Saturday, April 16, 2011
Dodge Motorsports PR
Talladega Superspeedway Aaron’s 312 Post-Race Quotes
NASCAR Nationwide Series
http://twitter.com/teamdodge www.media.chrysler.com
BRAD KESELOWSKI (No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge Challenger R/T) Finished Fourth “What a wild day. That’s what Talladega is known for. We were in position at the end with Joe (Nemechek). We did everything right today. It was great running with him and I thought that we had a shot at the win. We just didn’t get it. I hope Mike Wallace is OK. I saw a heck of a wreck in my mirror. I’m proud of my team. They gave me a great car with incredible speed. This Discount Tire Dodge is fast. I had a great run with my teammate Sam Hornish. I felt like we could really do something special there at the end of the race when we got hooked up and made a move to the front. That one deal was bad when his rear bumper cover came loose and I spun him out. I wish we could have gotten back together because he had a fast Dodge. Just a great day for us at Penske Racing; a solid finish (fourth-place) that’s for sure.”
WHAT HAPPEN WITH THE INCIDENT WITH HORNISH? “The rear bumper cover blew off and when that happens, you just can’t drive the cars and when I touched him, he just spun out. It was a tough deal for Sam, that’s for sure. His Dodge was really fast and he could drive straight up to the front of the field. We were great in the draft together and if not for his spin, we may have put our Dodge’s 1-2 at the end. A tough deal for him for sure. He deserved a better finish.”
HOW CAN THESE CARS GET SO BEAT UP AND YET GUYS CAN DRIVE STRAIGHT BACK TO THE FRONT? “It’s just that big hole in that air. Kyle (Busch) made a great move at the end of the race. He probably wouldn’t have been able to hold the lead with the damage that he had, that’s why I feel confident that Joe (Nemechek) or I could have won the race if it finished (stayed green) out.”
ARE YOU READY FOR THIS AGAIN TOMORROW? “Yes. I’ll get a good night’s rest and something to eat. It’s a lot of fun out there.”
SAM HORNISH JR. (No. 12 Alliance Truck Parts Dodge Challenger R/T) Finished 13th “Our Dodge Challenger was really fast. Unfortunately, we got a little visibility for our Alliance Truck Parts Dodge that we weren’t looking for when we got turned around a couple of times today. It was tough racing out there. I thought we had a really good car and had an opportunity to win if we put ourselves in the right position. I made a mistake on the next to last restart and didn’t get us where we needed to be and was stuck behind some slow cars for the last restart. Thirteenth isn’t where we should have been today, but better than it appeared early in the race (lap 45) when we got turned around down the front stretch.
“The car was really good. I couldn’t ask for anything more out of our Dodge Challenger. We had good speed. The car handled well. We were able to push well and receive a push well. I’ve got to thank Chad “Walter, crew chief) and all the guys that work on the Alliance Truck Parts Dodge Challenger. We had a super fast car. If they keep building race cars like that for us and we keep coming back here, we’re going to get it to victory lane.”
TRAVIS GEISLER (Director of Competition, Penske Racing) “It was a tremendous effort by a group (No. 12 team) that doesn’t get to go racing every week. Normally, when things go wrong, those teams tend to buckle under the pressure, but not this team. This group here, the Alliance Truck parts Dodge team with Chad Walter the crew chief and Sam (Hornish Jr.) driving, it a good group. They worked their butts off this weekend and kept putting themselves back in position to win the race. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get it done with either of our cars, but we were up front all day with these Dodges. We had two cars capable of winning.”
