Sunday, March 18, 2012
Dodge PR
Bristol Motor Speedway
Food City 500
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Post-Race Quotes
Brad Keselowski (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger R/T) First VICTORY LANE INTERVIEW: WHAT RULE WILL THEY HAVE TO MAKE TO KEEP YOU OUT OF VICTORY LANE? “I don’t know (laughs). This car, as strong as it was, I’m sure there was a rule that could be made. I got on Twitter and got kind of PO’d at some people that said I won it because of the timing line. I knew this Blue Deuce was fast enough to win the race last fall with or without timing lines. It feels so good to just prove it here today in the spring race. This car here, a brand new car that Penske Racing built, everybody back in the shop did a phenomenal job. The last few races have been really good, and I knew we had a shot at winning one if we ran like we were. , we closed the deal. You know Matt (Kenseth) didn’t make it easy.”
YOU HAD HIM STALKING YOU WHEN YOU CHOSE THE OUTSIDE ON THE RESTART. “I know, man. Well that’s his job to not make it easy and he did a good job. He raced me hard and I raced him hard. We rubbed a little bit, but that’s good racing. I don’t know how anyone can say Bristol racing ain’t as good as it was. I think they might be right, because it’s better than it’s ever been. This is one of the best races I’ve ever been a part of and ever seen from behind the seat. I’m just thrilled to death to be here in victory lane at Bristol again, one of my favorite places for sure. If this team keeps performing like they are, we’ll get more.”
CONGRATULATIONS ON GETTING YOUR FIRST WIN OF THE SEASON. “A special victory for sure. The fall races was a great win, but when you win one and people tell you it was a fluke you just want to drive that much harder to win the second. I want to say thank you to everybody that supports me, out there in the grandstands, all the fans out there that make this possible. Thanks for coming out to Bristol. This place is special because of you and nothing else. Thanks for your support and hopefully we can keep bringing back great race cars like this and putting on a great show.”
YOU HAD A BIG SCARE WITH ABOUT 100 LAPS TO GO WHEN YOU THOUGHT YOU MIGHT HAVE HAD A FLAT TIRE. “Yeah, the sun came out. I think everybody saw that the sun came out and it got a lot hotter. The track got slick and obviously I was nervous about it. My car started sliding around a little bit. I had to move up, change it up and got the grip back; just breathing short breaths there for a moment.”
RECENTLY YOU SAID YOU’D LIKE TO GET A COUPLE OF WINS BEFORE THE SUMMER MONTHS. HOW MUCH DOES THIS HELP TOWARD THAT FOR YOU? “A lot. One win is good, two wins is really good. We need to keep winning races to lock ourselves in the Chase, but heck, I’d rather just go into the Chase in the top spot. If we run like we have the last few weeks we’ve got as good a shot as anybody else.”
A.J. Allmendinger (No. 22 Pennzoil Dodge Charger R/T) Finished 17th “The car was very good early, but then it got real loose. We lost track position. We never got it tightened up the rest of the race. Not the finish we wanted to have after starting out so strong. Those first couple runs my Shell Pennzoil Dodge was really fast. Then after we put on that next set of tires something just wasn’t right — felt like I had rocks under me. Thought maybe it was the tires and after awhile started to think something broke. Todd (Gordon, crew chief) and the guys did all they could to make it better again and the last couple adjustments started to help. We just weren’t able to get the car where it needed to be to get back to the front. I’m happy for Mr. Penske, Brad and the whole Penske Racing organization. Just wish we could have stayed up there with ’em today.”
