KESELOWSKI IN SPRINT CUP: Brad Keselowski will attempt to qualify the No. 25 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports on Friday at Texas Motor Speedway. This is Keselowski’s fifth attempt at making a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event and his fourth for Hendrick Motorsports. Keselowski has qualified three times driving the No. 25 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports and most recently drove the No. 25 Chevy to a 38th-place finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 1.
2009 NSCS Brad Keselowski - (Photo Credit: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images for NASCAR)
IMPROVING QUALIFYING: Last season, qualifying the No. 25 Chevy did not come easy for Keselowski, who elbowed his way onto the starting grids at Texas Motor Speedway (37th) and Homestead-Miami Speedway (31st). But this year, the 25-year-old driver has had more success behind the wheel of the No. 25 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy. Recently, he claimed the 13th starting spot at Las Vegas.
KESELOWSKI’S RETURN TO TEXAS: Last fall, Keselowski made his Sprint Cup debut at Texas and earned a 19th place finish — his best in NASCAR’s elite series. Of his four Hendrick Motorsports teammates, only Dale Earnhardt Jr. did better in his Cup debut. Earnhardt scored a 16th-place finish at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in May 1999.
AT TEXAS: Keselowski, a Rochester Hills, Mich., native, has made a total of nine appearances in NASCAR events at the 1.5-mile oval — his most at any active venue. Since 2004, he has raced at the intermediate track three times in the Camping World Truck Series, five times in the Nationwide Series and once in the Sprint Cup Series.
DOUBLE DUTY: Keselowski also plans to run in the Nationwide Series event at Texas this weekend. In five Nationwide starts there, he owns two top-10 finishes, which he recorded on Nov. 3, 2007 and Nov. 1, 2008.
FIVE MORE: After this weekend at Texas, Keselowski will attempt to make the field in five more Sprint Cup races this season for Hendrick Motorsports. Keselowski will try to line up the No. 25 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet at Darlington (S.C) Raceway on May 9, Dover (Del.) International Speedway on May 31, Chicagoland Speedway on July 11, Michigan International Speedway on Aug. 16, and Kansas Speedway on Oct. 4.
CHASSIS CHOICE: Crew chief Lance McGrew has chosen Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 25-537 for this weekend’s event at Texas Motor Speedway. The car, which will be pitted by Keselowski’s No. 88 Nationwide Series crew, has not been raced or tested, although McGrew and his team took it to the wind tunnel last month.
HENDRICK AT TEXAS: Hendrick Motorsports, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, has two wins, 15 top-five finishes and 23 top-10s in 16 races at Texas Motor Speedway. Hendrick Motorsports has earned at least one top-five finish in 13 events and at least one top-10 finish in 15 races at the track.
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BRAD KESELOWSKI, DRIVER, NO. 25 GODADDY.COM CHEVROLET (ON GOING BACK TO TEXAS IN THE NO. 25 HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS CHEVROLET.): “I really enjoy Texas and am really excited to be returning to the track where I made my Sprint Cup Series debut. We had such a good run in the car that weekend, and I’m really hoping to duplicate that effort and improve upon it. Texas is just so fast and has a lot of banking, which is something I like. Lance (McGrew, crew chief) and my Hendrick Motorsports team are bringing me a brand new GoDaddy.com Chevy this weekend, and I can’t wait to get in it and put some laps down.”
KESELOWSKI (ON ATTEMPTING TO RUN DOUBLE DUTY.): “I really enjoy the opportunity to run double duty weekends, especially at a track like Texas. Anything to give me more seat time and experience at a track is something I welcome with open arms. For me, nothing can replicate being in the car and logging laps on the track. Actually, the way the schedule is set up at Texas is nice, too, because I can focus on qualifying my Nationwide car on Thursday and then the Cup car on Friday.”
LANCE McGREW, CREW CHIEF, NO. 25 GODADDY.COM CHEVROLET (ON HOW THE TEAM HAS IMPROVED ITS QUALIFYING EFFORTS.): “Last year we weren’t good at qualifying. The two races we got into, it was like we squeaked into both of them so I was literally sweating it at Las Vegas (in February) until we got a good practice lap in. Then I’m like, ‘OK. We’re OK.’ I think with him (Keselowski), even he’ll tell you that he’s not a good qualifier. He’s a good racer, but he’s not a good qualifier, and for us, it was a matter of trying to find a package that he was comfortable with in race trim. Then we adapted that package to a qualifying trim package. We felt like there was some speed there by doing it that way. We plan on doing the same thing at Texas.”
McGREW (ON THE STRESS OF BEING LIMITED TO JUST PRACTICE TIME): “It depends on how good your car is. If you unload and your car is good, it’s not that stressful. You can have a good time. If you unload and you’re a second off, then chances are you’re going to be pretty stressed out. You hope practice is enough time to get things in order. You have to keep in mind that when you unload at a race, everybody is going to pick up the same amount of time. If you unload and say a 30-second lap is a good lap and you run a 31-second lap, you can work and get your car to a 30-second lap, while the other guys have worked to get 29. There’s X amount of time to accomplish so much, and generally unless you make wholesale changes, you’re going to accomplish the same amount as everybody else. Unfortunately, if you don’t unload good, it’s very difficult. Fortunately for us, we have four teammates to lean on.”
- Hendrick Motorsports, Press Release