Saturday, Sept. 3, 2011
Dodge Motorsports PR Atlanta Motor Speedway
AdvoCare 500
Atlanta Motor Speedway
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
KEYS FOR SUCCESS: AdvoCare 500
HAMPTON, Ga., (Saturday, Sept. 2, 2011) – Each race weekend, selected Dodge Motorsports engineers, Penske Racing engineers and crew chiefs, drivers or engine specialists give their insight on the ‘Keys for Success’ for the upcoming race. This week, Travis Geisler, Director of Competition, Penske Racing – provides the keys for Sunday afternoon’s Sprint Cup race.
Track: Atlanta Motor Speedway (Race 25 of 36 in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series)
Race: AdvoCare 500 (325 laps / 500 miles)
Trivia Question: How many laps has Kurt Busch led in his three previous wins at Atlanta Motor Speedway? (Answer Below)
TRAVIS GEISLER (Director of Competition, Penske Racing)
Durability: “This is definitely a tough place on cars. It’s super-fast but it’s also kind of high contact. There’s a pretty good chance of getting in the wall. That high lane comes in as the race goes on and the guys get closer and closer. Taking care of your equipment throughout the night is the key.”
Changing Track Conditions: “The toughest thing I think for this race is changing track conditions. We only really had practice last night that’s going to be representative of what the track is going to be. This practice today is almost a squeaks and rattles run. You can’t really tune your setup but it’s not going to be anything like we’re going to have tomorrow night.”
Driver Patience: “If you want to go after it and run as hard as you can for the first five laps of the run you’ll be the fastest car out there but you’ll also be the slowest car at the end of the fuel run. It always seems like we have some long runs here that you’ve got to take care of your car and be good at the end because you can pass a lot of cars at the end of a run if you’ve took care of your tires at the start of it.”
Track Position: “You’ll see a lot of short-pitting going on. I doubt you’ll see anybody run until the end of a fuel run unless it’s maybe the last run of the truck race there with [Ron] Hornaday. If you’re running 10th or 15th and need to make some gains, I think you’re going to be able to short-pit eight or 10 laps and really get an advantage on guys because you’re going to be a second and a half, two seconds faster. I think early to middle of the race it’s a pretty good time to take advantage of that short pit thing. As you push later in the race you’re risking more and more because you have less time to overcome the problem.”
Trivia Question Answer: Kurt Busch has led 447 total laps in his three previous wins.
