Reese Towpower Logo

NASCAR SEASON FOR REESE TOWPOWER KICKS OFF AT DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY WITH BRAD KESELOWSKI TWITTER TRUCK NATIONAL PROMOTION AND BIG PLANS FOR THE APRIL KANSAS RACE AS MAIN SPONSORS IN THE NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES WITH LABONTE  AND IN THE CAMPING  WORLD TRUCK SERIES WITH KLIGERMAN  

(SOLON, OH-) Second year NASCAR team sponsors, Cequent Consumer Products (CCP) and its leading brand Reese Towpower® will kick off the 2012 NASCAR season February 24th, 2012 at Daytona International Speedway as part of Brad Keselowski’s Twitter truck at the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Keselowski held a Twitter promotion in which fans had to Tweet the answer to a question and follow sponsors @ReeseTowpower @CooperStandard and @Keselowski for a chance to be featured on the Keselowski’s #19 RAM truck. The promotion gained massive appeal through Twitter with NASCAR fans and the media.

After Daytona, Reese Towpower will then have a huge weekend at the Kansas Speedway April 21 and 22 with sponsored teams at both the SFP 250 and the STP 400 races.  Reese Towpower®, the leader in towing products and Highland®, the leader in cargo management and cargo securing products will return for a second year to sponsor 2000 NASCAR Champion driver, Bobby Labonte of JTG Daugherty Racing in the Sprint Cup Series. Labonte will drive the No. 47 Toyota Camry Reese Towpower car on April 22 at the Kansas Speedway.

“We’re looking forward to having Cequent Consumer Products brands Reese Towpower® and Highland® return to the No. 47 Toyota Camry at Kansas Speedway in April,” Labonte said. “CCP is a great partner of JTG Daugherty Racing and they have selected a fan-friendly track with multiple grooves and good racing to spotlight their brands with our NASCAR fans.”

The Kansas City race is also when Reese Towpower will debut as the primary sponsor of the No. 29 Reese Towpower RAM in the Camping World Truck Series with up and coming driver, Parker Kligerman of Brad Keselowski Racing (BKR). Additional dates for the Reese Towpower Ram driven by Kligerman include:

April 21st – Kansas Speedway
June 8th – Texas Motor Speedway
July 14th – Iowa Speedway
July 21st – Chicagoland Speedway
September 29 – Las Vegas Motor Speedway

CCP is also proud to bring an industry partner on board as part of the 2012 NASCAR team sponsorship. Partner, National Retail Hardware Association (NRHA), will promote their consumer website PlanitDIY.com on the No. 29 Ram Truck as an Associate Sponsor for the July 21st Camping World Truck Series race at Chicagoland Speedway.

Reese Towpower is also pleased to announce Brad Keselowski will be the driver of the Reese Towpower No.19
RAM on August 22nd at Bristol Motor Speedway– Bristol, TN.

“Everyone at BKR is excited to debut the Cequent Consumer Products No. 29 Reese Towpower Ram at Kansas Speedway in April,” Kligerman said. “CCP is a great addition to our truck program and I am thrilled to able to represent all of CCP’s brands and products on and off the race track.”

“We are thrilled to open our season as dual sponsors of both team JTG Daugherty Racing and Brad Keselowski Racing,” said Francis Bernart, VP Marketing, Cequent Consumer Products. “This will be a big weekend of racing for us and being in both the Sprint Cup and the World Camping Series will provide maximum exposure for our leading brands Reese Towpower® and Highland®.”

Cequent Consumer Products began sponsoring the sport of NASCAR with JTG Daugherty Racing and Bobby Labonte in 2011.  In October, CCP announced a new mutil-race sponsorship with Brad Keselowski Racing to be split among CCP, its sister company, Cequent Performance Products and Cooper Standard, a returning sponsor for BKR. Cequent Consumer and Cequent Performance Products are divisions of the Cequent Group owned by TriMas Corporation of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

ABOUT CEQUENT CONSUMER PRODUCTS:
Cequent Consumer Products, Inc. is the industry’s leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of innovative consumer products for the automotive aftermarket industry. For more than 85 years, Cequent Consumer Products has produced some of the most dependable products in today’s market including superior-quality towing and hitch systems, trailer components and accessories, as well as electrical, brake, cargo carrying and rack systems for cars and trucks. Our established brands are sold through leading automotive retailers nationwide. Our brands are leaders in the industry and include: Reese Towpower, Highland, Rola, Fulton, and Bulldog. Cequent Consumer Products is part of the Recreational Accessories business segment of TriMas Corporation headquartered in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.  Visit http://www.CequentConsumerProducts.com
Follow us:
www.Facebook.com/ReeseTowpower    www.Twitter.com./ReeseTowpower
www.Facebook.com/HighlandProduct    www.Twitter.com/HighlandProduct

ABOUT BRAD KESELOWSKI RACING:
Based in Mooresville, North Carolina and led by NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series driver Brad Keselowski, Brad Keselowski Racing (BKR) fields the No. 29 RAM in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. BKR, with the aim to provide young talented drivers the opportunity to improve their skills with a professional, competitive team, has also fielded entries in the ARCA Series and other developmental motorsport series. For more information, please visit www.bradracing.com.

ABOUT JTG DAUGHERTY RACING:
JTG Daugherty Racing is a thriving NASCAR Sprint Cup Series operation owned by husband and wife team Jodi and Tad Geschickter along with five-time NBA All-Star and ESPN television analyst Brad Daugherty. JTG Daugherty Racing entered full-time NASCAR Sprint Series competition during the 2009 season after competing 14 years in the NASCAR Nationwide Series and winning races. Based in Harrisburg, N.C., the team returns to the pinnacle of the sport for their fourth year. 2000 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Bobby Labonte returns at the wheel for his second season with the team looking to add to his 21 victories, 115 top-five and 201 top-10 finishes. For more information, please visit www.jtgdaughertyracing.com.

ABOUT NATIONAL RETAIL HARDWARE ASSOCIATION (NRHA)
The North American Retail Hardware Association (NRHA) is a not-for-profit trade association representing 36,000 independent hardware stores, home centers and lumberyards across the U.S. and Canada. NRHA provides information, communication, training programs and networking opportunities to help these retailers become better merchants and compete more effectively. In 2011, NRHA launched PlanItDIY, a consumer-awareness and marketing campaign promoting the benefits of shopping at local, independent home improvement stores. The primary component of this initiative is PlanItDIY.com, a website where consumers can watch how-to videos and find project information for the most popular do-it-yourself home improvement projects. It also features the nation’s most complete store locator of independent home improvement retailers. For more information visit www.nrha.org orwww.PlanItDIY.com.
Here’s a recap:
Sprint Cup Series
Driver Bobby Labonte of (JTG) – No. 47 Toyota Camry Reese Towpower car – April 22 – Kansas Speedway

Camping World Truck Series
Driver Brad Keselowski of (BKR) – Reese Towpower featured on the No. 19 Twitter Truck – February 24 - Daytona International  Speedway
Reese Towpower No.19 RAM on August 22nd at Bristol Motor Speedway

Driver Parker Kligerman of (BKR)- No. 29 Reese Towpower RAM:
April 21st – Kansas Speedway
June 8th – Texas Motor Speedway
July 14th – Iowa Speedway
July 21st – Chicagoland Speedway
September 29th – Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Source: Cequent Consumer Products, Inc./REESE Towpower Press Release

Brad Keselowski Racing (BKR)

MOORESVILLE, NC (Jan. 30, 2012) –

Have a Twitter account

- Re-tweet/answer the Tweet from Brad in which he asks fans to predict his finishing position in the race; and

- Follow Keselowski (@keselowski), Cequent’s Reese Towpower brand (@ReeseTowpower) and Cooper Standard (@CooperStandard) on Twitter.

At the conclusion of the contest period, all the fans who have responded to Keselowski’s Tweet and are followers of @keselowski, @ReeseTowpower and @CooperStandard will be entered into a pool. From this pool, 5,000 Twitter handles will be drawn. Decals of these 5,000 Twitter handles will be featured on the bed of the No. 19 BKR RAM driven by Keselowski. Subsequently, an additional ten (10) Twitter handles will be drawn. The ten (10) grand prize winners will have their Twitter handles prominently featured on the sides of the Truck (five (5) Twitter handles per side).

All of the contest winners will receive an autographed photo of Keselowski with the Truck. The grand prize winners will receive a personalized autographed photo of the Truck with Keselowski standing next to their respective Twitter handles, as well as BKR team gear. Additionally, throughout the week of the contest, every 72nd re-tweet (up to 5,000 re-tweets) of Keselowski’s contest-launching Tweet will be eligible for a prize. Prizes will include gear and merchandise from BKR, Cequent, and Cooper Standard. The number “72″ represents the combined number of all the Dodges and RAMs Keselowski owns and/or drives in NASCAR’s top three series (No. 2 in the Sprint Cup Series, No. 22 in the Nationwide Series, and No. 19 and No. 29 in the Camping World Truck Series).

