News

Brad Keselowski
No. 12 Penske Dodge Charger
Price Chopper 400 presented by Kraft Foods
Kansas Speedway
October 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-713 during Sunday’s Price Chopper 400 at Kansas Speedway. Keselowski last drove this chassis to an 18th-place finish at Dover International Speedway in May.
• No. 12 Penske Dodge in 2010... After 28 events, Keselowski and the No. 12 Penske Dodge Charger team currently sit 26th in the Cup Series driver and owner point standings.
• Keselowski NASCAR History at Kansas… In addition to his one career Cup Series start at Kansas Speedway, Keselowski has made four career starts in the Nationwide Series at the 1.5-mile oval. In those starts he has recorded one top-five and two top-10 finishes, while completing 96.3% of the laps contested. Keselowski also has two career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series start at Kansas with his top finish of 21st coming in 2005.
• 2009 Kansas Rewind… In the 2009 edition of this race, Keselowski posted his best NASCAR Cup Series start of the season as he toured the oval in 30.821 seconds to secure a third-place starting position. After running up front – eventually leading one lap – Keselowski brought his part-time entry home in a respectable 13th place.
• Keselowski as Team Owner… Keselowski will once again don his team-owner cap this week as his Brad Keselowski Racing unit will compete in Thursday’s ARCA RE/MAX Series event at Kansas Speedway. Chad Finley will be behind the wheel of the No. 29 BKR entry as he attempts to pick up his first career victory in that series.
• The Rest is History... Penske Racing has competed in every NASCAR Cup Series event held at Kansas Speedway since the racetrack opened in 2001. In that first event, Ryan Newman and Rusty Wallace finished second and fourth, respectively, to capture two of the organization’s five top-five finishes at the track. In 21 combined starts, Penske Racing drivers have also captured one win (2003 – Ryan Newman), seven top-10 finishes and have led 337 laps. 

Brad Keselowski on helping teammate Kurt Busch during the “Chase for the Championship”
“We’re definitely going to try to help Kurt out as much as we can during the Chase. Penske Racing is in a unique position to do something that has never been done before and that is win three championships in three different series. Kurt is, obviously, the only driver we have in the Chase so we will play whatever role we can to help fulfill that side of our championship chase. We still want to win races ourselves, that is always the No. 1 goal, but there are things we can do and things we can try on our cars without jeopardizing the No. 2 car by having them run something untested.”

Brad Keselowski on how Kansas Speedway compares to other mile-and-a-half ovals
“Kansas is quite a bit different than some of the more traditional mile-and-a-half tracks, like Charlotte and Texas. It’s really similar to Auto Club Speedway in California. There are obvious differences in size as California is a two-mile track. Straightaway speed is not quite the same, but the corners are really similar. You can also run all over the track at Kansas, from the high lane to the low lane. It’s a great racetrack. I’m excited about going there twice a year because it is another one of those areas of the country where they support racing.”

Crew chief Jay Guy on preparing for Kansas Speedway
“Kansas is a late-season curveball because we haven’t been there yet in 2010 so we don’t have a package of notes to go on. As a crew chief, it takes a similar setup to Chicago. Basically, you end up taking some of the 2009 Kansas setup notes and pair them with the 2010 Chicago setup notes to start the weekend. Brad was very fast at Kansas last season, he qualified and ran up front all day, and we felt we had a decent car at Chicago. I’m excited to get out there to see what we can do.”