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BUSCH: Indy ORP: Chip Ganassi Racing preview

Scott Lagasse Jr. and the No. 41 Wrigley's Juicy Fruit Dodge Team Facts: * Six Wins in 30 Days: Chip Ganassi Racing Teams, Inc. (CGR) recorded six wins over the past 30 days in NASCAR NEXTEL Cup, Busch, IndyCar and Grand-Am Series ...

Edited: Apr 16, 2008, 12:40 AM

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Scott Lagasse Jr. and the No. 41 Wrigley's Juicy Fruit Dodge Team Facts:

* Six Wins in 30 Days: Chip Ganassi Racing Teams, Inc. (CGR) recorded six wins over the past 30 days in NASCAR NEXTEL Cup, Busch, IndyCar and Grand-Am Series competition. Starting with Juan Pablo Montoya's historic NEXTEL Cup Series win at Infineon Raceway on June 24, CGR Teams have gone on to win three-consecutive IndyCar races with Scott Dixon (Watkins Glen -- July 8, Nashville -- July 15, Mid-Ohio -- July 22), a Grand-Am race with Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas at Iowa on July 15, and the NASCAR Busch Series (NBS) win with Reed Sorenson at Gateway International Raceway on July 21. This is the organizations best stretch since its inception (1990-2007).

* Congratulations!: Congrats are in order for Brad Parrott, Sorenson and the No. 41 Wrigley's Juicy Fruit team after scoring their first win of the 2007 season last weekend at Gateway International Raceway. The win marked Sorenson's third career NASCAR Busch Series win and the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company's first NASCAR win as a primary sponsor. In four starts together, Parrott and Sorenson have scored one win, one outside pole, one top-five finish, three top-10 finishes and four top-15 finishes. The No. 41 team has also picked up 10 positions total in the NASCAR Busch Series (NBS) point standings over the last four NBS races since late June. Congratulations, gentlemen!

* Second Start for Lagasse Jr.: Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates (CGRFS) development driver Scott Lagasse Jr. will make his second start in the No. 41 Wrigley's Juicy Fruit Dodge this weekend at the O'Reilly Raceway Park. Lagasse's first and most recent effort in the No. 41 car was last month at The Milwaukee Mile, where he lined up 10th to take the green flag and was working on a top-15 finish when another car ran right into the back of the No. 41 Dodge going down the front stretch. Lagasse's car hit the outside wall as a result and unfortunately forced him and the rest of the team to reluctantly call it a night, scored with a 35th-place finish.

* Chassis: Crew chief Brad Parrott and the No. 41 Wrigley's Juicy Fruit team are taking chassis #454 to O'Reilly Raceway Park this weekend. The car has had two fair runs in 2007. First, at Richmond International Raceway in May, Juan Pablo Montoya and team started and finished their run in 11th place. Then, CGRFS development driver Kevin Hamlin and team overcame a title-handling condition and a late-race tap at the Milwaukee Mile to pull off a 16th-place finish (started 22nd) with the same chassis this past June.

* Standings Update: Sorenson's win last weekend at Gateway International Raceway gave the No. 41 team a six-position leap forward in the NBS owner standings, where Parrott and crew are now listed in 15th place. The No. 41 CGRFS Busch team is just 93 points outside the top 10.

Kevin Hamlin and the No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Busch Series Dodge Team Facts:

* Career-First Top 10 for Hamlin: Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates (CGRFS) development driver Kevin Hamlin raced his way to a career-first top-10 NASCAR Busch Series (NBS) finish last Saturday night at Gateway International Raceway. In his 20th career NBS start, Hamlin lined up 13th to take the green and raced up to as high as fifth place before closing the night out with a career-best seventh-place finish.

* Hamlin's CGRFS Debut at ORP: This weekend's Kroger 200 at O'Reilly Raceway Park (ORP) will be Hamlin's first race behind the wheel of a CGRFS car at the short track. In 2005, Hamlin drove the No. 4 GEICO Dodge for Fred Biagi to a 26th-place finish at ORP. This weekend, Hamlin will be driving the No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge in his sixth NBS start of the year.

* Welcome Home, Coffey: The No. 42 Texaco/Havoline team truck driver Time Coffey will get a glimpse of home this weekend as the team heads to the Indianapolis, Ind., area. Coffey called Greenwood, Ind., home before pursuing a career in NASCAR six years ago. He first started his racing career in IndyCar, before a holiday vacation to North Carolina landed him his first job in NASCAR. Coffey not only transports more than one million dollars worth of equipment every weekend, but he also serves as the team chef and then goes over the wall to gas the car on race day. He is a graduate of Southport High School, and the majority of his family still resides in the Indianapolis area.

* Owner Points Update: Hamlin and the No. 42 Texaco/Havoline team's top-10 finish at Gateway International Raceway last weekend lifted them two spots in the NBS owner standings, where the team is currently 13th. The No. 42 CGRFS Busch team is now just 77 points outside the top 10.

* Chassis: Crew chief Brian Pattie and his Texaco/Havoline crew are pulling out chassis #753 to race this Saturday at ORP. The car has only been entered in two other races since it was built--Texas Motor Speedway this past April and Lowe's Motor Speedway (LMS) this past May. At Texas, the team took a 36th-place starting position and raced up to 10th before getting collected in a multi-car accident less than 100 laps into the 200-lap competition (finished 35th). Then, at LMS, the team was working on improving a top-30 starting position, when a tight-handling race car lost its grip on the track and hit the outside wall (finished 42nd).

-credit: cgr

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