Denver: Dodge Motorsports race report

Hometown Dodge SRT4 Drivers Robb Holland and Dan Aweida finish 14th and 22nd in GP of Denver

Denver, CO (August 15, 2006) --Dan Aweida and Robb Holland carried the banner for Dodge Motorsports in this weekend's SCCA SPEED World Challenge Touring Car series event in Denver. The hometown rookie drivers posted 11th and 12th place qualifying efforts, and Holland posted the highest Dodge finish, ending the day at 14th.

Holland posted the fifth fastest time in qualifying on Saturday in his No. 67 3R Racing Dodge SRT4, but he was protested for passing under a yellow flag during the session and the Chief Steward disallowed his fastest time. As a result, Holland started 11th.

During the race, he battled overheating issues on his Dodge SRT4, and had to settle for a 14th place finish. It was a disappointing day for Holland, who, despite his rookie status, expects to race in the top-10 each week.

"We need to be running in the top-10," said Holland in a post-race interview. "That's our expectation and that's where we want to be. That's where we think we should be and where we think the car should be."

"We ended up finishing 14th, which definitely was not the result we were looking for on the weekend," Holland continued. "But our pace for the weekend was as expected, we were able to run with the leaders, which was the good news."

Fellow Dodge SRT4 driver Aweida posted a 22nd place finish in his No. 66 3R Racing Dodge SRT4 after an incident with Nick Esayian ended his day early. Aweida tried to avoid the spinning Esayian on lap 11, but unfortunately ended up hitting the wall and damaging the left front of his car. The damage was extensive enough to result in a broken steering tie-rod end, and kept Aweida from taking the checkered flag.

"Dodge was proud of the results from the Denver based 3R-Racing team," said Gary Johnson, Dodge Motorsports Road Racing Manager. " Although the finishing positions weren't what we were hoping for, the qualifying efforts gave a glimpse of the capability of these Dodge SRT4s. We're looking forward to next weekend's race in Wisconsin where with better luck, we'll have a much stronger finish."

Holland and Aweida will take their SRT4s to Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin this weekend, where both series will compete in the Generac 500 at Road America. Fellow SRT4 driver, Brian Smith of Simpsonville, SC, will rejoin the Touring Car series with his Woodhouse Performance sponsored Dodge. Practice for both series begins on Friday, with Qualifying and the Touring Car series race on Saturday, and the GT series competition on Sunday.

-credit: www.dodgemotorsport.com.