get ticked off and try to turn you around.
“And then after that, we had a mechanical failure.
“But at the beginning I passed (Dale Earnhardt) Junior, and a lot of guys, and I was having a blast.
“It’s fun, it’s coming. But we just don’t have any luck at all.”
At least Carpentier’s luck wasn’t as bad as Elliott Sadler’s. He was trying to pass Toyota’s Tony Stewart on the second lap of the 367-lapper, and they collided and slammed the wall. “I just made a huge mistake,” Sadler, 42nd, said ruefully.
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Newcomer Patrick Carpentier is game but becoming impatient
(Photo by Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR)