SRT Motorsports – Dodge NNS Race Advance
Ford 300
Saturday, Nov. 16, 2012
Homestead-Miami Speedway
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.
· There have been 974 races in the series; Dodge has visited victory lane nine of the last 11 seasons.
DODGE NUMBERS: HOMESTEAD-MIAMI SPEEDWAY
· Dodge has TWO wins at Homestead – Ryan Newman (2005) and Brad Keselowski (2011).
· Dodge has THREE poles at Homestead – Casey Mears (2004), Newman (2005) and Brad Keselowski (2011).
· Dodge has six top fives and nine top 10s at Homestead.
SAM HORNISH JR. – No. 12 Alliance Truck Parts Dodge Challenger Crew Chief: Chad Walter
Career Stats: 2012 Season Stats: Starts: 65 Starts: 32 Wins: 1 Wins: 0 Top Fives: 11 Top Fives: 9 Top 10s: 27 Top 10s: 21 Poles: 1 Poles: 1 Laps Led: 243 Laps Led: 128
· Scored seventh-place finish in 2011 fall race at Homestead, his first top-10 in four NNS race at the 1.5-mile Florida oval.
· Has four top-five and 14 top-10 finishes in 20 superspeedway races this season.
· Fourth in NNS championship standings, 55 ahead of fifth-place Michael Annett.
· Has been running at the finish in 44 consecutive NNS starts dating back to the 2011 spring race at TMS.
RYAN BLANEY – No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge Challenger Crew Chief: Jeremy Bullins
Career Stats: 2012 Season Stats: Starts: 12 Starts: 12 Wins: 0 Wins: 0 Top Fives: 1 Top Fives: 1 Top 10s: 6 Top 10s: 6 Poles: 0 Poles: 0 Laps Led 0 Laps Led: 0
· Finished a career-best second in most recent NNS at Texas (race No. 31).
· Will be making his first Homestead NNS start.
· Has one top five and four top 10 finishes in seven NNS starts this season for Penske Racing.
· Brad Keselowski drove the No. 22 Dodge Challenger to victory in the 2011 race at Homestead.
DODGE DRIVER QUOTE: “I struggle at Homestead (smiles). I don’t know why but I think a little bit is that I used to love the old surface when it was flat and you had to hunt around and find the bottom. I think out of the three races I got to run in IndyCars on the old surface I won two of ‘em. There are obviously some good feelings that come out of that. I have good feelings about going back to Miami but I know it’s a different track. You’ve got to have your setup right because that’s one of the very few places that we run that’s almost symmetrical from one end to the other.” Sam Hornish Jr., No. 12 Alliance Truck Parts Dodge Challenger
FROM THE CREW CHIEF “Homestead is unique. It has that progressive banking and I do think it’s lent itself to better racing as of late. The driver does need to move around. It may change from day to night and it may change from lap 1 to lap 40 on tires. One thing that has been kind of constant lately is we’ve had very good intermediate Challengers with the 12 team.” Chad Walter, Crew Chief, No. 12 Alliance Truck Parts Dodge Challenger