SRT Motorsports – Dodge Nationwide Race Advance – Chicagoland Speedway
Dollar General 300
Chicagoland Speedway
Saturday, Sept. 15, 2012
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SAM HORNISH JR. – No. 12 AVIS Dodge Challenger Crew Chief: Chad Walter
Career Stats: Starts: 58 Wins: 1 Top Fives: 10 Top 10s: 23 Poles: 1 Laps Led: 237
2012 Season Stats: Starts: 25 Wins: 0 Top Fives: 8 Top 10s: 17 Poles: 1 Laps Led: 122
• Fourth in NNS championship standings, 50 points behind leader Elliott Sadler.
• Qualified third and finished eighth in July race at Chicagoland.
• Has one top-five and two top-10 finishes in two previous NNS starts at Chicagoland. Best finish was fifth in 2012 fall race.
• Ranks third overall among NNS regulars with 476 points in 14 superspeedway races this season and owns 10 top-10 finishes.
BRAD KESELOWSKI – No. 22 Snap-On Dodge Challenger Crew Chief: Jeremy Bullins
Career Stats: Starts: 186 Wins: 20 Top Fives: 83 Top 10s: 115 Poles: 13 Laps Led: 3,102
2012 Season Stats: Starts: 18 Wins: 3 Top Fives: 10 Top 10s: 12 Poles: 1 Laps Led: 348
• Scored a dominating victory in 2011 fall NNS race at Chicagoland, leading 158 of 200 laps and crossing the finish line 8.568 seconds ahead Carl Edwards.
DODGE QUOTES: “I’m really looking forward to Chicago. We ran really well there in the fall race last year. We had a pit stop and a couple of the nuts got away from the changer. We were already debating whether to take two or four and we should have taken two ‘cause it was the left-front ones that got away from him. But we finished fifth. We had a real long green-flag run there towards the end. We came out tenth or so and we were able to get back up to fifth without any yellow flags. We had a car that was capable of winning there but we didn’t get the job done. We’ll go back and try to get it done this year.” –Sam Hornish Jr.
DODGE NUMBERS: CHICAGOLAND SPEEDWAY
• Dodge has three NNS wins at Chicagoland: Justin Labonte (2004), Casey Mears (2006) and Brad Keselowski (2010 fall).
• Dodge has two poles at Chicagoland: Casey Mears (2003) and Ryan Newman (2005). Newman’s mark of 186.438 mph (28.064 sec.) in 2005 remains the track qualifying record. Brad Keselowski holds the race record (148.673 mph set in 2011.
DODGE IN THE NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES
• Dodge is fielding two full-time entries in the series this year. Sam Hornish Jr. is competing for the series championship while Brad Keselowski and Ryan Blaney are sharing the driving duties in the second Penske Racing entry.
• Brad Keselowski gave Dodge and Penske Racing their first NASCAR Nationwide championship in 2010. His average finish for the season was 5.2.
• Dodge has 44 wins in the series including seven in each of the previous two seasons. The first Nationwide Series win came in 2002. Dodge had 11 wins in the series during the 2005 season.
• A Dodge has started from the pole 50 times.
• Brad Keselowski has one win and two top-five finishes in six races at Chicagoland.
FROM THE CREW CHIEF “I think Chicago is one of the racetracks that Sam looks forward to and that we have had decent speed at. When you’re trying to improve, you take last race’s notes and try get a little bit closer and fine-tune on what was already a good setup. Little things like more grip and more stability are going to make a big difference at Chicago.” — Chad Walter, Crew Chief, No. 12 AVIS Dodge Challenger
