News

Brad Keselowski
No. 12 Penske Dodge Charger
AMP Energy Juice 500
Talladega Superspeedway
October 31, 2010

No. 12 Penske Dodge Charger News and Notes
• This Week’s Charger… The No. 12 Penske Dodge Charger team will use chassis PRS-639 during Sunday’s AMP Energy Juice 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. This is a brand-new chassis to the No. 12 fleet.
• No. 12 Penske Dodge in 2010... After 32 events, Keselowski and the No. 12 Penske Dodge Charger team currently sit 25th in the Cup Series driver and owner point standings.
• Keselowski NASCAR History at Talladega Superspeedway… In addition to his three career Cup Series starts at Talladega, Keselowski has made three career NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) starts at NASCAR’s largest oval. He picked up his first NNS series win at the track in April of this year. The victory placed him in a group of nine drivers that have won a Cup Series race and a Nationwide Series race at Talladega.
• Talladega Superspeedway Rewind… In one of the more-exciting race weekends of the year, Keselowski finished 34th in the spring race at Talladega earlier this year. After running up front and leading laps early in the event, Keselowski was involved in a late-race incident on a green/white/checkered flag finish that ended his day early. He then had to jump behind the wheel of his Nationwide Series car as the race had been rained out the previous afternoon. However, medical personnel found his carbon monoxide levels to be four times the limit for safe competition and would not clear Keselowski to race until his levels came down. He was able to climb behind the wheel with minutes to spare and he went on to claim his first Nationwide Series victory of the year. 
• The Rest is History... In 2007, Penske Racing drivers Kurt Busch and Ryan Newman finished inside the top 10 in both races at Talladega Superspeedway, marking the first time in its history that the team achieved the feat at this track. In 80 starts at Talladega, the organization has one pole award and 10 top-five finishes. 

Brad Keselowski on his approach to racing at Talladega Superspeedway
“You really have to pay attention to how the race unfolds at Talladega. There are times when you need to be patient. There are times when you need to keep your head about you and race smart. But you are going to have to be aggressive at the end. Those are three elements of restrictor-plate racing that I work on throughout the race. I learned that from Dale (Earnhardt) Jr. He gets a lot of the credit for the kind of racer that I am on the plate tracks.”

Brad Keselowski on the stories of his uncle, Ron Keselowski, racing at Talladega Superspeedway
“I’ve always heard the stories of my uncle Ron racing at Talladega. He raced in the first race at Talladega, which is pretty cool in my book. A lot of the stories from him, though, are about the second and third years of racing at the track. They would start 70 cars and have a 30-car pileup on the backstretch. That’s insane! You didn’t have spotters back then so he came off of Turn 2 and the entire track was blocked. I can’t imagine how amazing it was to race in that era and I would have really enjoyed racing my uncle.”

Crew chief Jay Guy on preparing for Talladega Superspeedway
“It felt good to get our first top-10 finish of the season last weekend at Martinsville, but we probably should already have one from some of the restrictor-plate races. We’ve run really strong in those races but, unfortunately, we have been caught up in the big wrecks at the end of the race. So that gives us a ton of confidence going into this weekend. I like the package we have put together for this race. The engine shop has worked tirelessly to make sure we go back to Talladega with more horsepower. The aero department has done a great job massaging the bodies. If we can dodge the ‘big one’ this weekend we should be there at the end to compete for the win.”