DODGE WINS! "The Final Countdown!"

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The Final Countdown!

NASCAR/DODGE 11/16-11/18 (Fri/Sat/Sun)

NASCAR: Dodge’s final curtain call may include a championship with Keselowski


Brad Keselowski celebrates his win in the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge at Chicagoland Speedway on Sunday, Sept. 16 – the first race in the 2012 NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup Series championship.

11/14/2012

The last time a Dodge driver won the Sprint Cup Series championship was in 1975 – nine years before Brad Keselowski was born.

With the manufacturer pulling out of NASCAR after Sunday’s season-ending Ford EcoBoost 400 at the Homestead-Miami Speedway, Dodge may never win another one.

In what has become a strange twist to Keselowski’s possible championship is the fact Penske Racing will celebrate its first Sprint Cup championship by walking away from the car company that took them there.

Without Penske, Dodge decided it was better to leave NASCAR than to work with a lower-tiered team.

While the Penske organization already is working on new Fords for next year, Dodge has remained committed to leaving as a winner.

“We are going to keep all options open,” said Ralph Gilles, president and CEO of Dodge’s Street and Racing Technology Brand and Motorsports. “It would be imprudent to try to predict the future right now.”

Dodge left after the 1977 season because the Magnum model wasn’t competitive and the car company needed to focus on strengthening sales of its passenger cars. It returned in 2001 with Ray Evernham Motorsports and it’s won 55 races since. Penske moved from Ford to Dodge in 2009 and won 14 races in the last four years.

Now it’s in position to add a championship.

If Keselowski finishes no worse than 15th on Sunday, part of Dodge’s future will include its first title since Richard Petty won it in 1975. Part of the team’s preparation, however, has been working on the new 2013 Ford. NASCAR changed the templates to create better brand identity for the remaining manufacturers, Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota.

Keselowski drove a Ford in a test session last month at the Phoenix International Raceway. While there is some important work remaining this season, Penske Racing appears eager to get up to speed with Ford.

“I had heard rumors that things weren’t going so well with that car, so it felt good to kind of just do it on my own and see what was really going on,” Keselowski said of next year’s Ford. “The cars seem to have a lot of drivability, and it’s easy to work backwards from there because certainly we have to balance that.”

Car owner Roger Penske announced on March 1 his organization not only was moving to Ford, but would buy engines from Roush Fenway Racing. The move stunned Dodge, since it put all of its resources in Penske’s two-car operation, which also includes the No. 22 Dodge for Sam Hornish Jr.

Dodge spent the end of last season and most of the off-season trying to create a future plan. Penske wanted things wrapped up sooner and he wanted a long-term deal.

While Dodge crunched numbers, Ford made its move.

“It caught us by surprise and we have not recovered since,” Gilles said. “It would be hard to replace Roger because Roger has a long-term deal with Ford.”

Dodge spent months trying to find a championship-caliber team before deciding to withdraw from the sport next season. The manufacturer said it was working behind the scenes on its 2013 model when Penske made his decision. Now it’s left with trying to lure a top team for the 2014 campaign.

It may have a championship to use as a bargaining chip.

“It’s getting really interesting,” Gilles said. “It would be a fairy tale story to leave on the highest note possible for now.”

SOURCE

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Homestead-Miami Speedway




Records
Date Series Driver Speed
11/14/99 Sprint Cup Race Tony Stewart 140.00
11/16/03 Sprint Cup Qualifying Jamie McMurray 181.111
11/10/01 Nationwide Race Joe Nemechek 132.00
11/20/04 Nationwide Qualifying Casey Mears 177.936
11/16/07 Camping World Truck Race Johnny Benson 135.00
11/16/07 Camping World Truck Qualifying Jon Wood 173.188


Track Facts
Homestead-Miami Speedway

Location: Homestead, FL
Banking/Turns: Oval
Distance: 1.50 miles
Shape: Oval

Most Cup Wins (since 1975)

Greg Biffle: 3

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NASCAR TRUCK Preview
Ford EcoBoost 200
Homestead-Miami Speedway



