Darlington: David Stremme preview

No. 40 TEAM FACTS:

* Chassis: Crew Chief Steve Lane and the No. 40 Coors Light crew are taking chassis No. 114 for the Dodge Charger 500 this weekend. This is the same chassis Stremme piloted to a 33rd-place finish at Las Vegas earlier this season.

* Darlington Data: This will be Stremme's first start in a NEXTEL Cup car at Darlington Raceway. He has three Busch Series starts at the 1.366-mile track. In those three starts he has finished in the top 10 twice (2004 and 2005). His highest starting position is seventh, which he did last spring and his highest finish of fifth was in the spring of 2004.

* Happy Mother's Day: While Stremme's mother Cindy will not be able to attend this weekend's race at Darlington, he will be wishing her a Happy Mother's Day. The mother-son duo was interviewed earlier this month for a story that will run in this week's edition of USA Today Sports Weekly. Be sure and pick up a copy this Wednesday to read all about their racing days together.

* Rookie Ranks: Stremme is currently sixth in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year standings. Stremme, with 70 points, is 37 points behind leader Clint Bowyer.

* NASCAR NEXTEL Cup points standings: Stremme maintained his 37th spot in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup championship points standings. He is 323 points out of the top 20 and 492 points behind teammate Casey Mears who is in the 10th spot.

Steve Lane, Crew Chief Quotes:

What are your thoughts going to Darlington Raceway this weekend?

"I really believe that this is going to be a turnaround week for us. I can't explain but I have a gut feeling about this weekend and I feel like this is going to be our best finish this season. I think we will definitely have a top-15 finish at Darlington Raceway this weekend in the Lone Star Steakhouse & Saloon Dodge. This is a great track for David, he has two top-five finishes in the Busch Series here and our car set-up is overlapping the other two cars so I think all three Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Dodges will be strong this weekend. "

-cgr-