Red Letter Dodge

Last weekend marked the introduction of the Dodge Challenger to the NASCAR racing series, and we kicked it off in true Dodge fashion. On Thursday, Brooklyn-based rockers Atomic Tom took the stage at Daytona Dodge Chrysler Jeep and really brought the house down. The concert was the first of what will eventually be many Dodge Life concerts, the primary focus of which will be bringing new emerging artists into the spotlight.

Bright and early the next morning, with foreheads glistening under a 2-inch layer of SPF 40 and the epic guitar licks from the night before still reverberating in our skulls, we hit the track at Daytona for the first of two adrenaline-packed days. In tow was CarDomain’s Jen Dunnaway, whose fervent enthusiasm for NASCAR almost threatened to overshadow our own (hey, we said almost). In addition to the Dodge suits (by which we mean us, if Dodge brand active tee’s count as “suits”), hundreds of Dodge Challenger owners rallied at the VIP corral to celebrate the Challenger’s eventual run down victory lane. While some owners heatedly compared drag slips, others wandered around to check out the rest of the Challenger heard, which included the 1320 SEMA drag car, Ralph Gilles’ Targa Newfoundland, and the Air Force Vapor.

When they weren’t sweating off 30 lbs of water weight during the qualifying laps, even the drivers got swept up in the muscle car mayhem with free autograph sessions and impromptu meet-and-greets. On race day, Kurt Busch, Sam Hornish Jr., and Justin Allgaier took their passion to the track with their fierce defense of Dodge’s NASCAR dominance. Thundering around Daytona at speeds hurtling past 180 mph, the Dodge crew managed to wrap up Daytona on a respectable note. According to No. 26 Paul Kligerman, it was “A big day for Dodge to have the Challenger out here; the best looking car by far in the Nationwide Series.”

If you weren’t lucky enough to catch all of the action in person, don’t lose sleep. We had our cameras constantly at attention and finished the weekend with enough photos to put the Associated Press to shame. Check out all of our coverage from race weekend on the official Dodge Facebook page here.

Catch a quick preview of the coverage after the jump