THE RACE
BCBS Drive for the Cure 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway (1.5-mile speedway, Concord, NC)
No. 12 Western Star Trucks Ford Mustang driven by Ryan Blaney | No. 22 Discount Tire Ford Mustang driven by Brad Keselowski
Friday, October 10, 7:30 pm ET
THE CARS
The No. 12 Western Star Trucks Ford Mustang
The No. 22 Discount Tire Ford Mustang
THE NEWS AND NOTES
· BRINGING BACK THE TWO-CAR EFFORT: Team Penske will return to a two-car NASCAR Nationwide Series organization this weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway, with Ryan Blaney driving the No. 12 Western Star Trucks Ford Mustang. Greg Erwin will return to the crew chief seat as part of the two-car effort. The duo worked together earlier this year at Kentucky, where they finished fifth driving a second NNS Mustang for Team Penske.
· WELCOME ON BOARD WESTERN STAR: This weekend, Western Star Trucks will make its debut as a Team Penske sponsor on the No. 12 Ford Mustang with driver Ryan Blaney. Western Star produces a range of class 8 commercial vehicles for highway and off-road use with a US and global presence and are a top-three Australian heavy-duty truck brand. Penske Commercial Vehicle is the exclusive importer and distributor of Western Star trucks, MAN trucks, MAN buses and Dennis Eagle trucks for Australia and New Zealand. Penske Commercial Vehicles Group has a network of 65 dealers across Australia and 16 dealers across New Zealand. Team Penske is also hosting a group of more than 60 Western Star dealers at the shop and track during Charlotte race week.
· BUSY END OF THE SEASON FOR BLANEY: Last week’s third-place finish in the NASCAR Nationwide Series event at Kansas Speedway was the start of a busy end of the season for the 20-year-old. Blaney will return to the seat this weekend at Charlotte, then again at Texas in the Nationwide Series. He will also run his full slate of NASCAR Camping World Truck Series events and will make his second NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start of the season in two weeks at Talladega.
· IN HIS EAR: Normally when Blaney finds himself behind the wheel of a Team Penske Nationwide Series Mustang, Joey Meier, his regular Truck Series spotter and Keselowski’s spotter in the Sprint Cup Series, serves as his spotter. With Keselowski running the team car at Charlotte, Blaney will have Joey Logano’s regular spotter, Tab Boyd, on the spotter’s stand.
· RARE APPEARANCE: Brad Keselowski, the 2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) Champion, has made only eight starts thus far in 2014 in series competition. While the quantity of races has been low, the quality has been exceedingly high. Keselowski has not finished outside the top-four in any of his eight starts. His season to date includes seven top-three finishes as well as three victories. These remarkable stats all add up to a 2.0-average finish so far this year.
· QUALIFYING FIVE HUNDRED: In his eight starts to date this year, Keselowski has earned four poles and has started on the front row seven times, equaling an impressive starting average of 3.4.
· SUPPORTING A CAUSE: The No. 22 Discount Tire Ford Mustang will feature a special paint scheme with pink accents this weekend in Charlotte to support National Breast Cancer Awareness month.
· CHARLOTTE VICTOR: In his 14 NNS starts at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Keselowski has earned two victories, five top-five and 10 top-10 finishes.
· A MAN IN DEMAND: Racing close to home means that Keselowski is in strong demand during Charlotte race weeks. On Wednesday, he will appear at the Discount Tire store located at 6801 Northlake Mall Dr. in Charlotte beginning at 12:00p.m. On Thursday, he will meet a visiting group of Australians and New Zealanders at the Team Penske shop who are a part of the Penske family via the new truck business.
· OWNING UP TO THE OWNERS’ TITLE: The No. 22 Discount Tire Ford is once again a serious contender for the NNS Owners’ Championship. The team that has earned a driver championship in 2010 with Keselowski and then an Owners’ title last year is once again poised to sit at the big table at the coming awards banquet. The team currently sits in first points with a 27-point lead over the No. 54 of JGR.
THE BROADCAST
Race: BCBS Drive for the Cure 300
Track: Charlotte Motor Speedway
Race Start Time: 7:30 pm ET
Radio Broadcast: Live on PRN & SIRIUS XM NASCAR Channel 90
TV Schedule
Friday
5:30 pm ET, Final Practice (ESPN2)
4:00 pm ET, Qualifying (ESPN2)
7:30 pm ET, BCBS Drive for the Cure 300 (ESPN2)
THE Q&A
RYAN BLANEY, NO. 12 WESTER STAR TRUCKS FORD
WHEN YOU RUN THE NO. 12 CAR, DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU ARE IN A WIN AT ALL COSTS SITUATION?
“We aren’t running for points, so really, you are pretty much racing for a win. If you don’t win, it doesn’t matter if you finish second or fifth. But by the same token, we aren’t going to go out there and be reckless and race crazy. That is not how Team Penske operates. We don’t want to get in the way or create an adverse outcome in the points race, especially with the 22 car still going for the Owners’ Championship. The guys work hard to build these cars and come to the track to race, so we are not going to do anything stupid. But we pretty much have one goal this weekend, and that’s to win the race.”
IS WINNING THE RACE AT CHARLOTTE ONE OF THE BIGGEST YOU CAN WIN DURING THE YEAR?
“Yeah, this is one of the ones you’d like to win for sure. Everyone wants to win this one because it’s right here at home. Everyone has a home track, but this is everyone’s current home track because we all live here. And we have a bunch of team guys that come to the race from the shop, so to get to celebrate with them in Victory Lane would be pretty cool. Plus its Charlotte, which is the hub of this sport, so it’s a pretty big deal.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI, NO. 22 DISCOUNT TIRE FORD
YOU’VE RUN VERY FEW NATIONWIDE RACES THIS YEAR COMPARED TO OTHERS; WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THAT?
“I miss racing this Ford Mustang. The No. 22 Discount Tire team is strong and they provide a driver with a car that is capable of winning every time we go on track. Since I like to win, I miss racing with this team. I’ve only run eight races this year and this team is leading the Owners’ points – that is a testament to the quality of this team and my teammates, Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney. This team has played a significant part in my success and Team Penske’s successes. I am looking forward to getting back in the seat and I feel as though we have a solid shot at ending up on top Friday night.”
JEREMY BULLINS, CREW CHIEF, NO. 22 DISCOUNT TIRE FORD
DOES RACING AT CHARLOTTE HAVE SPECIAL SIGNIFICANCE FOR YOU AND THE TEAM?
“Yes it does. I am really looking forward to being home this week and taking the Discount Tire Mustang to Charlotte. It’s a track where we’ve had a lot of good runs with Brad, including my first win as crew chief of this team. So to me, it’s special. Everyone will have friends and family at the track and we’d love to get another win as we look to keep up the strong results we’ve had so far this year. I’m sure Brad is fired up to help RP win another championship as well, and we’re getting closer to that goal.”
