Saturday, May 28, 2011
Dodge Motorsports PR
Charlotte Motor Speedway
Top Gear 300
Post-Race Quotes NASCAR Nationwide Series
BRAD KESELOWSKI (No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge Challenger R/T) Finished Sixth “An uneventful day for us. We were about a sixth or seventh-place car all day. We want to win these Nationwide Series races, but we’re just missing something with our car. The Roush cars are really dialed-in right now. We didn’t unload like we needed to and had to make some big changes last night. Track position was so important here and when you don’t qualify well, it makes a difference. We just need a little bit more. If we can get our race cars to turn better (in the center of the corner), I know that we’ll see victory lane.”
WHAT AREA DO YOU THINK YOUR CAR IS MISSING ON FOR RACE DAY? “I think we’re off just a little bit everywhere. It’s going to take a little bit more attention to detail preparing these race cars. Our performance isn’t due to a lack of hard work. These guys are busting their tails in giving me a fast race car. We’re just off a bit.”
TODD GORDON (crew chief, No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge Challenger R/T) “We sat down last night and made a lot of changes to the car because we didn’t feel that practice went that well. We just went back and looked at all the data we had and the off day actually gave us a chance to go back to the shop and get some better balance for today. I think we made strides with our Discount Tire Dodge today. I still think that we need a little bit more. We just need to find a little bit more every week. The guys did a good job getting the car where it needed to be from where we were in practice. Our car is just fighting the center of the corner too much. When we get that figured out we’ll be OK.”
SAM HORNISH JR. (No. 12 Alliance Truck Parts Dodge Challenger R/T) Finished 12th “A solid day except for our pit stops. We were as good as the 22 (Brad Keselowski) and they ended up sixth. I think we could have been right there with the 22, but we had a pit violation with a tire and on the last set, they left the right front just a little bit loose. It was good enough to get us back up to the first car a lap down before it started vibrating, but the caution never came out. The car handled pretty good. I’m proud of Chad (Walter, crew chief) and the guys that work on the Alliance Truck Parts Dodge. We just need to get our pit stops better.
“On that first pit stop, we tried to go with two (tires) and the car was way too tight. That got us back a little bit. We were working our way forward and then we had the pit violation. I think we had a fifth-place, at least a sixth- or seventh-place car. We want to be better than that. We’ll just keep working at it. The way we practiced the other day, I thought we had an opportunity to compete for the win. We tried to gamble a little bit there at the beginning, but made the wrong call (two tires). We worked our way back up into the top 10 with plenty of laps remaining, but then had the pit road penalty.”
