News

Track:               Watkins Glen International
Race:                 Go Bowling at The Glen  
Date:                 August 5, 2018
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No. 2 Wabash National Ford Fusion – Brad Keselowski

Start: 17th
Stage 1: 5th
Stage 2: 15th
Finish: 17th
Status: Running
Laps Completed: 90/90
Laps Led: 0
Driver Point Standings (behind leader): 7th (-264) 

Notes: 

• Brad Keselowski scored a 17th-place finish in the Go Bowling at The Glen Sunday afternoon at Watkins Glen International. Keselowski remains seventh in the MENCS driver standings, 264 points behind the leader. In nine starts at Watkins Glen, Keselowski has completed 807 of 812 possible laps (99.38 percent).
• Keselowski started 17th in the 90-lap race. During Stage 1, crew chief Paul Wolfe decided not to pit during the 20-lap segment, giving Keselowski a fifth-place finish. The driver of the Wabash National Ford reported that he was struggling with rear grip in addition to being both tight and loose. He pitted during the stage caution on lap 22 for four tires and fuel and adjustments. A mix of pit strategies among the leaders shuffled him back to 20th when the race went green on lap 24.   
• Despite an initial loss of track position, Keselowski was able to gain a few positions during Stage 2. He cleanly picked his way through traffic to score a 15th-place finish when the stage concluded on lap 40. Keselowski pitted for four tires and adjustments on lap 42 during the stage caution. Several leaders had once again decided to pit before the conclusion of the segment and when stayed out during the caution Keselowski was shuffled back to 25th position for the restart on lap 44. But over the next 10 laps, Keselowski was able to climb through the field. He was up to 16th when the fourth and final caution slowed the pace on lap 55.
• Crew chief Paul Wolfe made the call for fuel only when Keselowski pitted one lap later. While leaving the pits, Keselowski stopped to avoid members of Denny Hamlin's team who were completed a four-tire stop in the pit stall ahead of him. He restarted ninth when the race went green on lap 58.
• The final stage was challenging for the driver of the No. 12 Ford Fusion. His handling woes continued, especially off Turn 11. He was running 20th with just 13 laps to go. He was able to find a burst of speed in the closing laps of the race moving up to 17th position at the checkered flag.    

Quote: "I want to thank everyone at Wabash National for coming on board with us this weekend. We had a tough day for sure but we'll bounce back strong next week at Michigan."  

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No. 12 PPG Ford Fusion – Ryan Blaney

Start: 11th
Stage 1: 26th
Stage 2: 9th
Finish: 12th
Status: Running
Laps Completed: 90/90
Laps Led: 0
Driver Point Standings (behind first): 10th (-295) 

Notes:

• Ryan Blaney qualified the No. 12 PPG Ford Fusion in 11th position for Sunday's Go Bowling at the Glen at Watkins Glen International.
• During the first 20-lap stage, Blaney radioed to his crew the PPG Ford Fusion lacked overall grip, especially with the rear of the car. In just his third start at Watkins Glen, the young driver fought hard and stayed inside the top-10 as Stage 1 drew to a close.
• In an early strategy move, crew chief Jeremy Bullins made the call to bring Blaney to pit road on lap 17 for four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment. When the stage ended three laps later, Blaney was scored in the 26th position.
• The PPG Ford remained on track during the stage caution between laps 22-24. Blaney gained track position, but wasn't completely happy with balance of his No. 12 Ford around the 2.45-mile road course. Bullins kept Blaney on-track until Stage 2 ended on lap 40, collecting a ninth-place finish and collecting two valuable stage points.
• The next stop for Blaney came on lap 42 during the stage caution. Bullins and the PPG crew made larger adjustments including wedge, track bar and air pressure to help the PPG Ford in the faster portions of the course. Blaney was instructed by Bullins to save fuel at every opportunity.
• Unfortunately, the strategy didn't pan out, thanks to a caution on lap 55 for a stalled car on the course, which forced Blaney to remain on sequence with the frontrunners. He came to pit road on lap 56 for what would be his final stop of the day. He scored a 12th-place finish when the checkered flag waved on lap 90, he was scored with a 12th place finish on the day and remains 10th in the MENCS driver standings.

Quote: "It was a long day. We struggled all weekend, really, and just couldn't really go anywhere. We'd fire off okay and then just fade terribly, so we've got some work to do here."

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No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Fusion – Joey Logano

Start: 6th
Stage 1: 37th
Stage 2: 37th              
Finish: 37th
Status: Accident
Laps Completed: 2/90
Laps Led: 0
Driver Point Standings (behind first): 6th (-243)     

Notes:

• Joey Logano started sixth in the Go Bowling at The Glen on Sunday afternoon in the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford. Logano qualified sixth to lead all Team Penske in MENCS qualifying and entered the Sunday's race fresh off a victory in the Zippo 200 at The Glen one day earlier.
• Unfortunately, Logano damaged the nose on his No. 22 Ford Fusion on lap 2 after contact with the rear bumper of Kyle Larson exiting the carousel. The contact smashed the radiator but the team couldn't replace it under NASCAR's Damaged Vehicle Policy and Logano's day was over.

Quote: "I don't really know what happened in the garage on how the whole repair situation repair is. It's somewhat confusing, I think, to all of us to try to understand exactly how that works. But on the racetrack we were actually racing the heck out of each other at the start of the race. It was fun. I was trying to keep the nose on the car and was going to try to make a run on Larson off the carousel. I was right on him when they checked-up in front of him. He checked up and I ran into the back of him and it just knocked the radiator out of it."