• #1-Jamie McMurray: Crew Chief Kevin “Bono” Manion has elected to bring chassis #1006 to Darlington this weekend. This chassis is brand new.
• #2-Kyle Busch: Driver Kurt Busch, crew chief Steve Addington and the “Blue Deuce” crew will be racing their “PRS-725” Miller Lite Dodge Charger this weekend. “It’s another one of the new cars the guys have built,” said Addington. “We won with a brand new car the first time we race it at Atlanta earlier this year and should have won at Bristol when we brought out another new car.”
• #5-Mark Martin: Gustafson has chosen Chassis #5-582 for Saturday night’s race at Darlington. This is a brand new chassis that never has been raced, but was tested at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway in March.
• #6-David Ragan: Chassis: Primary: RK-638. Last ran Coke 600 – finished 24th; Backup: RK-620. Last ran Vegas – finished 23rd
• #12-Brad Keselowski: The #12 Penske Dodge Charger team will use chassis PRS-720 during Saturday night’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway. PRS-720 is a brand-new chassis to the #12 fleet and one of the lightest ever built at Penske Racing.
• #17-Matt Kenseth: Chassis: Primary: RK-616
• #19-Elliot Sadler: The #19 Hunt Brothers Ford team led by crew chief Wally Rogers has prepared chassis #283. This is the same car the team tested last month at the Goodyear tire test at Darlington Raceway.
• #20-Joey Logano: The #20 Team is taking chassis #266 to Darlington Raceway for the Saturday night race. This chassis has yet to be used in competition, but was the back-up car at Texas. Chassis #250 will be the back-up car for the Southern 500, it served the same role last weekend, but was raced three times last year (the fall races at Pocono, Loudon and Phoenix).
• #24-Jeff Gordon: Crew chief Steve Letarte has chosen Hendrick Motorsports Chassis #24-484 for Saturday night’s race at Darlington. Gordon collected three runner-up finishes last season in this car, taking second at Chicagoland Speedway in July, Michigan International Speedway in August and Kansas Speedway in October.
• #29-Kevin Harvick: Harvick will pilot Chassis #297 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. This Chevy is brand new for 2010 and will circle a track for the first time at Darlington.
• #31-Jeff Burton: Jeff Burton will pilot chassis #305 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable in this weekend’s Showtime Southern 500. Built new for 2010, this Caterpillar Chevy will be put through its first paces this weekend.
• #33-Clint Bowyer: Clint Bowyer will pilot Chassis #264 from Richard Childress Racing’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. Bowyer drove this Chevy four times in 2009, finishing 26th at Phoenix in April, 10th at Michigan in June, ninth at Chicagoland in July and sixth at Richmond in September. In 2010, this was the first Impala in the No. 33’s stable to be outfitted with the rear spoiler. It was tested by the Shane Wilson-led team at Walt Disney Speedway (Orlando, Fla.) in February, at Darlington Raceway as part of the Goodyear tire test in March, and at Rockingham (N.C.) Speedway’s Little Rock in April.
• #42-Juan Montoya: Chassis #910. Brian Pattie will bring chassis #910 to Darlington this weekend. It was previously at Las Vegas where Montoya qualified tenth and finished 37th after an on-track altercation while running in the top-10. This chassis also ran in the 2009 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway where a mid-race incident forced the team to a 38th-place finish.
• #43-A.J. Allmendinger: The #43 Insignia/Best Buy team led by crew chief Mike Shiplett has prepared chassis #277 for this weekend’s 500 mile race in Darlington. This car was last run at the event at Phoenix where Allmendinger started from the pole and finished inside the top 15.
• #48-Jimmie Johnson: Johnson will pilot brand new chassis #602 in Saturday night’s event. Backup chassis #553 has been driven four times, three of which resulted in victories (Indy 7/09, California 10/09, California 2/10).
• #88-Dale Earnhardt, Jr: This weekend, crew chief Lance McGrew and the #88 team will unload Hendrick Motorsports Chassis #88-584. Earnhardt last raced this chassis at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March, where he scored the pole position and earned a 15th-place finish.
• #98-Paul Menard: Crew chief Slugger Labbe and the #98 Richard Petty Motorsports crew have prepared chassis #653 for this weekend’s race on the 1.366-mile oval. This is the same Ford the team finished 17th with at Las Vegas back in February.
(5-6-2010)
