News

LOUDON, N.H. (September 20, 2009) – Penske Racing driver David Stremme had a top-10 run going early Sunday in the No.12 Penske Dodge at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, but an on track incident ended the team’s chances for a strong result as Stremme crossed the finish line in the 28th spot.

Both driver, David Stremme, and the No.12 Penske Dodge Charger team were optimistic about their chances for a strong result on Sunday afternoon at the “Magic Mile”.  Stremme qualified his machine a season best sixth and had been strong in all three practice sessions over the course of the weekend. 

During the first 60-lap segment, Stremme reported that the car was tight-handling in the middle of the corners and he was having a hard time getting the car to turn through the center. Crew chief Roy McCauley told his driver the team would make some changes to the car during the first pit stop.

When the caution flag was displayed to the field on lap 66, Stremme prepared to bring his car down pit lane. The team changed all four tires and filled the car with fuel. A chassis adjustment was also made to the Penske Dodge, in hopes of helping its handling for the next green flag stint.

The race was restarted on lap 74 and Stremme found himself in the eighth spot. He worked to get his car settled down early in the run, still struggling to get his car to rotate in the center of the corners.  He also was concerned that the car was starting to get loose coming up off the corners, which was hindering him from getting back to the gas. 

During the next 50 green flag laps, Stremme’s car started to lose grip through the corners, causing him to fall back in the running order. He radioed his team to explain that the car would not turn in the center of the corners and was loose coming out of the turns. McCauley assured Stremme that the team would make further changes on the next round of pit stops.  By lap 150, Stremme had fallen all the way back into the 20th position.

The caution flag was displayed to the 43-ar field on lap 192 when the No.12 car spun coming out of turns 1 and 2.  Stremme brought his car down the pit lane on the very next lap for the team to survey the damage.  They went to work making repairs to the right rear of the car as well as bolting on four fresh Goodyear tires.  The team did a great job repairing the car without losing a lap to the leaders.   

The race was restarted on lap 197 and Stremme found himself back in the 30th spot. The damage to the No.12 Penske Dodge was not hindering Stremme from running fast lap times.  Further into the next green flag stint, Stremme was running lap times as quick as the leaders and was again on the move towards the front. 

The team made its final pit stop of the day on lap 271 under green flag conditions, running inside the top-20 when the Penske Dodge came to pit road. After the stop, McCauley told Stremme to get all he could in the final shootout to the finish.  After a number of late race restarts Stremme crossed the finish line in the 28th position.

“It was a little bit of a frustrating day for us today,” commented Stremme at the conclusion of the Sylvania 300. “We got spun out and we never got the car fixed. That cost us a lot of speed. We had to come back into the pits and that cost us a lot of time that we could never get back.  I just hate it because it looked to be a pretty good day early in our Penske Dodge.”

Stremme remains 31st in the Cup Series driver point standings with nine races remaining on the 2009 schedule. The No.12 Penske Dodge team will make its second visit of the season to Dover International Speedway next weekend. The AAA 400 will be seen live on Sunday, September 27 on ABC beginning at 1 p.m. ET. The event can also be heard live on MRN radio as well as Sirius Satellite Radio, channel 128.

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David Stremme Lenox Sylvania 300 Statistics
Start: 6  
Finish: 28    
Laps: 298/300
Laps Led: 0
Status: Running