News

Brad Keselowski
No. 12 Penske Dodge Charger
Coke Zero 400 powered by Coca-Cola
Daytona International Speedway
July 3, 2010

No. 12 Penske Dodge Charger News and Notes
• This Week’s Charger… The No. 12 Penske Dodge Charger team will use chassis PRS-637 during Sunday’s 400-mile race at Daytona International Speedway (DIS). This is a brand-new chassis to the No. 12 stable.
• No. 12 Penske Dodge in 2010... After 17 events, Keselowski and the No. 12 Penske Dodge Charger team currently sit 25th in the Cup Series driver point standings and 26th in the owner point standings.
• Daytona Rewind… After leading 15 laps in his 150-mile qualifying race at DIS, Keselowski had a car that looked to be a contender at the Daytona 500 in February. Unfortunately, a cut right rear tire on lap eight ended any chance he had at a victory in his first career start in “The Great American Race.”
• Keselowski Circa 2009… Keselowski will look to channel the 2009 version of his speedway persona this weekend in an effort to get the No. 12 team a solid finish. In three starts at Daytona and Talladega last season, Keselowski had an average finish of 11th, including his win at Talladega in April.
• A Family Affair... In addition to his father, Bob, Keselowski also lists his uncle, Ron Keselowski, as one of his racing heroes. While the two Keselowski brothers were tearing up the Midwest short tracks in the 1970’s, the two also made nine starts at Daytona with Ron as the driver and Bob as the crew chief. Their best effort came in the 1972 Firecracker 400 when Ron qualified 10th and finished seventh in a Dodge.  
• TD Bank 250… Keselowski will make his first appearance in the TD Bank 250 at Oxford (Me.) Plains Speedway on Sunday, July 18. The TD Bank 250 is one of the premier short track races in the country.
• The Rest is History... Penske Racing has earned one victory in 78 Cup Series starts at Daytona. Ryan Newman drove the No. 12 Dodge to the win in the 50th-running of the Daytona 500 in 2008. Additionally, Penske Racing boasts 18 top-five finishes – including two each with Bobby Allison and Ryan Newman, five with Kurt Busch and seven with Rusty Wallace – and 26 top-10 finishes at the 2.5-mile superspeedway.

Brad Keselowski on going back to Daytona for the second time in 2010
“The Daytona 500 weekend almost made me sick to my stomach. It was a hard one to swallow. We had such an awesome car during Speedweeks. To blow a tire out on lap eight stung, quite frankly. Coming back to Daytona is going to be different now that we have the spoiler instead of the wing, but we are still carrying a lot of confidence and I’m ready to get there. I think I speak for everyone on this team when I say that we feel like Daytona owes us one. It would be an awesome feeling to go there and run well on the Fourth of July weekend.”

Brad Keselowski on the team’s restrictor-plate strength
“Our speedway program is very good, very strong. I’m very happy with where we are with our cars. We led laps in our Duel race at Daytona, and at Talladega, but we don’t have the finishes to show for how well we have run in those races. I just need to continue to make the right moves in the race and catch the right breaks. So far we’ve run up front, but we’ve had terrible luck with the restrictor-plate races. If we can get a little bit of luck on our side, I really think we can be a threat at any of the speedway races.”

Crew chief Jay Guy on Daytona International Speedway
“We’re looking forward to returning to some of these tracks a second time because we know that we’ll be better with some races under our belts, but Daytona is a place we just want another shot at, period. Our car was really strong during Speedweeks, but we just got bitten by some bad racing luck with the cut right rear tire. We’re taking a new car this weekend and if we can dodge “the Big One” I think we can run up front. Brad has shown that he has become a really good restrictor-plate racer over the last few years.”