News

Brad Keselowski
No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge Charger
Dollar General 300 powered by Coca-Cola
Chicagoland Speedway
July 9, 2010

No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge Charger News and Notes 
• This Week’s Charger… The No. 22 Penske Racing Discount Tire Dodge Charger team will use chassis PRS-031 during Friday’s 300-mile race at Chicagoland Speedway. Brad Keselowski drove this chassis to a third-place finish at Kentucky Speedway in June.   
• The No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge Charger in 2010... After 17 races, Keselowski and the No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge team currently lead the Nationwide Series driver point standings by 277 points over Carl Edwards. Keselowski has led the standings since his win at Talladega Superspeedway in April.
• A New NASCAR Record... By taking the checkered flag in last Friday’s race at Daytona International Speedway, Keselowski set the new NASCAR record with his 84th consecutive Nationwide Series race without a DNF (Did Not Finish).
• Series Leader… Keselowski leads the Nationwide Series in top-five finishes (14), top-10 finishes (16) and laps completed. He has completed all 3,101 laps contested this season and has led the field for 602 of those circuits.
• Pole Position… Keselowski has won the last two pole positions coming at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Daytona, respectively. It is the second time this year that he has won two poles in a row as he also accomplished that feat at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Bristol Motor Speedway. He is now tied for the series lead with four pole awards on the season. 
• 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 2845 Plainfield Road in Joliet, Ill. on Thursday afternoon, July 8, starting at 4 p.m. CDT. 
• The Rest is History... In four Nationwide Series starts by Penske Racing at Chicagoland Speedway, the organization has picked up two pole awards, both by Ryan Newman. In addition, drivers have recorded one top-five finish and three top-10 finishes in those starts.

Brad Keselowski on racing in the Midwest
“I place a lot of emphasis on running well in the Midwest. It’s an important area to me and my family. My dad and uncle won a lot of races around there. My brother and I won a lot of late model races in the Midwest as well. It means a lot to me to run up front and contend for wins when I go back now with Penske Racing. Many times, this is the only opportunity that some of my family and childhood friends have to watch me race.”

Brad Keselowski on going into the NASCAR record books with his consecutive finish streak
“Honestly, the DNF record is not something that I gave much thought to. Some people may find this hard to believe, but one of my favorite quotes is ‘to finish first you must first finish.’ I am fortunate to be with a great team with great people working for it. This is as much about them as it is me. Our goal is to keep this streak going. We have some tracks coming up where I think we’ll do really well. It’s been a great season so far, but we still have a lot of racing and a lot of unfinished business to take care of.”

Crew chief Paul Wolfe on preparing a car for Chicagoland Speedway
“Chicago is a pretty unique racetrack. It’s a very fast 1.5-mile oval so you need to make sure that you have done your homework in the aerodynamic department. You also need mechanical grip because the track is very bumpy and the surface is becoming pretty worn. It’s a challenge to keep your car hooked up throughout the race when the green flag is during the day, but the race ends at night. You have to keep up with the changing track conditions.”