SRT Motorsports – Nationwide Series Race Advance
Kentucky 300 – Kentucky Speedway
Saturday, Sept. 22, 2012
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SAM HORNISH JR. – No. 12 Alliance Truck Parts Dodge Challenger Crew Chief: Chad Walter
Career Stats: Starts: 59 Wins: 1 Top Fives: 10 Top 10s: 24 Poles: 1 Laps Led: 238
2012 Season Stats: Starts: 26 Wins: 0 Top Fives: 8 Top 10s: 18 Poles: 1 Laps Led: 123
• Fourth in NNS championship standings, 57 points behind leader Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
• Qualified fourth and finished sixth in June NNS race at Kentucky, his only previous start at the 1.5-mile speedway.
• Ranks third overall among NNS regulars with 515 points in 15 superspeedway races this season and owns 11 top-10 finishes.
RYAN BLANEY – No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge Challenger Crew Chief: Jeremy Bullins
Career Stats: Starts: 7 Wins: 0 Top Fives: 0 Top 10s: 4 Poles: 0 Laps Led: 0
2012 Season Stats: Starts: 7 Wins: 0 Top Fives: 0 Top 10s: 4 Poles: 0 Laps Led: 0
• Captured his first NASCAR national series victory last week in the Camping World Truck Series race at Iowa.
• Has recorded top-10 finishes in three most recent Nationwide starts.
• Best NNS finish is seventh (twice, most recent at Bristol – Race 23).
• Finished 15th earlier this year in only previous Nationwide start at Kentucky.
• Has top-10 finishes in both starts this season for Penske Racing (10th at Iowa and ninth at Richmond)
DODGE QUOTES: “It is as rough as Atlanta but the difference is that Kentucky has a little more grip whereas Atlanta is a little more worn out. A lot of the things that we do with our cars now are affected by the bumps. You have to find a compromise about what’s going to give you speed for a couple of laps and what’s really going to stay there over the long run. We felt like we were pretty good there at the start of the race in June. As the track cooled off, we kind of lost our handle on the track a little bit. We’ve tried to work out a couple of things over the past few months since we’ve been there to get our mile-and-a-half program a little bit better.” –Sam Hornish Jr.
DODGE NUMBERS: KENTUCKY SPEEDWAY
• Dodge has one NNS win at Kentucky: Brad Keselowski in 2011.
• Dodge drivers have scored seven top-five finishes in the last eight races at Kentucky and 16 top 10s in 12 races.
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 led 132 laps en route to scoring the first victory for Dodge at Kentucky Speedway in 2011.
FROM THE CREW CHIEF “We practiced in the morning and we ended up racing at night in June and the track kind of changed on us a little bit. It will be a day race this time around. More stability is going to be required throughout the weekend. There will be fewer extremes to go through from day practice to night practice this time around.” — Chad Walter, Crew Chief, No. 12 Alliance Truck Parts Dodge Challenger