Race Capsule
Homestead-Miami Speedway

What: Race 22 of 22 on Camping World Truck circuit
Where: Homestead-Miami Speedway, Homestead, FL
When: FRIDAY November 16, 2012 8:18 pm EST SPEED
Laps: 134
Track Length: 1.5 miles
Race Length: 201.00 miles

Camping World Truck
Date Race Name Pole Winner Race Winner Make Purse
11/18/11 Ford 200 James Buescher Johnny Sauter Chevrolet $572,341
11/19/10 Ford 200 Austin Dillon Kyle Busch Toyota $576,655
11/20/09 Ford 200 Colin Braun Kevin Harvick Chevrolet $641,242
11/14/08 Ford 200 Mike Skinner Todd Bodine Toyota $663,361

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NASCAR Preview
Ford NATIONWIDE EcoBoost 300
Homestead-Miami Speedway



Race Capsule
Homestead-Miami Speedway

What: Race 33 of 33 on Nationwide circuit
Where: Homestead-Miami Speedway, Homestead, FL
When: SATURDAY November 17, 2012 4:45 pm EST ESPN/ESPN2
Laps: 200
Track Length: 1.5 miles
Race Length: 300.00 miles

Nationwide

Date Race Name Pole Winner Race Winner Make Purse
11/19/11 Ford 300 Brad Keselowski Brad Keselowski Dodge $1,269,849
11/20/10 Ford 300 Joey Logano Kyle Busch Toyota $1,454,827
11/21/09 Ford 300 Carl Edwards Kyle Busch Toyota $1,553,466
11/15/08 Ford 300 Joey Logano Carl Edwards Ford $1,556,572

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NASCAR CUP Preview
Ford EcoBoost 400
Homestead-Miami Speedway



Race Capsule
Homestead-Miami Speedway

What: Race 36 of 36 on Sprint Cup circuit
Where: Homestead-Miami Speedway, Homestead, FL
When: SUNDAY November 18, 2012 3:15 pm EST ESPN/ESPN2
Laps: 267
Track Length: 1.5 miles
Race Length: 401.00 miles

Sprint Cup

Date Race Name Pole Winner Race Winner Make Purse
11/20/11 Ford 400 Carl Edwards Tony Stewart Chevrolet $5,194,299
11/21/10 Ford 400 Kasey Kahne Carl Edwards Ford $5,247,828
11/22/09 Ford 400 Jimmie Johnson Denny Hamlin Toyota $5,413,645
11/16/08 Ford 400 David Reutimann Carl Edwards Ford $5,374,166

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SRT Motorsports - Camping World Truck Series Advance - Homestead
November 14, 2012 , Auburn Hills, Mich. -

THE NUMBERS: HOMESTEAD-MIAM SPEEDWAY
• RAM has THREE wins at Homestead: Ted Musgrave (2001), Bobby Hamilton (2003) and Kasey Kahne (2004).
• RAM has THREE poles at Homestead: Randy Tolsma (1999), Joe Ruttman (2000) and Bobby Hamilton (2000).
• RAM has 13 top-five and 20 top-10 finishes at Homestead.
• The most recent RAM driver to score a top five at Homestead was Dennis Setzer who finished fifth in 2008.
• The most RAM drivers to finish inside the top 10 at Homestead are four (2001 and 2003).

RAM DRIVER QUOTES
“It’s difficult going to a racetrack for the first time and only having a couple hours to really adjust and know what you need for the race at that track. It’s been a little difficult but I have the right team around me to help me adapt and learn those tracks a lot quicker now. It’s definitely gotten easier as we’ve gone on but at the same time, it’s still pretty difficult to get the hang of it. I’m really looking forward to Homestead. It looks like a real fun racetrack right at the top. Hopefully we can go there and be good.”
--Ryan Blaney

