Dodge Motorsports NNS Race Advance Royal Purple 300
Auto Club Speedway Saturday, March 26, 2011
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DODGE IN THE NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES
• Dodge won its first Nationwide championship last year with Brad Keselowski claiming the driver’s title. It was the first NASCAR title for Penske Racing.
• Dodge has 34 NASCAR Nationwide Series wins since 2002.
BRAD KESELOWSKI – No. 22 America’s Tire Dodge Challenger R/T Career Starts: 143 Wins: 12 Top Fives: 60 Top 10s: 84 Poles: 8
Career Highlights:
• Last NASCAR Nationwide Series win came at Gateway last fall (six races).
• The defending NASCAR Nationwide Series champion
• Earned Penske Racing its first NASCAR champion last season.
• Set career-best results in 2010 in wins (6), top fives (26), top 10s (29) and poles (5).
• Set a NASCAR record 102 consecutive Nationwide Series races without a DNF (Did Not Finish) that ended at this year’s season-opening race at Daytona Int’l Speedway.
• First Nationwide victory came at Nashville Superspeedway (2008).
BRAD KESELOWSKI AT AUTO CLUB SPEEDWAY
• Will be making his 10th-career Nationwide Series start at Auto Club Speedway.
• Highest starting position: Third – October 2010
• Highest finishing position: Win – August 2008
• Average starting position: 18.7
• Average finishing position: 22.9 • Laps Led: 53
DID YOU KNOW
• Dodge’s Brad Keselowski is seeking his first Nationwide Series win at Auto Club Speedway. In nine career starts, Keselowski has tallied three consecutive top-five finishes. • Dodge’s Brad Keselowski’s last win came at Gateway in October (seven races). His last pole came at Michigan in August (16 races).
STAT OF THE WEEK
• Dodge’s Brad Keselowski posted his best Auto Club Speedway finish of second at last fall’s event.
DODGE QUOTES: ROYAL PURPLE 300 “Auto Club Speedway was a really good track for us last year in the Nationwide Series. To come out of there with a second- and third-place finish in the two races was very critical to our run to the championship. I’d never considered it to be one of my better tracks, but now I’m confident we can go there and win the race. It’s really all about momentum at Fontana. With the carburetor spacer that we run on these Nationwide cars, you want to be able to roll the center of the turns quickly so that you can carry momentum off the corner and down the long straightaways. If we can do that, I feel good about our chances with the No. 22 America’s Tire Dodge Challenger.” Brad Keselowski, No. 22 America’s Tire Dodge Challenger R/T
FROM THE PITBOX “Fontana is a track that is very aero sensitive. You need to keep the car ‘clean’ if you want to have a chance to win. We know that we have a driver that will give us everything he has and we’re going out there with one thing on our mind – winning the race. We haven’t started the season like we wanted to and a lot of that has just been bad luck. There is one thing that can cure all of that and that is to go to Victory Lane.” Todd Gordon Crew Chief, No. 22 America’s Tire Dodge Challenger R/T
