NASCAR Nationwide Series Race Advance
Great Clips 300
Atlanta Motor Speedway
* Dodge in 2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series
NASCAR Nationwide Series Dodge Chargers have earned six poles, five wins, 24 top-five and 35 top-10 finishes. The Penske duo of Brad Keselowski and Justin Allgaier has led 1,051 laps this season.
DODGE NUGGETS
• Three Dodge Chargers finished inside the top-10 last weekend at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal.
• Penske Dodge’s have completed 8,829 of 8,978 laps this season.
• Brad Keselowski has completed all but one of the 4,489 laps completed this season.
• Penske Racing is seeking its first NASCAR championship in all three levels of NASCAR – Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series.
Highlights:
• Earned his first NASCAR Nationwide Series win earlier this year at Bristol Motor Speedway, leading a 1-2 finish for Penske Racing and Dodge.
• Has one win, six top-five, and 14 top-10 finishes in 25 Nationwide races in 2010.
• Is fourth in the Nationwide Series driver standings and best among full-time Nationwide – 404 points over Steve Wallace.
• Career-best finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway – 17th (2009).
• Won the 2008 ARCA championship.
• Was the 2009 Nationwide Series Rookie of the Year.
Highlights:
• Currently leads the Nationwide Series standings by 365 points over Carl Edwards. He has led the standings since his win at Talladega in April.
• In 25 Nationwide races in 2010, Keselowski’s average starting position is 8.2 and average finishing position is 5.4.
• Career-best finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway – 4th (2009).
• Earned back-to-back wins at Talladega and Richmond and has four wins in 2010.
• Leads the Nationwide Series in top fives (18), top 10s (21). He has only one finish outside the top 15 (Chicago – 21st).
• Has a NASCAR record 92 consecutive Nationwide Series races without a DNF (Did Not Finish).
“Atlanta is a fun, extremely fast track. When you talk to drivers about speed, Atlanta is definitely one of the first tracks that come to mind. The biggest thing about Atlanta is how hard you can race the track, despite how little grip there is compared to some of the other tracks we race at. Atlanta definitely has character; there are bumps and seams that can cause some problems. We didn’t run very well in this race last year, but we didn’t feel that our mile-and-a-half program was very good at that time.”
- Justin Allgaier, No. 12 Verizon Wireless Dodge Charger
“We had a tough race last year in Atlanta. Justin had never been there before, and with the schedule the way it is with practicing in the morning, qualifying in the afternoon then racing at night, it certainly provided us a challenge. Atlanta is quite a fast track, and a lot of fun. As the race goes on, there are multiple lines that form through the corners. We’ve got to make sure that our Verizon Dodge is comfortable to take advantage of this. Track position will be key, so our qualifying effort will be critical. The engine department has continued to deliver us outstanding horsepower that will certainly give us a clear cut advantage.”
– Chad Walter, crew chief, No. 12 Verizon Wireless Dodge Charger
A couple of bad races and Carl (Edwards) will be right there on our heels. But, yeah, it’s a great barometer for the season that we’ve had this year. It’s still amazes me that we are a first- year team because Paul (Wolfe) has them operating like a bunch of veterans. We just need to concentrate on finishing strong and catching the No. 18 car in the owner point’s standings.”
– Brad Keselowski, No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge Charger
“We’re very confident in the car we are taking to Atlanta this weekend. Brad finished second at Charlotte in it and we were running second at Chicago when we ran out of fuel. It’s really run well everywhere we’ve raced it. When you look at Atlanta you see similarities to Texas and Charlotte.
We want to build on the success we had at both of those tracks this year. Goodyear is bringing a new tire this weekend, so that will be a new challenge that we’ll have to deal with. Managing tire wear is always the name of the game at Atlanta. Brad has shown he can do it as well as anyone.”
– Paul Wolfe, crew chief, No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge Charger
- Darnell Communications Press Release