RYAN BLANEY
– No. 29 Cooper Standard RAM
Crew Chief: Doug Randolph

Career Stats:
Starts: 8
Wins: 1
Top Fives: 2
Top 10s: 5
Poles: 0
Laps Led: 66

2012 Season Stats:
Starts: 8
Wins: 1
Top Fives: 2
Top 10s: 5
Poles: 0
Laps Led: 66
• Scored a fifth-place finish in most recent NCWTS start at Phoenix, his second top five of the season.
• Has three top-10 finishes in last four races.
• Will be making his first NCWTS start at Homestead.
• Claimed first NCWTS victory at Iowa Speedway in his third series start. The win was the first for RAM since Dennis Setzer won at Martinsville in March 2008.
• Become the youngest winner in series history at 18 years of age when he won at Iowa, surpassing Kyle Busch.
• Brad Keselowski Racing is seventh in the NCWTS owner standings, 63 behind leader Steve Turner (No. 31).
• Will be making his fourth superspeedway start in the NCWTS and is seeking his first top-10 on a track of one-mile or greater. Best superspeedway finish is a pair of 11th-place finishes (most recently at Kentucky).
• Average finish in eight races is 9.75 despite a DNF at Texas (race No. 20). Has finished 11th or better in the other seven events.
• Started fifth and finished sixth in series debut at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.
• Parker Kligerman scored a 14th-place finish at Homestead in the No. 29 RAM in 2011.

RAM IN THE CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES
• Bobby Hamilton (2004) and Ted Musgrave (2005) won the season championship driving a RAM.
• RAM has claimed the manufacturer’s title three times in the 17-year history of the series – 2001, 2003 and 2004.
• Tony Raines gave RAM its first win in the series in 1997, winning at I-70 Speedway in Odessa, Mo. RAM continued to win, posting a minimum of two wins for nine consecutive seasons. There have been 66 trips to victory lane.
• RAM won 15 of the 24 NCWTS races during the 2001 season, 13 of 25 in 2003 and 11 of 25 in 2004.
• There have been 437 races in the NCWTS beginning at Phoenix International Raceway on Feb. 2, 1995. There were three RAM drivers – Joe Bessey, Bob Keselowski and Walker Evans – in the 33-truck starting field
• RAM’s most recent NCWTS win came at Iowa (Ryan Blaney).

RAM TALK
“In racing you’re only as good as your last race and you have to live with what happens at Homestead for three months. It’s very important to finish strong. There’s nothing worse than having a bad race at Homestead and having to worry about it and mope around all winter without ending on that good finish.”
-- Doug Randolph, Crew Chief, No. 29 Cooper Standard RAM

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SRT Motorsports - Dodge Sprint Cup Series Race Advance - Homestead-Miami

November 13, 2012 , HOMESTEAD, Fla. -

DODGE NEWS AND NOTES
· Dodge’s Brad Keselowski leads the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup with a 20-point advantage over Jimmie Johnson. All other Chase drivers have been mathematically eliminated.
· Brad Keselowski can clinch the 2012 Chase for the Sprint Cup championship with a finish of 15th or better in Sunday’s season finale; or 16th and lead at least one lap; or 17th and lead the most laps regardless if Johnson wins the race and secures the maximum 48 points.
· Dodge is seeking its first Sprint Cup Series championship since 1975 (Richard Petty).
· Dodge has one NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory at Homestead-Miami Speedway (Bill Elliott – 2001). Elliott is one of two drivers to win from the pole.

THE DODGE BOYS
· Dodge has five victories in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series this season – all by Brad Keselowski (Bristol, Talladega, Kentucky, Chicagoland and Dover).
· Dodge has 217 wins in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
· Dodge teams have recorded 57 victories since the manufacturer’s return to NASCAR’s premier series in 2001.
· Dodge has posted wins each season since its return in 2001 including seven wins twice (2002 and 2006).
· Dodge has seven NASCAR driver’s championships – 7 (Cup: David Pearson (1966) Bobby Isaac (1970) Richard Petty (1974, ’75) Nationwide Brad Keselowski (2010) NCWTS: Bobby Hamilton (2004) Ted Musgrave (2005).

