News

Brad Keselowski
No. 12 Penske/AAA Dodge Charger
Lenox Industrial Tools 301
New Hampshire Motor Speedway
June 27, 2010

No. 12 Penske/AAA Dodge Charger News and Notes
• This Week’s Charger… The No. 12 Penske Dodge Charger team will use chassis PRS-716 during Sunday’s 300-lap race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (NHMS). This will be the second race for this chassis and Brad Keselowski raced it to a 16th-place finish at Phoenix International Raceway in April.
• No. 12 Penske Dodge in 2010... After 16 events, Keselowski and the No. 12 Penske Dodge Charger team currently sit 24th in the Cup Series driver and owner point standings.
• Top-10 in First Start… Starting from the 36th position, Keselowski utilized smart driving and clever pit strategy to pick up a sixth-place finish in the 2009 version of this race. The result was his best of the season while driving part-time in the No. 25 car.
• Keselowski History at NHMS… In addition to his lone Cup Series start at NHMS, Keselowski has made two NASCAR Nationwide Series starts (2008 and 2009) and one NASCAR Camping World Truck Series start (2005) at the NHMS oval. Both Nationwide Series starts resulted in top-10 finishes, including a third-place effort last year. Keselowski has never qualified outside the top-10 in Nationwide Series competition at NHMS.
• First Stop, Oxford… Prior to arriving in New Hampshire on Thursday afternoon, Keselowski will practice a late model stock car at Oxford Plains (Me.) Speedway in preparation for his first appearance in the TD Bank 250 on Sunday, July 18. The TD Bank 250 is one of the premier short track races in the country.
• This Weekend, AAA... The No. 12 team will welcome back AAA to their Dodge Charger this weekend. The AAA logos also adorned the car at Auto Club Speedway in February.
• The Rest is History... In the first start for Penske Racing at New Hampshire, Rusty Wallace started from the 33rd position, but finished in Victory Lane on July 11, 1993. In 54 combined starts at the oval, Penske Racing has notched four wins (Ryan Newman – two, Wallace – one and Kurt Busch – one), six poles, 13 top-five and 28 top-10 finishes. 

Brad Keselowski on New Hampshire Motor Speedway
“I love the challenge of New Hampshire. It’s a tough racetrack where passing is very difficult. You really want to make sure that you get in a good qualifying effort because track position is so important. Inevitably a team will hit the setup exactly right and will check out from the rest of the field, but weather will come in to play and that dominant car won’t get the win. It’s an unusual place where you need to have a little bit of luck on your side to win.”

Brad Keselowski on looking forward to getting back to short track racing
“The short tracks have been very kind to us. We’ve been knocking on the door of the top-10 in just about every short track race this year. It would be nice to have another one of those races this weekend to put ourselves in position to pick up our best finish of the season. We need a solid run to get back on our feet. We’ve had some ups and downs over the last few weeks, but everyone on this team is putting forth the maximum effort. It would be nice to have a good, clean run at Loudon and then continue to improve every week until the end of the season.”

Crew chief Jay Guy on New Hampshire Motor Speedway
“Loudon is a unique racetrack. It has aspects of both Richmond and Phoenix all rolled into one. We work really hard to get the car to turn the center (of the corners) and maintain forward drive for late into a run. It is so hard to pass, you really need the complete package to win there – brakes, handling and pit stops.”