News

Brad Keselowski
No. 12 Penske Dodge Charger
Air Guard 400
Richmond International Raceway
September 11, 2010

No. 12 Penske Dodge Charger News and Notes
• This Week’s Charger… The No. 12 Penske Dodge Charger team will use chassis PRS-706 during Saturday night’s Air Guard 400 at Richmond International Raceway (RIR). Keselowski drove this chassis to a seventh-place finish in the All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May.
• No. 12 Penske Dodge in 2010... After 25 events, Keselowski and the No. 12 Penske Dodge Charger team currently sit 26th in the Cup Series driver point standings and 27th in the owner point standings.
• Richmond Rewind… Keselowski began the spring race at RIR from the sixth position, marking his best starting spot of the season. He was able to run his No. 12 Dodge Charger inside the top-10 for the early portion of the event, but an ill-handling chassis resulted in the loss of a lap. Hard driving and great pit calls by crew chief Jay Guy allowed the team to return to the lead lap as they picked up one of their five top-15 finishes of the season.
• Keselowski NASCAR History at Richmond… In addition to his two Cup Series races at RIR, Keselowski has made seven career starts in the Nationwide Series at the short oval. In his last Nationwide Series start at the venue, Keselowski led 189 of 250 laps on the way to his first victory at RIR. In his last three Nationwide starts at RIR, Keselowski has finished no lower than fourth.
• The Rest is History... Penske Racing has a long and storied Cup Series history at the RIR oval. The first start for the organization came in March of 1976 when Bobby Allison qualified on the pole for the Richmond 400, before he gave way to relief driver Neil Bonnet for the race. Bonnet drove the No. 2 to a third-place finish. In 76 Richmond starts, Penske Racing has five wins (Rusty Wallace – 4, Ryan Newman – 1), five poles and 27 top-five finishes.

Brad Keselowski on improving on his 14th place finish in the spring race at Richmond
“We need to find just a little more raw speed this weekend when we get back to Richmond. Our qualifying effort was very solid, but we just missed it a little bit on the race setup. We were competitive at the end thanks to a lot of hard work on pit road, but we want to start the race a little better. If we can find those precious tenths of a second – and those last tenths are the hardest to find – I think we can run inside the top-10, or higher.”

Brad Keselowski on how growing up on the short tracks helps him prepare for Richmond
“Coming from the short tracks of Michigan and Ohio really helps me when we go to places like Richmond. The track has characteristics of several places where I cut my racing teeth. But what helped me out the most was the competition that raced up there. You had to learn to get tough or go home. I learned a lot of lessons on the short tracks back home that helped make me into the racecar driver I am today. I love racing under the lights on Saturday night because it reminds me a lot of those days.”

Crew chief Jay Guy on preparing for the second race at Richmond International Raceway
“We are really looking forward to going back to Richmond. We had a strong run there in the spring and we are looking at having better results this time around. Richmond is a great racetrack for Brad. He’s had tremendous success there in the Nationwide Series over the last couple of years. It’s a place that really suits his driving style with the wide corners and multiple grooves. This is a big race because of drivers locking themselves into the Chase. There will be a lot of eyes watching. We want to steal the show and put our Penske Dodge in Victory Lane.”