The contest winners will be announced on Wednesday, February 8th. The grand prize winners will be announced on Friday, February 10th. In the weeks leading up to the race, Keselowski will Tweet renderings of the Truck, photos of his driving uniform, photos of the contest winners’ Twitter handles being applied to the Truck, and the finalized Truck as it will roll onto the track in Daytona.

“During the off-season, I have been putting a lot of thought into how to further engage with the fans,” said Keselowski. “Social media, and Twitter in particular, is an important tool for NASCAR, for the drivers, and for the sponsors. This contest is designed to bring all three of these elements together in way that can uniquely reward the fans. It will be cool to, in a way, carry all of the prize winners with me in the race. Hopefully they will get a thrill out of being on the Truck and having their Twitter handles appear on TV. Twitter represents a fun way for me to communicate with our sport’s fans. Hopefully I can take that fun to the next level and bring all of them to victory lane In Daytona!”

The NextEra Energy Resources 250 will air live on SPEED Channel, Friday, February 24th at 7:30 pm ET. For more information, please visit www.bradracing.com or follow Keselowski on Twitter @keselowski.

About Cequent Consumer Products

Cequent Consumer Products, Inc. is the industry’s leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of innovative consumer products for the automotive aftermarket industry. For more than 85 years, Cequent Consumer Products has produced some of the most dependable products in today’s market including superior-quality towing and hitch systems, trailer components and accessories, as well as electrical, brake, cargo carrying and rack systems for cars and trucks. Our established brands are sold through leading automotive retailers nationwide. Our brands are leaders in the industry and include: Reese Towpower, Reese Carry Power, Highland, Rola, Fulton, and Bulldog. Cequent Consumer Products is part of the Recreational Accessories business segment of TriMas Corporation headquartered in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. For more information, please visit Cequent Consumer Products at www.CequentConsumerProducts.com.

About Cooper Standard

Cooper Standard, headquartered in Novi, Mich., is a leading global supplier of systems and components for the automotive industry. Products include body sealing systems, fluid handling systems and anti-vibration systems. Cooper Standard employs more than 21,000 people globally and operates in 19 countries around the world. For more information, please visit Cooper Standard at www.cooperstandard.com.

About Brad Keselowski Racing

Based in Mooresville, North Carolina and led by NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series driver Brad Keselowski, Brad Keselowski Racing (BKR) fields the No. 19 and the No. 29 RAMs in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. BKR, with the aim to provide young talented drivers the opportunity to improve their skills with a professional, competitive team, has also fielded entries in the ARCA Series and other developmental motorsport series.For more information, please visit www.bradracing.com.

- Brad Keselowski Racing Press Release

Snap-on Tools Racing

Snap-on’s colors and branding will adorn the No. 22 car driven this season by both former Nationwide Series champion Brad Keselowski and rising star Parker Kligerman in races at Darlington Raceway (May 11), Dover International Speedway (June 2), New Hampshire Motor Speedway (July 14) and Richmond International Raceway (September 7).

“We are excited to grow and develop our long-standing partnership with Snap-on as they expand our relationship to become a primary sponsor on the No. 22 Dodge for several Nationwide Series races this season,” said Roger Penske. “Snap-on has been a terrific partner with our organization now for 30 years and we look forward to celebrating this milestone with a great season together in 2012.”

Snap-on will continue to be an associate sponsor on all Penske Racing cars competing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series this season as well as its IndyCar Series teams. Building on a strong and productive relationship that enters its third decade, Penske Automotive Group and Penske Truck Rental also continue to use Snap-on products across all levels of their respective businesses.

“Snap-on is honored to be one of Penske Racing’s longest-tenured sponsors and is thrilled to be expanding the relationship,” said Yvette Morrison, vice president of marketing for Snap-on Tools. “Penske is a first-class organization and our partnership continues to be of great benefit to our company and our franchisees. We are excited to have one of the winningest teams in motorsports carry the Snap-on brand.”

About Snap-on

Snap-on Incorporated is a leading global innovator, manufacturer and marketer of tools, equipment, diagnostics, repair information and systems solutions for professional users performing critical tasks. Products and services include hand and power tools, tool storage, diagnostics software, information and management systems, shop equipment and other solutions for vehicle dealerships and repair centers, as well as customers in industry, government, agriculture, aviation and natural resources. Products and services are sold through the company’s franchisee, company-direct, distributor and Internet channels. Founded in 1920, Snap-on is a $2.6 billion, S&P 500 company headquartered in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

About Penske Racing

Penske Racing is one of the most successful teams in the history of professional sports. Competing in a variety of disciplines, cars owned and prepared by Penske Racing have produced 350 major race wins, 412 pole positions and 23 National Championships. For more information about Penske Racing, please visit www.penskeracing.com.

- Penske Racing Press Release

Brad Keselowski Racing Logo Thumbnail

Jeff Stankiewicz will serve as Keselowski’s crew chief. Doug Randolph will serve as crew chief for Parker Kligerman, who drives BKM’s No. 29 Dodge in the Truck Series.

“It’s starting to come together,” Keselowski said Saturday afternoon after his Preseason Thunder test ended at Daytona International Speedway. “I’m roughly planning to do six races, but I’d prefer not to drive it, to be quite honest.

“But for Parker’s sake, I think it’s important to get a good evaluation because this is a make or break year for Parker. We need a good evaluation of where our equipment’s at throughout different periods of the year so we can understand whether or not he’s making the most of our opportunity.

“Before you can say what the most of an opportunity is you have to define what the opportunity is. Are we giving him a good opportunity? Are we giving him an average opportunity? I don’t have an answer to that and I think we’ll have a much better indicator if we’re able to achieve that.”

To do that, Keselowski was compelled to shuffle his deck slightly, particularly when Randolph became available.

- SunHerald.com

- and –

NASCAR.com

Penske Racing

“We are pleased to welcome Jeremy to the Penske Racing team,” said Roger Penske. “His experience and engineering background will allow him to integrate well with our approach to preparing our race cars and executing at the track. We are excited for Jeremy to lead the No. 22 team and to continue with the winning tradition that has been established over the last two seasons.”

Bullins will join a team that has quickly become one of the most successful in NNS competition. Over the course of the 2010 and 2011 seasons, the No. 22 Dodge has scored 12 wins with Brad Keselowski as its primary pilot. In its first season of existence, Keselowski led the No. 22 team to the 2010 NNS title, the first-ever NASCAR championship for Penske Racing. Bullins will take over for Todd Gordon, who last week was promoted to crew chief of the Penske Racing No. 22 Shell / Pennzoil Dodge Charger in the NASCAR Cup Series.

“It is an honor to have the opportunity to join Penske Racing and lead this successful program,” said Bullins, who was race engineer for seven Cup Series point-paying wins on the No. 29 car over the last two years. “The No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge team is one of the premier teams in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. Not many people get the opportunity to work with a driver of Brad’s caliber in their first crew chief position. I am excited to get to work and get ready for the 2012 season.”

Keselowski will share the driving duties with Penske Racing development driver Parker Kligerman in the No. 22 car during the 2012 campaign. Keselowski, the former series champion, is looking to continue his rise up the NNS all-time wins ladder. With five more victories, Keselowski will enter the top 10 in career wins.

“I am very proud of what we have been able to build over the last two seasons with the No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge team,” said Keselowski. “I am confident Jeremy can continue to build on that. He brings an impressive resume from a solid organization. It is also good that we were able to move quickly to bring Jeremy aboard Penske Racing so we can all start working together to prepare for 2012.”

Penske Racing is one of the most successful teams in the history of professional sports. Competing in a variety of disciplines, cars owned and prepared by Penske Racing have produced 350 major race wins, 412 pole positions and 23 National Championships. For more information about Penske Racing, please visit www.penskeracing.com.

- Penske Racing Press Release

Penske Racing's Paul Wolfe and Brad Keselowski - Ronald Martinez/Getty Images for Texas Motor Speedway

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (December 1, 2011)

“The winning combination of Brad Keselowski and Paul Wolfe has been terrific for Penske Racing and we are excited to announce that they will continue to work together,” said Roger Penske. “With one NASCAR championship and numerous wins in both the Nationwide Series and the Cup Series to their credit, this has proven to be a special pairing. Although Brad, Paul and the No. 2 team fell short of winning the Cup Series title this season, we know they will continue to be championship contenders for years to come.”

In their first season of working together in 2010, Keselowski and Wolfe teamed up to produce six wins and five poles on their way to winning the Nationwide Series championship for Penske Racing. That team also established a new series single-season record with 26 top-five finishes and completed all but one lap of competition throughout the 2010 season.

Wolfe was named crew chief of the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge team prior to the start of the 2011 Sprint Cup Series season and the success continued with Keselowski in his first season behind the wheel of the iconic “Blue Deuce.” The team recorded three victories and one pole position in 2011 as it qualified for The Chase and finished fifth in the final Cup Series standings. Over the course of the last two seasons, Keselowski and Wolfe have worked together to produce nine wins, six poles, 36 top-five finishes and one NASCAR crown combined across Nationwide and Cup Series competition.

