Dodge finishes second at Martinsville in Sprint Cup, Ram teams struggle

This past weekend marked the 6^th event for the
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and the 2^nd event of the year for the
Camping World Truck Series and while Team Dodge had a strong finish in the
Sunday race – things didn’t go quite so well for the Ram Trucks running on
Saturday.

The Ram Truck managed to field 4 of the 36 starting position
for Saturday’s Kroger 250 Camping World Truck Series as the pickups made the
second stop of the year – the first since Daytona Speedweeks.  The Ram brand was represented by Parker
Kilgerman in the #29 Cooper Standard entry, Clay Greenfield in the #168
self-sponsored Ram, Dusty Davis in the #15 truck and Jennifer Jo Cobb in the #8
Driven2Honor.org race Ram.

Kilgerman was
the best of the Ram trucks in qualifying, starting in the 15^th
position and during the course of the race, he was able to move his truck up to
an 11^th place finishing position. 
Dusty Davis started in the 24^th position and ran into rear
gear problems; causing him to finish just 104 laps as he finished in 33^rd
position.  Clay Greenfield started in the
29^th position, and like Davis, Greenfield ran into mechanical
troubles that caused him run just 151 laps out of 250.  Jennifer Jo Cobb started 34^th and
finished 34^th, running just 95 laps before running into suspension problems
that put her behind the wall for the day. 

Kilgerman’s strong run helped him move up 3 spots to 7^th
in the Camping World Truck Series standings. 
NASCAR driver Kevin Harvick took the win in the Kroger 250 in his #2
Chevrolet Silverado pickup sponsored by Tide and Kroger.

In Sunday’s Goody’s Fast Relief 500, the Sprint Cup racers
ran into a late race crash that took out a handful of the front-runners and
cleared the way for AJ Allmendinger to snag the 2^nd finishing
position.  Allmendinger started in 27^th
position with his #22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger and thanks to having a
strong car all day long, AJ was able to work his way into the top five.  When David Reutimann’s car stalled late in
the race, he brought out a caution with just a few laps left.  This forced the field into a
green-white-checkered run to the finish but when they received that green flag,
Toyota driver Clint Bowyer forced a three-wide situation with Jeff Gordon and
Jimmie Johnson which resulted in a crash that took out the pair of Chevy’s that
had dominated the race.  That set up a
shootout to the checkered flag between Allmendinger and former Dodge driver
Ryan Newman and since AJ drives a Dodge and not a Chevy – he did his best to
pass Newman clean but came up short in the end. 
Some speculated that Allmendinger could have given Newman a little “bumper
love” to get around the Outback Chevy for his first win but AJ settled for a
runner-up spot with a clean conscience. 
The only other Dodge in the race was Brad Keselowski, who started 7^th
and finished 9^th.

Allmendinger’s second place finished moved him up 6 spots to
20^th on the season while Keselowski jumped 4 spots, now sitting in
12^th place overall.

The NASCAR Sprint Cup heads to Texas where they will rejoin
the NASCAR Nationwide Series, who were off this past weekend.  The trucks next take the track on April 15^th
at Rockingham.

Patrick Rall

"Before I was old enough to walk, my dad was taking me to various types of racing events, from local drag racing to the Daytona 500," says Patrick Rall, a lifetime automotive expert, diehard Dodge fan, and respected auto journalist for over 10 years. "He owned a repair shop and had a variety of performance cars when I was young, but by the time I was 16, he was ready to build me my first drag car – a 1983 Dodge Mirada that ran low 12s. I spent 10 years traveling around the country, racing with my dad by my side. While we live in different areas of the country, my dad still drag races at 80 years old in the car that he built when I was 16 while I race other vehicles, including my 2017 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and my 1972 Dodge Demon 340.

"Although I went to college for accounting, my time in my dad’s shop growing up allowed me the knowledge to spend time working as a mechanic before getting my accounting degree, at which point I worked in the office of a dealership group. While I was working in the accounting world, I continued racing and taking pictures of cars at the track. Over time, I began showing off those pictures online and that led to my writing.

"Ten years ago, I left the accounting world to become a full-time automotive writer and I am living proof that if you love what you do, you will never “work” a day in your life," adds Rall, who has clocked in time as an auto mechanic, longtime drag racer and now automotive journalist who contributes to nearly a dozen popular auto websites dedicated to fellow enthusiasts.

"I love covering the automotive industry and everything involved with the job. I was fortunate to turn my love of the automotive world into a hobby that led to an exciting career, with my past of working as a mechanic and as an accountant in the automotive world provides me with a unique perspective of the industry.

"My experience drag racing for more than 20 years coupled with a newfound interest in road racing over the past decade allows me to push performance cars to their limit, while my role as a horse stable manager gives me vast experience towing and hauling with all of the newest trucks on the market today.

"Being based on Detroit," says Rall, "I never miss the North American International Auto Show, the Woodward Dream Cruise and Roadkill Nights, along with spending plenty of time raising hell on Detroit's Woodward Avenue with the best muscle car crowd in the world.

Rall can be contacted at QuickMirada@Yahoo.com

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