No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Preview-Auto Club 400

March 22, 2011


Brad Keselowski
No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger
Auto Club 400
Auto Club Speedway
March 27, 2011

No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger News and Notes
• This Week’s Charger…
The No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger team will use chassis PRS-743 during Sunday’s Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway (ACS). This is a brand new chassis to the No. 2 team.
• No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge in 2011... After four events, Brad Keselowski and the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger team sit 21st in the Cup Series driver and owner point standings. The team is coming off an 18th-place finish in the Jeff Byrd 500 last Sunday at Bristol Motor Speedway.
• Keselowski at Auto Club Speedway… In addition to his two career Cup Series starts at ACS, Keselowski has raced in nine career NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) events at the Fontana, Calif. track. In those races, he has recorded three top-five finishes, three top-ten results and he has completed 1,200 of 1,354 (88.6%) laps contested, with 53 laps led. Keselowski has also made two NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts at ACS with his best finish of 16th coming in 2006 while driving for his family-owned K-Automotive team.
• The Rest is History... Penske Racing earned consecutive Cup Series victories at Auto Club Speedway in 2000 and 2001, the most-recent with former driver Rusty Wallace. Additionally, the organization has captured four poles, eight top-five finishes and 20 top-10 results in 51 combined starts at the oval originally constructed by Roger Penske.   
• Have at it, Brad… The featured tag line on the rear bumper of the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge this weekend in Fontana is “Have at it, Brad.” Keselowski has embodied NASCAR’s “Have at it, Boys” mantra.
• Follow Brad on Twitter… Fans can now follow Keselowski on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/keselowski. Followers can get a glimpse inside his everyday life while keeping up-to-date on the latest news for the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge team.

Brad Keselowski on racing at Auto Club Speedway
“We ran really well with the Nationwide car at Auto Club Speedway last year. That was a huge boost of confidence for me because it has been one of the tougher tracks for me over the years. I’m really looking forward to going back this weekend and having a solid race with the Cup car. The Cup car was a little up and down last year at Fontana, but it was really fast at times. Everyone on the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge is excited about the car we are taking this weekend. There has been a lot of work put into it and I think it will race well.”

Brad Keselowski on his team’s hard-fought finish last weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway
“Although the finish doesn’t really reflect it, I am very proud of the way we fought back at Bristol last weekend. We had an unbelievably fast racecar, but we got caught in an early hole and had to claw our way out of it. After getting caught up in a wreck and then having a flat tire, we were two laps down. No one on this Miller Lite Dodge team threw in the towel and we battled back for an 18th-place, lead-lap finish. Those types of races will build character. It shows that hard work does pay off and it will help us in the long run.”

Crew chief Paul Wolfe on Auto Club Speedway
“The key to victory at Auto Club Speedway is having a car with great balance. The track is known for long green flag runs and the car tends to get looser the longer you run. It’s a delicate balance because you have to be loose to start a run. A tight racecar is no good either but the driver has to be able to hold on to it. That is a very fine line. In Brad we have a driver that can handle a loose racecar. In fact, he prefers the car to be loose rather than tight and his margin for error is pretty wide. That gives me confidence that we can put a car underneath him that he can use to run up front.”