2012 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Standings
1. Brad Keselowski 2371 7. Greg Biffle -78
2. Jimmie Johnson -20 8. Kevin Harvick -86
3. Kasey Kahne -50 9. Tony Stewart -87
4. Clint Bowyer -52 10. Jeff Gordon -90
5. Denny Hamlin -62 11. Martin Truex Jr. -111
6. Matt Kenseth -74 12. Dale Earnhardt Jr. -160

THE KESELOWSKI ‘CHASE FILE’
Race Start Finish Laps Led Points
Chicagoland 13 1 76 1st / +3
New Hampshire 15 6 4 2nd / -1
Dover 10 1 14 1st / +5
Talladega 22 7 0 1st/ +14
Charlotte 20 11 139 1st / +7
Kansas 25 8 0 1st /+7
Martinsville 32 6 8 2nd /-1
Texas 8 2 75 2nd/-7
Phoenix 14 6 10 1st/+20

FROM THE ENGINEER
"Homestead-Miami is the last race of the year, everybody knows that. But engineers this week are focused on the fact that Homestead-Miami is the last of the five, mile-and-a-half tracks in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. On those tracks this fall the poles speeds have been 193 mph, 191 mph, 191 mph, and 182 mph. The pole speed at Homestead-Miami last year was 175 mph, considerably slower than the mile-and-a-half track speed we're used to. Slower lap speeds by that margin are from diminished grip levels on the aging Homestead-Miami surface and as engineers we've got to come up with setups that can hold on to this slippery track. Softer springs, easier riding shock absorbers, smaller sway bars, and lower tire pressures, will all be in the mix of options engineers will have to consider to get a grip on the Homestead-Miami track surface."
Howard Comstock, SRT Motorsports Engineering

2012 RACE REWIND
· Race Four: Brad Keselowski qualified fifth and led 232 laps en route to his first Sprint Cup win of the season at Bristol.
· Race 10: Keselowski visited victory lane for the second time, avoiding a nine-car mishap with two laps remaining to win at Talladega.
· Race 17: Keselowski claimed his third Sprint Cup Series win of year at Kentucky Speedway, leading the final 56 laps.
· Race 18: Sam Hornish Jr. takes over as the driver of the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger for Penske Racing at Daytona.
· Race 25: Keselowski clinches his second consecutive berth in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup
· Race 27: Keselowski opens the Chase with his fourth win of the season (Chicagoland); takes three-point lead over Jimmie Johnson in the Chase standings.
· Race 28: Keselowski sixth at Loudon; trails by one.
· Race 29: Keselowski leads the final 10 laps en route to his second Chase win (Dover); retakes point lead by five.
· Race 30: Keselowski finished seventh at Talladega but extends point lead to 14.
· Race 31: Keselowski leads 139 laps, finishes 11th at Charlotte; lead in Chase standings trimmed to seven points by Johnson.
· Race 32: Keselowski maintains a seven-point advantage over Johnson after finishing eighth at Kansas.
· Race 33: Keselowski finished 6th at Martinsville. Falls to second in Chase standings. Trails Johnson by two points.
· Race 34: Keselowski qualifies eighth and finished runner-up to Johnson who extended his point lead to seven.
* Race 35: Keselowski regained the point lead with a sixth-place finish at Phoenix while Johnson had a tire issue and finished 32nd.

2012 SPRINT CUP SERIES SEASON BESTS
· Brad Keselowski Start: 2nd (Bristol)
Finish: 1st (Bristol, Talladega, Kentucky, Chicagoland and Dover)
· Sam Hornish Jr. Start: 8th (Daytona)
Finish: 5th (Watkins Glen)

DODGE DRIVERS IN THE CHASE – HOMESTEAD
· 2004: Two Dodge drivers earned Chase berths – Ryan Newman and Jeremy Mayfield. Newman started third and led 72 laps before finishing 30th. Mayfield started 20th and finished 35th.
· 2005: Dodge had three drivers in the Chase – Ryan Newman, Rusty Wallace and Jeremy Mayfield. Newman started second and finished seventh, Mayfield 10th and Wallace 13th.
· 2006: Kasey Kahne started from the pole, led five times for 90 laps and finished fourth.
· 2007: Kurt Busch started fifth and finished second.
· 2008: There were no Dodges in the 2008 Chase field.
· 2009: Kurt Busch started 12th, led five times for 43 laps and finished fourth. Kasey Kahne started 25th and finished 17th.
· 2010: Kurt Busch, the only Dodge driver in the Chase; he qualified 15th and finished 18th.
· 2011: Brad Keselowski finished 20th and Kurt Busch 34th.