“It’s great to know that Paul and I will continue to work together to bring wins and championships to Penske Racing and its sponsors,” said Keselowski, the native of Rochester Hills, Mich., who first joined Penske Racing for the final three races of the 2009 season. “We’ve definitely built something special here with this team and we’ll continue to get better to reach our goals. I’m already fired up about 2012 and the future with the ‘Blue Deuce.’”

A former driver who accumulated six top-20 finishes in 16 career Nationwide Series starts, Wolfe first became a crew chief in 2006 with Fitz Racing. He moved on to CJM Racing in 2009 before he joined Penske Racing as crew chief of the No. 22 Nationwide Series team in November of 2009.

“We have enjoyed tremendous success at Penske Racing and I’m really looking forward to building on the legacy of the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge team,” said Wolfe. “It’s been a great experience working with Brad – we just seemed to click right away – and we will continue to build on the consistency and success we’ve experienced with the team. We’re already working hard to get ready for another run at the championship next season.”

Penske Racing is one of the most successful teams in the history of professional sports. Competing in a variety of disciplines, cars owned and prepared by Penske Racing have produced 350 major race wins, 412 pole positions and 23 National Championships. For more information about Penske Racing, please visit www.penskeracing.com.

- Penske Racing, Press Release

Brad Keselowski gets ready to celebrate after winning the NASCAR Nationwide Series season-ending Ford 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Saturday, Nov. 19. - Photo Credit: John Harrelson/Getty Images for NASCAR

Keselowski began the 200-lap race from the pole position after posting a lap of 32.208 seconds, or 167.660 miles per hour, during the Saturday afternoon qualifying session. As the race began, Keselowski radioed that the car was handling very tight in the center of the HMS corners, yet he was still able to race out to a one-and-a-half second lead before the NASCAR-mandated competition caution at lap 35. Crew chief Todd Gordon called for four tires, fuel and a track bar adjustment on the team’s first pit stop before Keselowski restarted the race in the lead at lap 39.

Just after the restart, Keselowski moved to the top of the track in an effort to keep the No. 60 car of Carl Edwards at bay. While Edwards was able to make his way around the Discount Tire machine, Keselowski kept his car at the front of the field during the ensuing green-flag run. After visiting pit road under the green flag at lap 92, Keselowski was caught one lap down to the race leaders as the caution flag flew prior to the pit stops cycling through. Keselowski, however, was able to earn the “Lucky Dog” award to get back to lead-lap racing. He then proceeded to take advantage of the opportunity.

Following the pit stop, which included a left side wedge adjustment, Keselowski radioed that his car was running great from the center to the exit of the corners, but it still needed some help on corner entry. He was able to race his way back inside the top five by clicking off consistent lap times and showing determination to finish off the NNS season with a solid result. As the race entered its final 50-lap segment, Keselowski began turning the fastest laps on the track as he moved into the second position.

At lap 181, following a lap 180 restart, Keselowski reclaimed his spot at the front of the field. Racing in an all-NNS champions group at the front of the field, Keselowski was able to hold off Stenhouse Jr., and Edwards over the final laps to secure the victory.

Penske Racing teammate, Sam Hornish Jr., finished seventh in the Ford 300 on Saturday evening.

Following Saturday’s result, Keselowski and the No. 22 team ended the season ranked fifth in the Nationwide Series owner point standings.

“You couldn’t ask for a better way to end the season,” said Keselowski. “Not being able to win the championship, it’s good to be able to finish on a high note, winning the pole and the race today at Homestead. It’s a great exclamation point to the season for the whole Discount Tire Dodge team.”

Brad Keselowski Ford 300 Race Statistics

Start: 1

Finish: 1

Laps: 200 / 200

Laps Led: 4 times for 66 laps

Status: Running

Owner Points Position: 5

- Penske Racing Press Release

Dodge Motorsports

BRAD KESELOWSKI (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger R/T) Finished 20th

YOU FINISHED FIFTH IN POINTS. “I don’t think anyone really expected that out of us, but I never stopped believing that we could be, you know, be a contender and have a lot of fun and do well as a team. I think we’ve got a lot to build off of. We’ll have to work on it, build off it too. I’m real proud of the effort for the whole team.”

HOW DID THE END OF THE RACE PLAY OUT FOR YOU GUYS? YOU HAD TO PIT LATE. “We were just doing what we could to try to get up to third (in the Chase standings). We were going to finish fifth in the points, so we just took a chance to try to get to third. It just didn’t pay off. If we caught a yellow, we could have been in really good position, but just wasn’t meant to be. I think we did all the right things and just didn’t catch the breaks we needed and really just didn’t quite have a fast enough car. We put ourselves in position to have good things happen to us and that’s okay.”

DOES THIS RACE ENCOMPASS YOUR ENTIRE CHASE? “We do an excellent job as a team putting ourselves in position where good things can happen to us and I think we’re rewarded accordingly. The big thing that we have to work on as a team is we’ve got to be a little faster, have faster race cars. If we can do that, we’ll rely less on strategy.”

YOU WON LAST NIGHT AND RAN STRONG TONIGHT. HOW DOES THAT MAKE YOUR OFFSEASON AND AS YOU LOOK AHEAD TO 2012? “Well, you know, we’d like to have had a better finish today but, you know, like I said, I was only surprised with how we ran. I’m ready for the offseason (smiles).”

DID YOU CAR GET BETTER AFTER THE RAIN DELAY? “Yeah, when the track didn’t have rubber on it, I thought the car was really strong.”

DID YOU HAVE A BETTER CAR THAN WHERE YOU FINISHED? “We were better than 20th, but we took our chances and just didn’t catch the breaks. I’m not frustrated with that. I think that’s the right strategy. I would just like to be a little bit faster. That’s the only thing I can be frustrated about.”

WHICH IS THE BIGGER ACCOMPLISHMENT: TOP FIVE IN POINTS OR MAKING THE CHASE? “They’re pretty damn equal (smiles).”

HOW WAS YOUR RACE? “We had an up-and-down night here at Homestead. At the end, we took some chances trying to get ourselves up to third in points and it just didn’t pay off. Ended up finishing 20th and if we catch a yellow there, we’ll probably have a fifth to 10th-place day and move up to third in points. But we just didn’t catch the right breaks for that to happen, but still had a decent day and probably a better day than where the finish was. You know, we just need a little more speed in our cars to be able to do something here. You look at the 14 (Tony Stewart) and the 99 (Carl Edwards) and they just had a lot of speed. If we can get a little more speed in our cars, I feel like we can go out there and win a championship.”

DID THE TRACK CHANGE A LOT AFTER THE RAIN DELAY? “Yeah, every time it would rain or do any of that kind of stuff, my Dodge got really good. I could have used a couple more of those showers (smile).”

THOUGHTS ON THE CHAMPIONSHIP BATTLE COMING DOWN TO STEWART AND EDWARDS. “Did it come down to a tie and Tony won it? Wow – that’s pretty cool. I guess I didn’t do the math. Congrats to him. He had a great year and I don’t think you can ask for much more than that.”

DID YOU EVER THINK THE CHAMPIONSHIP MIGHT COME DOWN TO LITERALLY THE LAST LAP? “Well, you know one year, it’s got to (laughs). This is the year and I don’t think we’ll ever see that again.”

PAUL WOLFE (crew chief, No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger R/T)

“We just didn’t have the car that we were hoping to have tonight. It really would have been nice to finish with a win. We just didn’t have the car we needed. We worked on it and never could really put it all together. We got to the point where we were just trying strategy stuff to see if we could pull something off with this Miller Lite Dodge Charger. It just didn’t work out. I’m proud of the effort by everyone on this team. We were able to earn a top-five spot in the driver point standings and that’s a great accomplishment for this team. I’m proud of the effort. We feel like we know where we need to go during the off-season to make our cars faster and run strong for the championship. It wasn’t from a lack of effort. Everybody put the best effort they could to make this car a championship-caliber car and we did that. I’m very proud of this Miller Lite Dodge team. We’ve made big steps this year. We just have to continue to try and be better and ready once the flag drops at Daytona in a few months.”

KURT BUSCH (No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger R/T) Finished 34th

“I’ve never been so disappointed in my life. I think I missed a race once my rookie year and this almost tops that.”

- Darnell Communications for Dodge Motorsports, Press Release

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. hoists a championship flag after clinching the NASCAR Nationwide Series crown at the Ford 300 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Saturday, Nov. 19. - Photo Credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images for NASCAR

FORD RACING NOTES AND QUOTES

Ford 300,

November 19, 2011

Homestead-Miami Speedway

RICKY STENHOUSE JR. POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON WINNING THE CHAMPIONSHIP?

