Lifters and upper half engine parts are usually dry on startup with most cars.. But if your oil pump gets oil to them immediately on startup or if there is a small sump that keeps the lifters saturated with oil until the oil pump is able to resume fresh oil supply thereare usually no issues..
I cant really say for sure whats going on inside the engine on the 2008 Avenger as I have never disassembled one yet and I cant seem to find any decent maintenance guides on them either but its obvious that its either lubrication or they need to warm up to reach clearance tolerances (Doubtful on the latter)
I am almost tempted to go with some gimmicky Slick 50 type additive but I have always tried to avoid them and since they usually claim that their products bond molecularly to the engine parts I can see that contributing to sludge years down the road.. (You rarely see the effects of these additives advertized after running a car for 50000 miles)
Out of all the filters I checked out K&N was the only one I could find that offeredan anti drain back valve which is whyI am recommending it..
Anyway.. Here are the links to the K&N oil filters in case anyone is interested in using them
2008 Avenger 2.7L and 3.5L engines
http://store.knfilters.com/search/pr...x?Prod=HP-2010
2008 Avenger 2.4L engines
http://store.knfilters.com/search/pr...x?Prod=HP-1017