DODGE QUOTES
Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger on giving team owner Roger Penske his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship
“When I first came to Penske Racing, I viewed it as an organization with so much potential. I had a vision for what I knew this place could become, and I shared that with Mr. Penske in our first meeting together. And as he began to give (crew chief) Paul (Wolfe) and I the things that we needed, we began to show results on the racetrack which, in turn, led to a lot of trust among myself, Mr. Penske, Paul and everyone else at Penske Racing. So having a legitimate shot to win the championship this weekend is something that I take great pride in because I know we got there together. Everything about this team is first-class, from our owner to our facility to our sponsor, Miller Lite. We have everything we need to be a championship contender for years to come and it’s exciting to be a part of that.”

Paul Wolfe, Crew Chief, No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger on the crew's mentality heading into this weekend's race at Homestead-Miami Speedway
“I came to Penske Racing three years ago because Brad Keselowski is the kind of driver that any crew chief would want to work with. He works as hard – and prepares as hard – as any driver I’ve been around. You want a driver that is going to give you everything he has and that’s what Brad does every week. I pride myself on having the same approach to my job, so I knew we could be successful together. Now we are one race away from doing something that no team has been able to do and that is give Roger Penske the Cup championship he deserves. We are planning on doing the same things at Homestead this weekend that got us to this point. Being cautious and ‘laying up’ is a good way to get into trouble. We are an aggressive team, and while we have the big picture in mind, we are going to do what we do.”

Paul Wolfe, Crew Chief, No 2 Miller Lite Dodge, on delivering such solid consistency over the course of this year's Chase
"It's been a great Chase for us, there's no doubt about it. I think that everybody wanted to look in the stat books each and every week, and we always didn't have the best stats. We've grown so much as a team over the year that I think it's hard to look back at those things and I think that we've proved that throughout the Chase. We felt like we needed to go into Phoenix and win that race to put us in position to have a shot at it going into the final race. I was definitely caught off-guard by the 48. I expected those guys to run much better than they did. It seemed like they were never able to get it turned around. And then obviously they had the tire issue. I was caught off-guard by that a little bit. We still went there and stuck to our plan and did what we needed to do. Now, we're in a much better position than we could have planned for, hoped for going into the final race."
.
Paul Wolfe, Crew Chief, No 2 Miller Lite Dodge, on succeeding as a two-car Dodge team and breaking the mold that bigger isn't better
"Yeah, I guess we have. That's what you typically think, that bigger is better. Dodge has done a great job supporting us. We've been able to accomplish a lot with them. For myself, the three years that I've been here, we've accomplished a lot and I know that the relationship with Penske goes a lot farther than that. In a lot of ways, it's not a bad thing to be the only Dodge team. We definitely get all the attention and I think there's a lot to be said for that."

Sam Hornish Jr., No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger on his last race in the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger
“To have had the chance to climb back in a Sprint Cup car again this season has been a dream come true for me. I certainly want to thank Shell-Pennzoil and all the great sponsors we have at Penske Racing for the opportunity they gave me and the confidence they have shown in me. We are hoping to have the kind of performance that will make all of our supporters proud during the final race weekend of the season. The backing and encouragement we have received from the sponsors, the fans, the media – everyone we have had the pleasure to work with – has been tremendous. We’re certainly appreciative of having the chance to drive the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Dodge. When the checkered flag falls at Homestead on Sunday, I hope everyone can look back and say that we did a respectable job. I hope they can say that we put forth a reputable effort as a replacement driver for the second half of the season. Most of all, I hope that they all agree that I’ve shown a degree of competitiveness that is deserving of a ride in Sprint Cup competition.”