“It is unbelievable. There are a lot of people that have worked really hard for this. My family has sacrificed a lot. Jack Roush and all these guys on our team, they were with us when we were struggling and they never gave up last year. Everybody at Ford Racing, Blackwell Angus Beef and Cargill, everybody has worked really hard and rallied together to be a team effort. Our cars back at the shop are phenomenal and all the guys that work hard there. Everybody at Roush Yates engines. It is a total team effort and it means the world to bring this championship to Jack and be a little bit of the history that he has in this sport. For Ford to get the manufacturers and Jack to get the owners it was for sure a huge team effort. Mike Kelley never let us down. He rallied us, even when we weren’t good and I would get a little mad out there on the race track he straightened me up and helped us keep digging.”

MIKE KELLEY, crew chief No. 6 Ford Mustang – WHAT IS IT LIKE TO BE THE CREW CHIEF OF THE 2011 NATIONWIDE CHAMIPIONS?

“Just like Ricky said, it means a lot. I heard Carl say the other day that it isn’t about the trophy that you get but the journey you take to get there. I couldn’t say that anymore for working with Ricky the last 16 or 18 months together. We had tough times last year and it was documented very well. Anyone could have walked away. Jack could have turned his back on him, Ford could have and our guys could have. There were a lot of tough days and grim nights back at the shop. Nobody did though. I am so proud of my guys and Jack and Ford for sticking behind Ricky and seeing it through. To come through what we did all last year and during the off season we really put our heads down and we weren’t picked to be the favorite and that is probably what helped us the most. We were kind of overshadowed by the Elliott Sadler’s and the Allgaier’s and Sorensen’s and that kinda gave us a fight and desire back at the shop to make sure we came out strong. It was a total team effort. It wasn’t me. I have a great engineering staff and we moved our shop. Jack let us move down to the Cup shop in Concord and that was a big plus for us. The cars that we get are second to none out there and the engines are second to none. We never quit. We had bad days at the beginning of the year and we learned as a group on fuel mileage and strategy. I feel like we gave up a couple wins based on that. I am proud of the effort of this team during the hard times. We dug in there and finished off strong.”

JACK ROUSH, owner, No. 6 Ford Mustang – WE MADE HISTORY TONIGHT AS A TEAM WON THE DRIVER AND OWNERS CHAMPIONSHIP WITH TWO DIFFERENT PRIMARY DRIVERS. CONGRATULATIONS JACK.

“When Carl won his Nationwide championship in 2007 I didn’t win the owners championship and I didn’t know what I did wrong. I didn’t do anything more wrong than I did right this time. It is an honor given to team owners that is really at the mercy of the efforts of the crew chiefs and drivers and the crew. I am glad to be sharing the honors with Carl and with Ricky and with Mike Beam and Mike Kelley. One thing I want to say, and I have been doing this for my 24th year and this is my third Nationwide championship that I have helped a driver win, but Ricky sits here tonight because of the sacrifice and dedication of a great family.

Without his mother and father, I am looking at his mom across the room here, without their sacrifice and dedication and determination to see to it Ricky had everything he needed to develop into the driver he has become it wouldn’t happen. People like myself or Tony Stewart or other owners that have the race cars would never find a Ricky Stenhouse without the family doing all they have to do and the dark days before it really goes public. Mike Kelley did a great job this year, Mike Beam did a great job behind the scenes. Carl Edwards provided great leadership from a driver point of view. Trevor Bayne did a great job challenging Ricky in some ways and supporting him in others. It has been a great team effort that we are celebrating tonight but I am especially thankful and respectful of the sacrifice of the whole Stenhouse family that they made to get Ricky where he is.”

STENHOUSE CONTINUED – IS THE THE BIGGEST THING TO HAPPEN TO OLIVE BRANCH?

“I would say so. It is going to be cool. I plan on taking the trophy when I got to the Christmas parade as Grand Marshal December 3rd. It will be a good homecoming for sure. There are a lot of people back there that are really supportive of what we are doing. The whole school system and everybody down there. It is really cool to have a community behind you like that.”

YOU WERE IN THE TOP FIVE IN POINTS ALL YEAR BEFORE MOVING TO FIRST AND STAYING THERE. WAS THERE A MOMENTUM SHIFT AFTER YOU GOT TO FIRST?

“We look at it as one whole year. We got the lead a couple times and lost it but that last time we got it we were bound and determined not to give it back. We wanted to seal it up before coming to Homestead. We did the best job we could and it was just a whole year of total team effort and really working to not make mistake on pit road and not making mistakes as a driver and crew chief. I think at the end of the year we really limited our mistakes we made in our first half the year that gave those points leads back to other people. That was the main thing we focused on.”

WHAT WAS THE ONE BIGGEST LESSON YOU LEARNED FROM JACK DURING THE TROUBLES LAST YEAR?

“The one biggest thing I think I learned from everything Jack has done for me is that he cares about me as a person and really wanted me to succeed. If he didn’t care he wouldn’t put me in the body shop. That is one thing I learned from my dad. He was tough on my growing up but it was always for a reason. Jack has been an awesome team owner. He has done a lot of great things in NASCAR and I am glad to be a part of this one little thing. He has been doing it a long time. He has his ways of doing things and you have to look at the positives from it. I think that was the biggest thing I learned.”

JACK ROUSH CONTINUED – WHAT WAS IT YOU SAW IN RICKY THAT MADE YOU INSIST ON PUSHING HIM TO THE POINT TO SEE IF HE HAD WHAT IT TOOK?

“Ricky was extraordinarily talented. Every challenge we gave him with a new race track or problem with a car as we changed the car Ricky was bright and quick and talented in meeting those challenges. The thing that was always there when you would reach a situation when it was clear that you could go down this or that path and Mike Beam or Mike Kelley or myself decided to go down a certain path Ricky always went along with it. He never called his dad for support and said we were being to hard on him, he just went along with the program. That is what a rookie needs to do. He needs to go with the program with the people looking after him and our group had his interests in mind.

The other thing was that he was just driven to be competitive to the extent of self destruction to start with. It is much easier to temper that and deal with that that it is for someone that doesn’t want it as bad as those next to them. They couldn’t realize the ultimate prize. Ricky wanted it bad and he raised himself to be a race car driver. This was his opportunity and he tried to hang on to it too tight to start with and couldn’t realize the success there for him but very quickly we got over that.”

RICKY STENHOUSE CONTINUED – THIS IS THE FIRST CHAMPIONSHIP UNDER THE NEW FORMAT. YOU ARE THE CHAMPION WITH TWO WINS. CAN YOU TALK ABOUT HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT BEING THE FIRST CHAMPION IN THIS NEW FORMAT?

“It means just as much. We race week in and week out with those guys. We gave them a run for their money here tonight. Ultimately my goal is to go out there and win the drivers and owners championship. We finished third in the owners championship so we ran really strong all year. We beat Carl, we beat Brad, we passed those guys and raced Kyle Busch. I think as a race team and me as a driver I felt like we are just as good as those guys. I think that racing up there and beating them definitely makes this championship worth it.”

YOU FINISHED STRONG.

“This race track is one of my favorites. I wish we came here twice at least. Last year was the first year here. I had a lot of fun and this is just my style of race track. You can drive it in hard, let it slide up to the wall and get back in the gas and really hang it out, it just reminds me a lot of sprint car racing. Last year, we finished fourth and ran really strong and this year we just came up one spot short and maybe one corner short, but, man, it was fun racing those guys. We were sideways, turning right, trying to keep it off the fence, getting into the fence every now and then, and to race up there with Carl, Brad, Denny, Clint Bowyer, Elliott Sadler, they’re some of the best in the business and to be up there racing with them is fun.”

AT WHAT POINT DID YOU KNOW THE TITLE WAS YOURS AND DID IT CHANGE YOUR PHILOSOPHY?

“We were going 100 percent there from the start. It’s tough to get me to back down any. I’m not good at riding around, so I’m not sure what lap it was, Mike Kelley came over and told me we were good to go, that we had won the championship, but we still stayed focused and I think I drove 110 percent after that, so that was the only thing that really changed.”

WAS THERE A TURNING POINT FOR YOU AND YOUR TEAM THIS SEASON?

“I can think of two. Early in the year when we led laps at Bristol, ran up there with Kyle and I was kind of playing around with him the whole time. Talking to Kyle after he was like, ‘Man, you had the best car.’ We made a mistake on fuel mileage and we made a mistake as a race team getting lined up and we got caught two laps down, so I think we rallied together and we worked on our fuel mileage with Ford and everybody at Roush Fenway and Roush Yates, worked on our fuel mileage, and we kind of got a direction there and that really helped us. And then Indy when we led 190 laps and we came up a couple spots short. That was pretty tough for us, but we were bound and determined to win some more races and really run up front and dig hard, and Mike was the one that kind of rallied everybody together and kept everybody digging.”

MIKE KELLEY CONTINUED –

“I kind of agree with him. Early on in the year we kind of made a few mistakes and left a lot of points on the table, a lot more than we ever thought, and I really feel if we would have been a little smarter, a little better earlier in the year, we’d have been right in the middle of that owner’s championship, and that was our goal from the beginning. But the thing that meant a lot to me is we sat down in January and we circled a bunch of dates on the calendar for Ricky’s experience level on the road course races, we kind of had a goal, we said we’d have to be 25 points in the lead coming into the last two road course race swing knowing that Elliott had a lot of experience and Ricky had never been to Watkins Glen.

