NASCAR’s last glimpse of the Intrepid a car that Dodge no longer produces is expected to come this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. #12-Ryan Newman, the final Intrepid holdout, will run the car one more time before the Penske South team switches to the Charger full time. Matt Borland, Newman’s crew chief, said he expects the transition to go a little easier than last year when Newman found the Charger wanting on intermediate and larger ovals. Roger Penske said recently that he’s pleased with the strides the Charger has made of late, noting Kasey Kahne’s victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway on March 27. “It’s good to see those cars run well,” Penske said. “They had a good car in Atlanta, and we were not where we wanted to be with the Intrepid.” Penske Racing’s other driver, Kurt Busch, also has run the Intrepid at times this season, as has Petty Enterprises’ Bobby Labonte. All the Dodge [supported] teams have run the Charger exclusively at the smaller ovals this season.
“We’re going to run (the Intrepid) in the Texas race. That will probably be the final race for us,” said Robbie Loomis, director of operations for Petty Enterprises. “If we went to Texas, led the most laps and won the race, it would be hard to do something different for Charlotte. But right now we’re 99.9% (sure) it’s going to be Chargers the rest of the year. Dodge re-entered Nextel Cup in 2001 with the Intrepid after a 24-year absence. The Charger has four wins since its debut in the 2005 Daytona 500.(USA Today)(4-6-2006)
