THE RACE
Sylvania 300 – New Hampshire Motor Speedway (one-mile oval, Loudon, NH.)
No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion driven by Brad Keselowski | No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Fusion driven by Joey Logano
Sunday, September 21, 2:00 pm ET
THE NEWS AND NOTES
· FIRST TO FIVE: On the strength of back-to-back race victories, Brad Keselowski and the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford team enter this weekend as the leaders in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) championship. The team is the only one to claim five victories in 2014 NSCS competition. The consecutive victories mark Keselowski’s first ever two in a row and his 15th career win. It also ties his career-best mark of five wins in a season that he notched on the way to claiming the Cup title in 2012.
· VICTORIOUS IN THE 603: As the defending race winner at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (NHMS), Keselowski led 138 laps on his way to earning the third of his five victories this season in the Camping World RV Sales 301 that was held in July of this year. In 10 starts at the New England oval, Keselowski has one win, four top-five finishes and six top-10 finishes, along with two pole positions.
· TOP SEED IN AND TOP SEED STILL: Keselowski entered the 2014 Chase as the top seed and by virtue of winning the first race of the Chase he is now the first driver locked into the Contender round that begins with the fourth race of the Chase at Kansas Speedway.
· LEADING POINTS AND NUMBERS: As the Chase standings leader with a seven-point advantage over second-place Jeff Gordon, Keselowski is also the leader in five additional statistical categories. He is first in average start (7.2), green times passed (1,817), percentage of quality passes (63.0%), laps led (1,340) and percentage of laps led (17.6%).
· NOTEWORTHY CONTRIBUTIONS: The Chicagoland victory represents Team Penske’s 130th NASCAR victory and its 401st victory overall. Keselowski has been behind the wheel for 38 of those victories. His victories currently account for 9.5% of all wins for the historic team and make him the winningest Team Penske driver in history. Rusty Wallace is second with 37.
· FANS ARE WINNERS WITH MILLER LITE TOO: NHMS area fans have the opportunity to see the Chase-leading driver, Keselowski at the Buffalo Wild Wings located at 8 Loudon Rd. Concord, NH this Thursday, September 18 at 7:30 pm ET.
· A CAREER-BEST IN POINTS: Following last weekend’s fourth-place finish at Chicagoland Speedway in the opening race of the Chase, Joey Logano was able to move up from fifth to third in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings, just 10 points behind leader and teammate Brad Keselowski. The third-place position in the point standings marks a career-best for Logano. Previously, Logano’s career-best points position was fourth, which he achieved earlier this season on several occasions.
· BACK HOME FOR SOME FUN: It’s always a busy time when Logano heads back to New Hampshire Motor Speedway for his “hometrack” race on the schedule. And this weekend, things will be extra busy for Logano. On Wednesday, he will celebrate his upcoming nuptials with family and friends. On Thursday, Logano will be busy with the Inaugural Hometown Showdown Driven by AutoTrader.com, a friendly go-karting competition set for Thursday, September 18th from 3:30-9:00 p.m. ET at On Track Karting in Wallingford, Conn. The night will provide an opportunity for fans to test their racing skills against Logano and other participants in a fun competition. In addition to the on-track racing, the event will host a variety of activities, such as a silent auction, a raffle and plenty of opportunities to interact with Logano.
· LOGANO PLACE: The Connection, a Connecticut-based nonprofit human service and community development agency, will open their newest transitional housing program for homeless adult men and women to be named Logano Place as the Joey Logano Foundation has adopted the program. Logano Place will provide housing for up to 28 homeless adult men and women who are actively working on their recovery from behavioral health and substance abuse issues. The goal of the program is to provide support to these men and women so that they can successfully re-enter the work force and permanently exit homelessness. The program, located in Middletown, CT, will offer second chances to those who are working to achieve independence in their lives.
· ANOTHER CAREER-BEST MARK: With his fourth-place finish at Chicago, Logano matched his 2013 top-five finish total with 11, which is also the most in his six-year NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career. Logano has now earned 22 top-five finishes since joining Team Penske in 2013. Prior to that, Logano had tallied just 16 top-five finishes in his first four years.
THE Q&A
BRAD KESELOWSKI, NO. 2 MILLER LITE FORD
HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE LOCKED INTO THE CONTENDER ROUND AFTER JUST ONE RACE IN THE CHASE?
“It felt good coming into the Chase as the top-seed and it feels very good to know that we’ve advanced to the next round with two races to go. Looking ahead to this weekend, the Miller Lite Ford was strong here earlier this year so we will do our best to keep that going. We have good momentum right now, and we know that we have to keep developing the car and pushing as a team, whether it’s on pit road, handling, spec or driver tactics. We’re just going to stay focused, keep working and see what happens.”
PAUL WOLFE, CREW CHIEF, NO. 2 MILLER LITE FORD
YOUR TEAM IS ON A HOT STREAK, WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS HEADING INTO THIS WEEKEND?
“We are looking to build off the strong performance we had at the summer race at Loudon. On top of that we’ve managed to string a couple of wins in a row which gives us momentum, confidence and the ability to be aggressive this weekend. As I thought about it today, the key for us is that we have speed in our Miller Lite Ford Fusions. Having that speed gives us the ability to overcome adversity and to be competitive each week. Right now this team is in good shape, and I feel good about what is ahead.”
JOEY LOGANO, NO. 22 SHELL-PENNZOIL FORD
YOU AND YOUR TEAM FOUGHT THROUGH A LOT IN CHICAGO. DOES THAT GIVE YOU ADDED CONFIDENCE GOING INTO NHMS?
“Yeah I’m pretty excited about the way Chicago went for the Shell/Pennzoil team. I’m not excited about the fact that we struggled quite a bit all weekend long, but I’m really happy the way this team pulled together and showed that they can take even a bad car and turn what could be a bad weekend into a good one. Everyone really rallied together and that is what this team has done all year long. Even when things aren’t going our way, we don’t let it bother us and we get right down to business and we make it better. We took a car that should have hardly finished inside the top-10 and finished fourth with it. That’s a huge accomplishment and I don’t think many other teams out there could do what we did last weekend. That pumps me up.”
SOUNDS LIKE YOU HAVE A BUSY WEEKEND HEADING INTO NHMS.
“New Hampshire weekend is always a little busy. I get to see some of my friends and family, but this weekend, we are busy with the Hometown Showdown for the Joey Logano Foundation. I’m pretty pumped for it and it should be a lot of fun. We are going to raise a lot of great money for the Foundation and for The Connection. And getting to help out The Connection and see a new facility opening up is pretty cool. We get to do a lot of cool things as racecar drivers, so to be able to help out and give back, especially in my hometown when I don’t get a chance to get back here very often, is pretty cool.”