We knew we’d take our lumps there, but if we could get out of there, we didn’t care if it was a one-point lead or a two-point lead, we would tell ourselves on the way home that we came out of there with the lead and now it was ours to hold on to the last 10 races of the year, kind of really laid into Ricky’s schedule – a bunch of short tracks thrown in there with some mile-and-a-halfs that the cars have been good on.

When we made it through those two road course races, I don’t know if it was six, seven, eight points or something, we came out of there with the lead and I remember looking at him on the plane and I told him, ‘Picture that we came in here five points behind and we actually came out six points ahead and we’ll look at it that way, instead of saying we lost 10 today.’ We got the guys rallied back at the shop and said, ‘We’ve only got to turn left from here on in and Ricky can do that as good as anybody out there.’ Lack of experience or not, he’s as talented as anyone I’ve ever seen behind the wheel.”

RICKY STENHOUSE JR. CONTINUED – AT THE START OF THE YEAR MANY PEOPLE DIDN’T HAVE YOU IN THEIR TOP FIVE. DID YOU USE THAT AS MOTIVATION?

“We definitely used that as motivation. We felt like at the end of last year, Mike Kelley and I were sitting down at the banquet watching Brad get the trophy, we told each other right there that as strong as we were running at the end of the year, running up in the top five with the Cup guys, that we were going for that championship and that was before they ever changed the point system. Obviously, they changed the point system and we still weren’t in sight to do that from the media’s perspective, but we felt like as a race team we could do that, I felt like as a driver I was just as good as anybody else out there, and if we put everything together, then we knew we had a shot at this championship. But it was just fun. You all have been doing this a long time and I’m just getting started, so it was good to come out here and get this championship.”

- PCG Campbell Press Release

Dodge Motorsports

Homestead-Miami Speedway

Ford 300

NASCAR Nationwide Series

Final Post-Race Quotes

(POST-RACE PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES)

BRAD KESELOWSKI (No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge Challenger R/T)

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOU WIN TONIGHT?

“Yeah. It’s been up-and-down year on all sides, whether the Cup or Nationwide side. We finished this year strong with a win and sitting on the pole today. We had a very fast Dodge today in qualifying. There were a couple moments that we struggled in the race. We worked on it and didn’t spend a lot of time whining about it. Carl (Edwards) definitely put up a good fight. It was going to come down to the last restart. I really thought that once I had him cleared that I could drive away with the clean air, but I got to pushing really bad and (he) was able catch up. From there, it was going to be a dogfight. He fought hard and I fought hard. We were able to come out on top.”

HOW COOL WAS IT THAT YOU’RE LAST YEAR’S NNS CHAMPION RACING AGAINST THIS YEAR’S NNS CHAMPION RICKY STENHOUSE?

“It was really unique. My spotter was telling me during the race with Carl being a past Nationwide champion and myself being last year’s, racing with Ricky is kind of cool. It’s nice to see this sport and the progression. It’s a good moment to reflect on where this sport is and is heading.”

WHERE YOU WORRIED ABOUT RACING AGAINST CARL LATE IN THE RACE?

“I only put a move on him once. One move is cool, two moves is not. You get one move and I used my one move. That’s how I feel about it. I guess every driver has his own ‘code’. I used up my one move. He never made a second one.”

DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOUR NATIONWIDE PLANS ARE FOR NEXT YEAR?

“Well, you know, the thing about the Nationwide car to me, there’s a lot of things about it, but the Nationwide program was a great opportunity for me to come into Penske Racing and be a part of creating something special in multiple ways, from being able to win a first championship for Roger (Penske) to creating depth in the company that would service for years to come. And for me to have a shot at just being successful and feeling like that if the Cup side didn’t go so well, which I think, to be honest, I had some suspicions it wouldn’t, that I wouldn’t lose my own confidence and those around me wouldn’t.

“To make that all happen, it took commitments from people. And those people work on the team, those people work in the shop and those people sponsor the race car. And so in order for me to live up to my end of that, and I’ve certainly been rewarded with it and we’re starting to see success from that on the Cup side. You know, I can’t just run away from that. I’ve got to live up to that and the commitments that those people have made to me. I’ve got to make the commitment back to them. You know, I plan on continuing that commitment to them and slowly scaling that down as the time passes by. I think we looked at this year and I ran somewhere around 28 races approximately (29) and, you know, I would suspect that over the next few years that you will continue to see that roll back. We lost six or seven races this year and I would assume that I would probably shed a few more next year and then the year after. You know, those things are always changing so it’s hard to give a definitive answer, but that would be my own expectations.”

DO SOME OF THESE WINS MEAN MORE TO YOU THAN OTHERS?

“You’re only as good as your last one. To me, I always feel like not only are you only as good as your last win, but you never know when you’re last win is going to be. So, you better savor it. And I’ve been through the up and down patches in my life as a race car driver. I can remember being a crew member and going through a patch of four or five years not winning a race and damn, it sure made me appreciate the ones that I was able to win before that. I sure as hell don’t take it for granted. This could be the last win of my career as far as I’m concerned. You know, I feel like every time I get in the race car I have something to prove. When you are able to prove it like we’re able to do today as a team, it feels pretty damn good to me.”

DO YOU THINK SOME OF THE STUFF THAT WE SAW ON THE RESTARTS TODAY WILL BE TRIED TOMORROW? THE GUY RESTARTING SECOND WAS ABLE TO GET A GOOD RUN.

“Sure, well you know that’s just the way the Nationwide cars are. It’s quite a bit different than the Cup cars as far as restarts are concerned. With the low power situation, it’s almost like a tag-team on a restart. Whoever has the best tag-team comes out front. It can be a little awkward at times, but I think on almost every restart whoever restarted second took the lead or at least more than not. It’d be an interesting stat, but you know that’s kind of par for the course on the Nationwide side. That’s got more to do with power situation and the side drafting than I think anything else. Cup cars seem to be quite a bit more immune to that.”

YOU WON THE NATIONWIDE TITLE LAST YEAR. YOU’VE SPENT A LOT OF TIME THE LAST TWO SEASONS ON THE TRACK WITH RICKY. CAN YOU TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT WHY YOU THINK HE MADE SUCH A GREAT IMPROVEMENT FROM LAST SEASON TO BECOMING A CHAMPION THIS YEAR?

“Well I think with Ricky, I think his cars were pretty far off last year and I think the same thing for Carl and really all that team. And by the end of the season, they found something and they got their cars better. They got that new engine over there which is a huge gain for them in both power and weight savings. So, I think that was a huge gain for them. I think once his cars got more competitive, he was able to be more competitive without pushing as hard and I think that’s a big learning curve. When you find yourself running 90 percent and you’re able to run fifth to tenth, you know, you’re okay with running 90 percent for a little while.

You can kind of settle in. When you find yourself running 90 percent and you’re running 15th-20th or whatever that might be, you find yourself driving at a hundred percent and you find yourself taking chances or kind of going all-in on some bad hands, so to speak. And so it makes life a lot easier on you when your cars are more competitive. I think his cars are more competitive and that has allowed him, or has opened a box in his own mind, that allows him to understand better how hard he needs to push. He’s done a great job picking that up this year.

That’s what every driver needs to learn. That’s why teams are so important because the first brick, the foundation of any race team, is the speed that you have in the car and from there, you know, you put up the sides of the house with the pit crew and you worry about the roof, the roof being the race car driver. But you’ve got to have that good foundation and that’s speed in the car. Everything else is built off of that. You know, I think that camp over there did a good job of making their program better, making their cars better, and Ricky was able to make something out of that, so he deserves some credit too.”

TODD GORDON (crew chief, No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge Challenger R/T)

“We made a couple of adjustments after practice. Not having that second practice. we thought that we would get a little bit more aggressive with travels and that really over-traveled the car and got on the splitter really hard the first half of the race. We struggled with trying to get off of (that) all day. We just kept plugging away at it. Brad never gave up. (We made) several rounds at the car trying to get the car off the splitter. It just comes down to Brad’s talent on restarts. He pulled it out today. We probably didn’t give him the best piece to work with today.”

FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE, WHAT DOES WINNING THIS FINAL RACE OF THE SEASON MEAN, ESPECIALLY COMING OFF THE CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON LAST YEAR? WHAT DOES BRAD REDUCING HIS SCHEDULE MEAN TO YOU AND THE TEAM?

“To reflect on the year, we kind of made that my pre-race comment, but we kind of lost some continuity from what the 22 team was from last year. We had a lot of new faces, myself being one of ‘em. Car chief came over from a different place, the engineer; we’ve had a couple different that weren’t here last year. We built a lot of chemistry this year and I think the last half of the season shows a lot for that. A couple of things that are unique about this year, Brad has won five races in the 22 car this year, none of which were at race tracks he won at last year. We’ve got 11 wins over the last two seasons at 11 different race tracks.

