Dodge's ambitous plan

For an engine manufacturer that only had one car in last year's Chase, Dodge set some lofty goals during the NASCAR media tour on Tuesday.
Mike Accavitti, director -- Dodge Brand and SRT Global Marketing, said he expects Dodge teams to win races, qualify for the Chase and contend for the championship.
“We remain firmly committed to those objectives,” Accavitti said. “We’ve taken strides toward those goals. Our progress slowed somewhat in 2007, but we’re confident we have a very talented group of teams capable of producing wins, top fives and top 10s. We expect Dodge to be well represented in the Chase in 2008 and be a serious contender for the championship.”
That would be some kind of turnaround.
Kurt Busch was the only Dodge driver to qualify for the Chase last year. And he needed to rally just before the Chase started to climb into Chase contention.
Busch is back with Penske Racing, which will have three cars in the Sprint Cup Series. Dodge will have five teams and 12 cars at the Cup level. Gillett Evernham Motorsports, Chip Ganassi Racing, Petty Enterprises and BAM Racing are the other four Dodge teams.
After Everhman Motorsports driver Kasey Kahne led all Cup drivers with six wins in 2006, Dodge fell off dramaitically. No driver from the newly formed Gillett Evernham Motorsports team won a race last year. The Dodge teams experimented with setups and switched from using Charger and Avenger bodies.
Accavitti said he would like to see all the Dodge teams stick with the Charger.
“Dodge has a racing heritage that spans many different nameplates and models, and the Charger is the cornerstone of that heritage,” Accavitti said. “When NASCAR originally announced the phase-in plan for the Car of Tomorrow, it made sense for Dodge to race the Charger and Avenger. When the decision was made to race only one car in 2008, we talked with our partners, the more than 2,500 Dodge Dealers across the country, and they expressed overwhelming support for Dodge to continue its motorsports heritage with the Charger nameplate. NASCAR rules permit Dodge to use either nameplate in 2008.”
It would seem Dodge has a ways to go to get back in Chase and championship contention. Then again, qualifying more than one Dodge driver in the Chase would be viewed by some as a tremendous success.