News

Brad Keselowski
No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge Challenger
Subway Jalapeno 250 powered by Coca-Cola
Daytona International Speedway
July 2, 2010

No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge Challenger News and Notes 
• This Week’s Challenger… The No. 22 Penske Racing Discount Tire Dodge Challenger team will use chassis PRS-203 during Friday’s 250-mile race at Daytona International Speedway (DIS). This is the first Dodge Challenger chassis built by the No. 22 team. 
• The No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge Challenger in 2010... After 16 races, Keselowski and the No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge team currently lead the Nationwide Series driver point standings by 247 points over Carl Edwards. Keselowski has led the standings since his win at Talladega Superspeedway in April.
• Score to Settle… The 2010 season-opening race at DIS is the only race in which Keselowski has finished outside the top 10.
• A New Series Record... Upon finishing the race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway last Saturday, Keselowski extended his NASCAR Nationwide Series record of 83 consecutive races without a DNF (Did Not Finish). This ties the overall NASCAR record and Keselowski will look to place his name in the record books by taking the checkered flag on Friday night.
• Series Leader… Keselowski leads the Nationwide Series in top-five finishes (13), top-10 finishes (15) and laps completed. He has completed all 2,999 laps contested this season and has led the field for 586 of those circuits.
• Interesting Stat…This season, Keselowski has more top-five finishes than any other Nationwide Series competitor has top-10 finishes.
• Meet Brad… Brad Keselowski will sign autographs at the Discount Tire store location at 1051 Beville Road in Daytona Beach on Wednesday morning starting at 9:30 a.m. EDT. 
• The Rest is History... The Dodge Challenger makes its return to NASCAR competition this weekend for the first time since the early1980s. The iconic Dodge make has a long history with the Keselowski family. Keselowski’s father, Bob Keselowski, and his uncle, Ron Keselowski, raced Dodge Challengers in the NASCAR Cup Series, ARCA RE/MAX Series and USAC in the 1970s.

Brad Keselowski on the debut of the new Dodge Challenger
“I’m really excited to debut the new Dodge Challenger this weekend. I think the fans are going to enjoy the character that these new cars are going to bring to the Nationwide Series. If you took the spoiler off this car, it looks just like one you can buy in any Dodge showroom in America. My dad and uncle raced Challengers back in the 70s so this is something that really hits home for me. Those cars were some of the coolest racecars ever and I think this new Challenger is right up there with them. We had a good test at Daytona in May, so hopefully we can go down there and win the first race with the new car.”

Brad Keselowski on racing at Daytona on the Fourth of July weekend
“It’s awesome to be able to celebrate our country’s independence down in Daytona Beach at one of the most-important tracks to NASCAR. It’s a Saturday night race, which everyone seems to enjoy, both drivers and fans.  I like to think that I’m a pretty patriotic guy. I’ve started carrying an American flag around on my victory lap after my Nationwide wins. It would be great to have another flag to auction off from this weekend.”

Crew chief Paul Wolfe on preparing the new Dodge Challenger for Daytona International Speedway
“We’ve all been pretty anxious to get the new car on the track. It’s been great to be a part of this process of building something new. Now we just need to make sure that it provides good racing. We saw at the test in May that it drives much different than the current car. It moves around a bunch so I think you’ll see most of the teams working on ride quality and stability, especially during the open test on Wednesday.”