And Kurt (Busch) won at Watkins Glen which was the 12th race track. We’ve had some success at some different places and I think winning this sends the team in the off-season with an extra little hitch in their step. It gives us something to build off of for the off-season and look forward to for next year. However it works out, I think we went through the summer months when Brad had his injuries and we shuffled four different race car drivers and I think we were competitive with all four. That’s one of the things we’ve got here at Penske, we’ve got talent. Roger does a good job of supplying us with that. I don’t want to give Brad up, but I understand where the program is at. We’ll be here together for the majority of the races next year and we’ll work in the offseason pretty hard to make sure that whatever we’re going to do to fill the little voids will be ready in step for 2012.”

(QUOTES PRIOR TO POST-RACE PRESS CONFERENCE)

BRAD KESELOWSKI (No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge Challenger R/T) Race Winner

“You couldn’t ask for a better way to end the season. Not being able to win the championship, it’s good to be able to finish on a high note, winning the pole and the race today at Homestead. It’s a great exclamation point to the season for the whole Discount Tire Dodge team.”

WE HAVE A LOT OF FUN WATCHING THE RACING OUT THERE TONIGHT. IS IT THAT MUCH FUN BEHIND THE WHEEL? “Hell yeah, I mean, it is when you win. It was tough, it was frustrating, it was hot here in Miami and that’s what makes it worth it.”

WHAT DID YOU LEARN TODAY THAT YOU CAN APPLY TO THE CUP RACE TOMORROW? “Man, I can’t tell you that (smiles). Just driving the hell out of it; I’m going to drive hard I guess. And thanks to all the fans for coming out.”

SAM HORNISH JR. (No. 12 Alliance Truck Parts Dodge Challenger R/T) Finished Seventh

“It was a pretty solid night for the Alliance Truck Parts Dodge Challenger. We just didn’t have the short run that we needed late in the race to crack into the top five. We had our ups and downs all night. We felt that we had really good long-run speed in the car to compete all night. We just got down to the end of the race and it became a short-run race with all the cautions. We made a small change and it wasn’t enough to get us where we needed to be. We got stuck on the inside on that last restart; it slowed us down a bit. We were good. We just needed more short-run speed.”

HAS THE LAST FOUR RACES GIVEN YOU GUYS A GOOD BUILDING BLOCK HEADING INTO THE 2012 SEASON?

“I think so. It’s not easy when you’re not running a full-time season, but we certainly didn’t waste any of the opportunities that we had all year. We raced to some top 10s, won at Phoenix and had another top 10 tonight. We need to continue to work on our short run speed. I think everyone on this team gained a lot of valuable experience and that can only be a positive thing heading into next year. Our race changes have been improving. Our team has become stronger in the pits. Everything that we’ve done the last four races has helped make us a team to contend with next season.”

TRAVIS GEISLER (Director of Competition, Penske Racing)

“A great night. The last couple of weeks have been really good. To get Sam (Hornish) in victory lane with his Alliance Truck Parts Dodge last weekend at Phoenix and Brad (Keselowski) tonight in his Discount Tire Dodge is awesome. This is pretty sweet. It’s always great to go out on a high note. Our Nationwide program did a great job all year with six wins and six poles. To come here and beat Carl Edwards is a real testament to everyone that touches these Dodge Challengers. This is why we go racing, to be able to share in great moments like this. It certainly makes the off-season a lot shorter.”

- Dodge Motorsports / Darnell Communications Press Release

Ford Racing

FORD FINISHING RESULTS

2nd – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

3rd – Carl Edwards

11th – Trevor Bayne

21st – Timmy Hill

27th – Casey Roderick

36th – Andrew Ranger

42nd – Fain Skinner

RICKY STENHOUSE JR. – No. 6 Blackwell Angus / Cargill Ford Mustang – CHAMPIONSHIP VICTORY LANE INTERVIEW – WHAT ABOUT THE LAST TWO OR THREE
LAPS?

“We sure tried. That was all I had. I was really hoping for one more lap there, but Brad did a good job. It was fun racing Carl and those guys. I got a little loose there coming off four or I thought we could have got him, but the Blackwell Angus Beef and Cargill Mustang did its job at Ford Championship Weekend – Nationwide Insurance – this is a dream come true.”

WHAT A CINDERELLA STORY. WHAT MADE IT HAPPEN FOR YOU?

“I think first off is just relying on God. We were down in the dumps and we relied on Him and He pulled us through. That’s why we have to give him the praise for the nightsthat we’re on top. It was just a lot of hard work by all these guys – Jack Roush, Ford Racing, everybody at Blackwell Angus Beef and Cargill – this crew right here, they didn’t give up on me. They were with us all through last year and I’m just glad to be here.”

ONE HERO IS JEFF GORDON AND THE OTHER IS YOUR DAD. WHAT DOES THIS DAY MEAN TO YOU AND YOUR DAD?

“It means a lot. My family sacrificed everything they had. My sister didn’t quite get everything that she’s ever wanted. We were racing as much as we and to do that for them, he taught me hard work and to never give up. I wish my granddad was here. He helped us out a lot through the go-kart days and worked on our cars. We had a lot of fun doing that. I wish he was here, but this is an awesome night.”

TALK ABOUT YOUR NIGHT

“This is just awesome what this team has done, what Jack Roush has done and everybody at Ford Racing and Nationwide Insurance for giving us this great series to run in and all the fans that come out to watch every week. We really appreciate that, especially the ones that support us.”

HOW GOOD WAS THIS CAR TONIGHT?

“Man, this race car was awesome. It was a little tight at the beginning but we worked on it. We knocked the wall down in three and four but it seemed to maybe help it a little bit. Mike Kelly did an awesome job and we had awesome pit stops. Everybody on this Blackwell Angus Beef and Cargill Mustang worked their butts off. We had a late race charge there. I didn’t want to see that caution when we were leading but those always come out it seems like. That last restart I was giving it all I had. If I could have got a little better restart and not lost as much ground to Carl and Brad I think we could have had it. It was a great race, fun hopefully the fans enjoyed it. We do this for them.”

GO BACK A YEAR OR SO AGO AND JACK GIVES YOU A CALL TO DRIVE THE NATIONWIDE SERIES. YOU HAD PROBLEMS KEEPING THE CAR OFF THE WALL. HE PUT YOU TO WORK REBUILDING THE CARS. WHAT KIND OF LESSONS DID YOU LEARN FROM JACK ROUSH?

“The same lessons I learned from my Dad. He just helped me remember them. You have to work hard, stay focused and be patient and determined. Jack has his way of doing things and it has definitely worked out.”

JAMIE ALLISON, Director, Ford Racing –

“Wow. What a great moment. Unbelievable to have this championship. It is what we all race for and is a proud moment for Ford and Ford fans everywhere. We got one championship tonight and we have one more to go tomorrow.”

CARL EDWARDS – No. 60 Fastenal Ford Mustang – PIT ROAD INTERVIEW

“First, congrats to Ricky. That’s huge for Ricky to win the driver’s championship. I’m so proud of my guys. Fastenal, Ford, Valvoline, NextGen oil, Wiley X, all the fans that came out here. It’s a great weekend for Ford. I’m proud to be driving a Ford. I wanted to get Brad there at the end. We were racing hard and I got up on his bumper there and I was hoping he’d get loose, but I got tight. He did a really good job driving. It was just fun racing. This is really neat and Denny raced me so clean. That was a ton of fun.”

RICKY GOT YOU AS WELL.

“That was funny. I thought I finished second. Ricky got me too, but he deserves it. He’s a great guy and it was just a fun race. I’m excited for tomorrow. Tomorrow in that Aflac Ford is gonna be a blast.”

TAKE US THROUGH TONIGHT.

“First, congratulations to Ricky and all the Blackwell Angus Beef folks. Ricky has come so far and I think he’s gonna be a champion in a bunch of levels of this sport. That was huge and my guys have done a great job all year – eight wins and we’re so proud to have Fastenal on board. Ford has been great. It’s Ford Championship Weekend and we wrapped up the drivers and the owners and that was huge. Valvoline and NextGen, Wiley X and all
these fans that are here, this is cool. It did get pretty exciting there at the end. I had to remember, ‘Hey, don’t screw this up,’ and Brad started blocking a little bit and I thought, ‘Well, if he’s gonna block, I’m gonna bump him,’ and then I bumped him and it helped him and hurt me. I didn’t do a good job of that, but he did a great job racing. I thought everybody raced as aggressively as I’ve seen in a long time and everybody was real respectful. It was really fun.”

TREVOR BAYNE – No. 16 Ford Mustang Ford (Finished ) –

“Well, we had a really fast race car, we just had one run where we missed it a little bit. Everyone moved to my lane and we were so fast at the top but everyone saw that and they all moved up in front of me and I hadnowhere to gain on them. We were just average at the end there. We lost a right rear tire and it got us in the wall. I don’t know if it went down first or getting in the wall took it down. It is disappointing because I wanted to be out there with him doing so me burnouts. Next year hopefully we can be out there. I am really pumped for Ricky and Carl. To win championships is a big deal. It shows consistency and it shows you can be there all the time. They were fast. It is a tough series and for them to win is huge especially for Ricky. This is an awesome deal for him. I am really excited for him.

