News

Brad Keselowski
No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge Charger
Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250
Gateway International Raceway
July 17, 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-034 during Friday’s 250-mile race at Gateway International Raceway (GIR). Brad Keselowski drove this chassis to the pole position and a second-place finish at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in June.
• The No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge Charger in 2010... After 18 races, Keselowski and the No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge team currently lead the Nationwide Series driver point standings by 227 points over Carl Edwards. Keselowski has led the standings since his win at Talladega Superspeedway in April.
• Adding to the Record... By taking the checkered flag in last Friday’s race at Chicagoland Speedway, Keselowski extended his NASCAR record with his 85th 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 but one of the 3,303 laps contested this season and has led the field for 629 of those circuits.
• Track Record… Keselowski set the track qualifying record at GIR in 2009 when he toured the oval in 33.158 seconds. It was his second-career Nationwide Series pole.
• TD Bank 250… Keselowski will make his first appearance in the TD Bank 250 at Oxford (Me.) Plains Speedway on Sunday, July 18. The TD Bank 250 is one of the premier short-track races in the country.
• Penske Open-Wheel History at GIR... In the last Indy Racing League event at GIR in 2003, Helio Castroneves picked up the 117th race win for Roger Penske by taking the checkered flag in the Emerson Indy 250. Team Penske cars have made eight starts at the 1.25-mile oval and the numbers are impressive. Three wins (one each for Castroneves, Gil de Ferran and Paul Tracy), two poles, five top-five finishes and seven top-10 finishes.

Brad Keselowski on racing at Gateway International Raceway
“Gateway is a unique facility. It requires some different setups and different driver techniques. I think it’s really good for the sport to have some variety and Gateway certainly provides that. There is usually a good fan turnout for the events there and the fact that we are going there twice this year is pretty exciting in that regard. It’s a Dodge-sponsored race so that means everyone at Penske Racing wants to win this weekend to ensure that the trophy stays within the Dodge family. I feel that with the way we have been running this year we can go there and contend for the win.”

Brad Keselowski on the uniqueness of the track layout at Gateway International Raceway
“In my opinion, Gateway has a lot of similarities to Pocono but without the third turn that we have at Pocono. Each turn is very different. Turn 1 has a lot of banking, but it’s a very slow corner and it bogs down the motor quite a bit. The exit of Turn 2 is very important because your engine is not really up to full song. It also has large straightaways, which give you huge runs into the corner, and there is a lot of braking because of that. Gateway can be a challenging track from a lot of different perspectives. It’s cool to have that and I enjoy the challenge of racing there.”

Crew chief Paul Wolfe on preparing a car for Gateway International Raceway
“Gateway is a challenge because the two ends of the track are so different from each other. It’s a compromising racetrack, similar to Phoenix, but it also has characteristics of both Loudon and Richmond. Just about every aspect of racing comes into play at Gateway. Aerodynamics, mechanical grip, braking and motor are all very important to running well at that track. We’ve had good results with the car we are taking this weekend and we’re always confident in Brad’s abilities behind the wheel. Hopefully we’ll get a solid finish to gain back some of the points we lost at Chicago.”