Catchfence

Driver Brad Keselowski and team owner Roger Penske pose with the NASCAR Nationwide Series Championship trophy at Texas Motor Speedway. - Photo Credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR

Kobalt Tools 500

Phoenix International Raceway

November 14, 2010

No. 12 Penske Dodge Charger News and Notes

• This Week’s Charger… The No. 12 Penske Dodge Charger team will use chassis PRS-737 during Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 500 at Phoenix International Raceway (PIR). This is a brand-new chassis to the No. 12 team.
• No. 12 Penske Dodge in 2010… After 34 events, Keselowski and the No. 12 Penske Dodge Charger team currently sit 25^th in the Cup Series driver and owner point standings.
• Keselowski at Phoenix International Raceway… In addition to his two career Cup Series starts at PIR, Keselowski has made seven career NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) starts at the one-mile oval. He has recorded three top-five finishes and led 68 laps at the track. Keselowski has also made two NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts at PIR, with his best result of seventh coming in 2008 while driving his own Brad Keselowski Racing entry.
• Phoenix Rewind… After starting the spring Cup Series race at PIR from the 22^nd position, Keselowski used one of the fastest cars on the track to race his way inside the top-15 by lap 115. However, a mid-race brush with the outside wall forced Keselowski to make several trips down pit road for repairs, but he was still able to garner a 16^th-place, lead-lap finish.
• A Family Affair… Stock car racing runs in the blood of the Keselowski family. Brad’s father, Bob, a former competitor in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, scored one of his career-best finishes at PIR in 1997. After starting the race from the 20^th position, Bob was able to race his way to a sixth-place result. 
• Trackside Live… Keselowski will be a guest on the SPEED Channel show, “Trackside at…” this weekend from PIR. The show will air on Friday at 10:30 p.m. ET on SPEED.
• The Rest is History… In the first start for Penske Racing at the one-mile PIR oval in 1991, Rusty Wallace qualified 10^th and finished fifth. The organization has made a total of 53 starts at PIR with one win (Wallace – 1998), six poles and 13 top-five finishes.

Brad Keselowski on navigating the tricky Phoenix International Raceway oval

“Phoenix is a very tricky racetrack. It’s important, as a driver, to be really smooth with your wheel inputs and the way you work the throttle and brake. That’s what I focus on when I get there and I think anyone that runs well there does the same thing. It’s also really important to work with your crew chief to come up with a setup that is balanced and will work well with the asphalt at Phoenix. The track is worn down and it sits in that Arizona sun and just bakes, so it’s hard to get your car hooked up. But that’s part of the reason it’s so much fun to race there.”

For downloadable audio from Brad Keselowski please visit media.penskeracing.com

Crew chief Jay Guy on preparing for this weekend’s race at Phoenix International Raceway

“The new car we are bringing to Phoenix is one of the lightest cars that we’ve produced to date and we’re excited to see how it races. Phoenix has been called a ‘compromising’ track because the two ends of the track are different.  The main area we’ll work on is the exit of Turn 4. You need to have good forward bite off that corner so you can beat everyone to the start/finish line and down into Turn. 1. It’s a tough old racetrack. It can be tough on the driver and the equipment, so you need to make sure you take care of both. We had a good run there in the spring race before getting swept up in a late-race accident. I’m confident we can improve on that 16^th-place finish and run up front.”

Media Contact: David Hovis at (980) 722-1117 or david.hovis@penskeracing.com

This release and additional materials are available online to registered media members at media.penskeracing.com

- Penske Racing, Press Release