YOU’VE GOT THE 500, HE’S GOT THE NATIONWIDE TITLE. WHO HAS THE TRUMP CARD?

“I don’t know man. I don’t know if you can compare apples and oranges, that is kinda what that is. I am just excited for both of us to have seasons like this and I am really proud to be a part of this Roush Fenway group.”

CARL EDWARDS PRESS CONFERENCE –

“It was huge for us. That 18 team,they’ve been unbelievable and for us to have closed in all the points we did the last couple of months, I think it was 50 or so points – something like that – my guys are very excited about this. That was our mission tonight to be that 18 and to win this owner’s
championship. I just can’t say enough things about Jack Roush and Ford and everything they’ve done with this Nationwide program. Ricky Stenhouse and Trevor Bayne have been huge helps to me as a driver. They’ve obviously been amazing on the race track and I’m so happy for Ricky for his accomplishment and for us to have won that owner’s championship makes it really neat for all the guys back at the shop and it’s something they can be proud of, so that was good. The race was a blast. That was just really fun. There at the end I learned a little bit about the different lines on the restarts and things like that. Brad did a really good job. He blocked for everything he had. I bumped him, but not hard enough, and I got tight and then Ricky got by me. I thought Ricky might get him. I don’t know about you guys, but coming into turn three that last lap I thought, ‘Maybe these guys will bump into each other and we’ll still win this thing,’ so I don’t know if it looked that exciting from the grandstands or TV, but it was real exciting for me and that’s a good way to spend a Saturday night before tomorrow’s race. It was a blast.”

IS THIS BITTERSWEET FOR YOU AS A FULL-TIME NATIONWIDE DRIVER?

“Mike Beam and all the guys on this Fastenal team, I think it’s eight races we won this year, we got more poles than anyone, we led close to 2,000 laps. It’s been a blast. It’s really fun and I’m gonna miss it a lot. I’ll probably run some races. There’s no telling, I might run again full-time here in a year or two, who knows? I really do enjoy this and years like this are a lot of fun and it’s from a lot of hard work. We were not this fast a
year-and-a-half ago or so when we were really struggling. They had to really go to work on the engines and the cars and moving the shop, so
it’s been a lot of fun. It’s been something I think has helped me in huge ways to be in the place we’re in in the Cup Series.”

DID THIS FULFILL YOU HOPE FOR A PROPER PREPARATION FOR TOMORROW?

“Yes. This was very good practice for me. It was really good practice, especially there was one point where the 18 was in front of us and I had to really bear down and go for it there on those restarts. That was neat. We also made a lot of adjustments on the car. I got to feel adjustments and feel the track change a little bit as the sun went down, and I was reminded of all the things you have to be careful of not to mess up, so I think it’s great practice. I didn’t hurt myself or break an arm or anything, so that was good. I had a good time. I actually did think about, ‘If I win this thing should I do a backflip or not?’ That would be unreal.”

WHEN RICKY DIDN’T MAKE THE RACE AT NASHVILLE LAST YEAR DID YOU HAVE ANY DOUBTS ABOUT HIS ABILITY OR HIS ABILITY TO SURVIVE WHATEVER JACK HAD IN STORE FOR HIM?

“I didn’t know if he’d be able to survive Jack. I mean, Jack was on Ricky. He was not building Ricky up. He was challenging Ricky everyday and I think Ricky has shown everyone, myself included, how good heis. There are guys, when I talk about Ricky with the Cup drivers, they know when he comes up there he’s gonna be a force to be reckoned with. There is no doubt that Ricky Stenhouse will win tons of Cup races and probably championships. He’s that good.”

CARL EDWARDS CONTINUED — HOW DOES A GUY GO FROM WHERE HE WAS 18 MONTHS AGO TO WHERE HE IS NOW?

“I think the cars are better, first of all, so he was not only being thrown to the wolves, I mean, Ricky is a sprint car driver and he was really thrown in this thing head first ata time when I don’t think I was winning any Nationwide races. If I was, it was by the smallest of margins and I’ve been doing this for five years or something when he came in, so the thing about Ricky though is I’ve never personally seen a bigger example of a guy who
just all he had to do was slow down a little bit and he’s as fast as anyone. I think two things coincided, Ricky learned to get the car set up like he wanted to run these long races, and the cars got a little better and however he hung onto his job was awesome and here he is. I can’t say enough good things about him. He’s always been a good, solid person through the whole thing. He’s just a good guy.”

DID YOU COME CLOSE TO GETTING CARRIED AWAY WITH BRAD?

“I thought about it a little bit, but we kept it clean. That was just good racing. It was really fun. That thing could have gone any number of ways, whether we had a restart or didn’t have a restart. He did his job and that was just a good race. He drove his heart out.”

DO YOU THINK GOING THROUGH THAT FIRE HELPED MAKE HIM INTO A CHAMPION?

“Right, all of us in this room, it’s not your successes that make you better, usually, those are nice, but it’s the tough times that make you strong and teach you the biggest lessons. Ricky, I can’t tell you. I wish I had some of those meetings on audio tape or video because he was getting it from all angles and he just kept getting better and kept working and turned this whole thing around. It’s amazing.”

THE RACE STARTS LATE TOMORROW. WHAT WILL YOU DO TOMORROW?

“I’ll do normal stuff tomorrow, nothing big. I’ll just have a regular day before the race. Bob and I will talk a little bit tonight like we
always do about what our plan is and there’s no change. We’ve got a lot of sponsor folks coming. Paul Amos from Aflac is gonna be here
and we’re excited to have him here. We’ve renewed our partnership for a multi-year deal, so that’s really exciting and a bunch of people from Ford are gonna be here, which is really neat. I think it’s cool that Edsel Ford himself has been here this weekend supporting everybody, but, for me, there’s nothing different – no big appearances or anything like that.”

WHY DO YOU CHOOSE TO STOP NATIONWIDE FULL-TIME?

“Because it’s been so good for me I am a little bit nervous that it might throw me off a little bit, but I think a big test for me was this year at Sonoma. We had the road course race in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin and our car was no good in Friday’s practice and we made the call and Fastenal was okay with us not going to Elkhart Lake. I was really nervous that would throw me off. I’d been doing that for six years or something traveling that day and not practicing at Sonoma, but it turned out to be our best Sonoma Cup race that we ever had with me staying there and focusing on the Cup car. As much as I learn from running the Nationwide Series, I believe that sometimes, at this point in my career, it takes a little extra energy and it might be better to focus on my Cup car. But if it’s not working, I’ll be back here racing. I’ll find something to drive I hope.”

WERE YOU AT THE MEETING WHEN RICKY CAME IN HIS WORK GOGGLES?

“No, what’s the story there?”

HE SHOWED UP IN WORK GOGGLES TO WORK ON THE CARS.

“Jack’s boot camp. No, I hadn’t heard that story. All I heard for it seemed like months it was almost like Jack turned it into a game. I mean, you bring up Ricky and he’s like, ‘Yep, we’re running him into the ground. We’re not letting up on him.’ It was like Jack made it his mission that he was gonna go with Ricky to the end of the earth and it wasn’t gonna be fun for Ricky until he turned it around, so it worked out, I guess.”

DID HE EVER DO ANYTHING LIKE THAT WITH YOU?

“Yes. My dad came here tonight. He’s here. Jack and my dad are a lot alike. My dad, when I was a little kid, everything would be going well, the day would be going great, and he’d go, ‘I haven’t beaten you for a while have I?’ Just to remind me like, ‘Hey.’ I’ve been like, ‘Yeah, I’ve been pretty good. Everything is good. I’m gonna keep it that way.’ But Jack is the same way. He pulled me in after one wreck that I caused and he asked me to come in and have a meeting with him. I was under the impression this was gonna be a ‘don’t worry, everything is gonna be great, we’re working really hard and you’re a good driver’ meeting. And he sat me down and said, ‘I just want to make sure you feel bad enough about what you’ve done,’ and he proceeded to tell me all the things I screwed up. He’s not afraid to break you down real far and make you look at all the things you’re doing, and you have to be strong to put up with that and if you’re not, it’s been my observation that he doesn’t have much use for you. You’ve got to be able to take what he’s able to dish out.”

WHAT ABOUT TONIGHT?

“I think tonight was really good practice for tomorrow, but I’ve been doing this Saturday-Sunday thing long enough to know that it doesn’t all transfer. You can really feel like, ‘Oh, hey, I’ve got some things figured out,’ and all of a sudden the race will change, the track conditions will change just a little bit and those Cup cars, they’re so much faster down the straightaway and there’s a lot more accelerating and braking involved to get through the center of the corner that I always have to make sure to switch hats figuratively and make sure I’m driving a Cup car and not to rely
on what we’ve done on Saturday, so I’ve only learned a couple of things that I think will be helpful tomorrow.”

