No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge Challenger Federated Auto Parts 300 Nashville Superspeedway July 23, 2011
No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge Challenger News and Notes
· This Week’s Challenger… The Penske Racing Discount Tire Dodge Challenger team will use chassis PRS-207 during Saturday’s Federated Auto Parts 300 at Nashville Superspeedway. Keselowski drove this chassis to a third-place finish at Iowa Speedway in May.
· The No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge Challenger in 2011… After 19 events, Brad Keselowski and the reigning champion No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge Challenger team are ranked seventh in the 2011 NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) owner point standings. The team is coming off an eighth-place finish in the New England 200 last weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
· Most Recent Pole Award Winner…Keselowski topped qualifying last weekend at New Hampshire to claim his first pole award of the season. It marked his ninth career Nationwide Series pole award.
* Nothing Like the First Time…Keselowski made 48 NNS starts before he picked up his first series win, which came in the 2008 Federated Auto Parts 300 at Nashville. After starting the race from the second position, Keselowski went on to lead 33 laps to pick up his first series checkered flag.
* Keselowski Speedway Stats…In 92 speedway starts in the Nationwide Series, Keselowski has accumulated six wins, 39 top-five finishes, 56 top-10 results and four pole awards. In addition, he has led the field for 1,028 laps at tracks between one and two miles in length.
* Follow Brad on Twitter… Fans can follow Keselowski on Twitter athttp://www.twitter.com/keselowski. Followers can get a glimpse inside his everyday life while keeping up-to-date on the latest Cup Series and Nationwide Series news for the Penske Racing driver. Brad Keselowski on racing at Nashville “I always look forward to going to Nashville Superspeedway. It has always been one of my favorite racetracks. You can really be aggressive because there is so much room to race. Obviously, it’s a special place for me because I won my first Nationwide Series race there in 2008. We came back in the second race there last year and had one of the best cars we had all year. It didn’t qualify that well, but I was pretty confident that we would win the race. I never like to pick favorite tracks, but Nashville is a place that I feel like I can go there on any given night and win. There is always a big contingent of employees from Discount Tire at Nashville that know how to get everyone fired up. I can’t wait.”
Crew chief Todd Gordon on preparing a car for Nashville Superspeedway “Nashville is pretty unique in that it is almost a 1.5-mile track, but it’s concrete. Most of our concrete tracks aren’t speedways so that provides a few challenges. Everybody will fight for the bottom of the track at the start of the race, but the groove will widen as the cars run. Most importantly, you need to have a car that is balanced for long and short green-flag runs. There is usually a caution with a few laps remaining that will setup a shootout to the finish, so you have to be prepared for that. Brad has been very good at Nashville in his career and we need to give him a car that he can use to pick up his third Gibson guitar (winner’s trophy).”
Brad Keselowski NASCAR Nationwide Series Career Totals Races Wins Top-Fives Top-10s Poles Money Won 157 13 66 94 9 $7,915,917
Brad Keselowski 2011 Totals Races Wins Top-Fives Top-10s Poles Money Won 18 1 7 12 1 $471,850
2011 No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge Challenger Race Results
Date Track Start Finish Status Money Won 2/19/2011 Daytona International Speedway 12 30 Accident $42,710 2/26/2011 Phoenix International Raceway 4 34 Accident $10,965 3/5/2011 Las Vegas Motor Speedway 11 3 Running $40,525 3/19/2011 Bristol Motor Speedway 12 9 Running $21,225 3/26/2011 Auto Club Speedway 5 10 Running $19,900 4/8/2011 Texas Motor Speedway 2 2 Running $46,525 4/16/2011 Talladega Superspeedway 16 4 Running $25,900 4/23/2011 Nashville Superspeedway 9 3 Running $22,425 4/29/2011 Richmond International Raceway 10 5 Running $18,475 5/6/2011 Darlington Raceway 10 27 Running $11,800 5/14/2011 Dover International Speedway 6 12 Accident $14,675 5/22/2011 Iowa Speedway 10 3 Running $39,950 5/28/2011 Charlotte Motor Speedway 13 6 Running $19,075 6/4/2011 Chicagoland Speedway 6 30 Engine $13,825 6/18/2011 Michigan International Speedway 8 9 Running $14,550 6/25/2011 Road America (driver Jacques Villeneuve) 3 3 Running $29,268 7/1/2011 Daytona International Speedway 11 17 Running $16,975 7/8/2011 Kentucky Speedway 5 1 Running $74,100 7/16/2011 New Hampshire Motor Speedway 1 8 Running $18,250 7/23/2011 Nashville Superspeedway 7/30/2011 Lucas Oil Raceway 8/6/2011 Iowa Speedway 8/13/2011 Watkins Glen International 8/20/2011 Circuit Gilles Villeneuve 8/26/2011 Bristol Motor Speedway 9/3/2011 Atlanta Motor Speedway 9/9/2011 Richmond International Raceway 9/17/2011 Chicagoland Speedway 10/1/2011 Dover International Speedway 10/8/2011 Kansas Speedway 10/14/2011 Charlotte Motor Speedway 11/5/2011 Texas Motor Speedway 11/12/2011 Phoenix International Raceway 11/19/2011 Homestead-Miami Speedway Totals 8.1 11.4 $471,850