- PCG Campbell Press Release

Dodge Motorsports

“You couldn’t ask for a better way to end the season. Not being able to win the championship, it’s good to be able to finish on a high note, winning the pole and the race today at Homestead. It’s a great exclamation point to the season for the whole Discount Tire Dodge team.”

WE HAVE A LOT OF FUN WATCHING THE RACING OUT THERE TONIGHT. IS IT THAT MUCH FUN BEHIND THE WHEEL?

“Hell yeah, I mean, it is when you win. It was tough, it was frustrating, it was hot here in Miami and that’s what makes it worth it.”

WHAT DID YOU LEARN TODAY THAT YOU CAN APPLY TO THE CUP RACE TOMORROW?

“Man, I can’t tell you that (smiles). Just driving the hell out of it; I’m going to drive hard I guess. And thanks to all the fans for coming out.”

SAM HORNISH JR. (No. 12 Alliance Truck Parts Dodge Challenger R/T) Finished Seventh

“It was a pretty solid night for the Alliance Truck Parts Dodge Challenger. We just didn’t have the short run that we needed late in the race to crack into the top five. We had our ups and downs all night. We felt that we had really good long-run speed in the car to compete all night. We just got down to the end of the race and it became a short-run race with all the cautions. We made a small change and it wasn’t enough to get us where we needed to be. We got stuck on the inside on that last restart; it slowed us down a bit. We were good. We just needed more short-run speed.”

HAS THE LAST FOUR RACES GIVEN YOU GUYS A GOOD BUILDING BLOCK HEADING INTO THE 2012 SEASON?

“I think so. It’s not easy when you’re not running a full-time season, but we certainly didn’t waste any of the opportunities that we had all year. We raced to some top 10s, won at Phoenix and had another top 10 tonight. We need to continue to work on our short run speed. I think everyone on this team gained a lot of valuable experience and that can only be a positive thing heading into next year. Our race changes have been improving. Our team has become stronger in the pits. Everything that we’ve done the last four races has helped make us a team to contend with next season.”

TRAVIS GEISLER (Director of Competition, Penske Racing)

“A great night. The last couple of weeks have been really good. To get Sam (Hornish) in victory lane with his Alliance Truck Parts Dodge last weekend at Phoenix and Brad (Keselowski) tonight in his Discount Tire Dodge is awesome. This is pretty sweet. It’s always great to go out on a high note. Our Nationwide program did a great job all year with six wins and six poles. To come here and beat Carl Edwards is a real testament to everyone that touches these Dodge Challengers. This is why we go racing to be able to share in great moments like this. It certainly makes the off-season a lot shorter.”

- Darnell Communications Press Release

Brad Keselowski gets ready to celebrate after winning the NASCAR Nationwide Series season-ending Ford 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Saturday, Nov. 19. - Photo Credit: John Harrelson/Getty Images for NASCAR

This was Keselowski’s 5th series win of the 2011 season, his 17th series career win and his 1st series win at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Following Keselowski and Stenhouse to the drop of the checkered flag were Carl Edwards, who’s third-place finish gave Roush Fenway Racing the owners championship, Clint Bowyer finishing fourth and Denny Hamlin finishing in fifth.

Rounding out the top-ten finishing positions were Elliott Sadler finishing sixth, Sam Hornish Jr. seventh, Aric Almirola eighth, Brian Scott ninth and Joey Logano finishing in the tenth position.

The 2011 NNS  Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors go to Rick Ware Racing’s Timmy Hill.

RACE NOTES:

Average Speed: 119.377 MPH
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 30 Mins, 47 Secs.
Margin of Victory: 0.268 Seconds
Lead Changes: 17 among 9 drivers
Cautions: 9 for 36 laps
Attendance: 38,000

Unofficial Top-Ten in the Points Standings: 1. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – 1222 (Series Champion) 2. Elliott Sadler – 1177 (-45 Points Behind the Champion) 3. Justin Allgaier – 1105 (-117) 4. Aric Almirola – 1095 (-127) 5. Reed Sorenson – 1062 (-160) 6. Jason Leffler – 1028 (-194) 7. Kenny Wallace – 963 (-259) 8. Brian Scott – 947 (-275) 9. Michael Annett – 944 (-278) 10. Steve Wallace – 921 (-301)

Next Up: The 2012 NASCAR Nationwide Series Season

2011 NNS Ford 300 Race Results

(i) Ineligible for Points in this Series
# Denotes Rookie

Dodge Motorsports

YOU AND BRAD KESELOWSKI ARE CURRENTLY AT THE TOP OF THE BOARD. “We ran the same speed which means we did our job. That’s all we could get out of our Penske Dodges. It’s been a great season for us in qualifying. I don’t know if that’ll be pole material, but our Shell/Pennzoil guys have been working hard. We just feel real proud of the way we’ve qualified this year and put ourselves in Chase contention. We’ll see what we can give ‘em tomorrow in the afternoon race. With the season ending, it’s tough to see it go.”

HOW BIG WOULD WINNING THIS RACE BE GOING INTO THE OFF SEASON? “We’ve been hot, we’ve been cold; I guess it’s our description through the Chase as well as leading up to the Chase. I wouldn’t be surprised to see us win if we can get it all put together right. Last week, we had a winning car and we threw it away with fuel mileage.”

WERE YOUR SURPRISED AT HOW MUCH THE TRACK CHANGED? “It always picks up a little bit. I’m just hoping that the rest of the guys have to battle the sun because we were in full sun. We’ll see. We’re happy with that lap and if we end up tenth, that’ll be perfect.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger) Qualified 5th
YOU HAD A NICE QUALIFYING RUN DESPITE A LITTLE SLIP UP DURING YOUR LAP? “Yeah, you’re going to slip up a bit if you have the car right and you’re pushing it hard enough. It’s amazing that Kurt and I both started off bad, but we kept working on our cars and it looks like we’ve made some headway. I’m not sure a 39.40 (second) lap is good or bad, but so far it looks OK. Kurt and I have been on top of each other for time. We’ll just have to see how it plays out for the race. I’m really proud of where we’re at with our team.”

HOW MUCH DID THAT QUICK CLOUD COVER HELP YOUR LAP? “Probably a little bit. I’m not sure if I had it or the next guy had it, but clouds never hurt.”

WHAT HAVE YOU FOUND FROM PRACTICE TO QUALIFYING THAT HELPED YOUR LAP? “We threw everything at it. We were not very good at all in practice. It’s kind of been the story of our season of late. We’ve been qualifying much better than we’ve been racing. Hopefully, this weekend it changes. I think that we made some big gains in practice that should apply to our race setup.”

REED SORENSON (No. 7 SPEED Energy/MAPEI Dodge Charger R/T) DNQ
“We picked up three tenths so yeah, that’s good for us. It’s been tough. We’ll see if it makes it. It’ll be close.”

YOU PRACTICE IN THE MORNING, QUALIFY IN THE AFTERNOON AND WILL RACE INTO THE EVENING TOMORROW. IS IT A GUESS TO FIND THE RIGHT SETUP? “I think so. The Nationwide race I think starts at 4:30 and it’s quite a bit of change. It usually starts out really free and then the track changes a little bit once it gets dark.”

WILL YOU RUN SOME RACES FOR ROBBY GORDON NEXT SEASON? “Yeah, maybe. I don’t think he knows what he’s doing yet. He’s doing the Baja this weekend and he asked me to come out here and do it. I’ve been trying to help him when I can. His guys are actually in Mexico all week, the ones that work on this car. They’ve been real busy too, so hopefully it will make the race.”

- Darnell Communications for Dodge Motorsports, Press Release

2011 Brad Keselowski on Pole - Photo Credit: Todd Warshaw/Getty Images for NASCAR

This was Keselowski’s 4th series pole of the 2011 season, his 12th series career pole and his 1st series pole at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Sharing the front row with Keselowski and starting second with a qualifying lap speed of 167.131 mph, will be Elliott Sadler, followed by Carl Edwards (166.888 mph) who will start third, series points leader Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (166.251) fourth and Justin Allgaier (166.128) will start fifth.

Rounding out the top-ten starting positions will be Clint Bowyer (165.894) starting sixth, Denny Hamlin (165.695) seventh, Trevor Bayne (165.629) eighth, Joey Logano (165.294) ninth and Aric Almirola (164.880) will start from the tenth position.

Failing to make the starting lineup were the the #44 driven by Jeff Green; #72 driven by Jake Crum; #50 driven by T.J. Bell; #49 driven by Mark Green; #13 driven by Jennifer Jo Cobb and the #75 driven by Johnny Chapman.

The Ford 300 is scheduled to get underway around 4:50 PM (ET) later this afternoon, with ESPN2 beginning their (pre-race) coverage at 4:00 PM (ET).

2011 NNS Ford 300 Starting Lineup

(i) Ineligible for Points in this Series
# Denotes Rookie
* Required to Qualify on Time