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SRT Motorsports - Sprint Cup Paul Wolfe NASCAR Teleconference Transcript
November 13, 2012 , Auburn Hills, Mich. -

Paul Wolfe (Crew Chief, No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger R/T)

WITH ONE RACE TO GO BEFORE THE NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP IS DECIDED, WHAT IS YOUR TEAM’S MINSET AND HOW HAVE YOUR PREPARED GOING INTO SUNDAY’S RACE AT HOMESTEAD-MIAMI SPEEDWAY?
“Well, our mindset going into this weekend is not a whole lot different than what we've done the first nine races of the chase. We just want to continue doing the things we've done up to this point, and we feel like if we do that, we should have a shot to close this deal out on Sunday. The guys have done a great job to this point on the Miller Lite Dodge, and, they're preparing the car as we would any other week and just trying to stay in our normal routine. The last thing we need to do is try to do something we've been doing different all season. I think that's how mistakes are possibly made.”

THIS HAS BEEN DESCRIBED AS A HEAVYWEIGHT FIGHT, WHICH SORT OF SUGGESTED IT’S A WOLFE VERSUS (CHAD) KNAUS ON THE UNDERCARD. CAN YOU ADDRESS WHAT ABOUT CHAD’S DIRECTION OF THE 48 OPERATION MOST IMPRESSES YOU AND WHETHER YOU HAVE ANYTHING MORE THAN A NODDING RELATIONSHIP IN THE GARAGE AREA WITH HIM? “Sure. Well, obviously Chad's results speak for what he has been able to lead over there with the 48 bunch. But those guys to me what defines a championship caliber team is a team that can take a really bad day and turn it into a good points day. I think the days when you have winning cars seems like things sometimes can be easier. But it's being able to overcome adversity and maximizing points on bad days. That's something that, obviously, we've seen from that 48 bunch. You know, you never know what they're capable of until race day. They've shown that time and time again. So as far as our relationship, it's not much more than what you said is a nod. But I talk to Chad real quick before practice last weekend, and obviously congratulated him on his win, and just basically told him this is what it's all about and having a lot of fun doing it. He felt the same way.”

BASED ON THE QUANTITY AND QUALITY OF E-MAIL WE’VE BEEN RECEIVING OVER THE LAST COUPLE OF WEEKS IT’S PRETTY CLEAR THAT SOME PEOPLE IN MICHIGAN WHO ARE NOT REGULAR NASCAR FANS ARE REALLY TUNED INTO THIS NOW THAT A GUY FROM MICHIGAN IS THREATENING TO WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP. WHAT DO YOU THINK BRAD BRINGS TO THIS THAT PEOPLE WHO DON’T REALLY UNDERSTAND NASCAR NEED TO KNOW ABOUT HIM? HE’S A YOUNG GUY. HE’S REALLY TAKEN THE BULL BY THE HORNS HERE. WHAT IS IT ABOUT BRAD KESELOWSKI THAT’S GETTING THIS DONE? “I think it's his dedication and drive to be a champion, all the hard work he puts in. He's a great leader to this Miller Lite team. He's a great motivator, and he's a guy that I see is not willing to give up. He'll do whatever it takes to find success. There is something about when Brad's around, he finds a way to be able to motivate everyone around him. I think that's obviously important in running for a championship. Having a guy like him around that doesn't necessarily have to always say certain things to motivate you, but just the sense in how he carries himself. Like I said, all the time and dedication that he puts into the race team and, obviously, everybody's getting rewarded for that.”

HOW ABOUT BRAD AS A DRIVER? WHAT ARE THE ASPECTS OF ACTUALLY DRIVING THE CAR THAT’S KIND OF PUT HIM IN THIS POSITION? “Well, I think one of the things about Brad, as I said, he works very hard. He's maybe not the guy that's going to go out there and set the fastest lap time. But he's a guy that's going to go out there and understand the kind of feel or what he's going to need to be around and have a shot to win at the end of the race, and that's very important. There are a lot of guys out there that are capable of putting fast laps down and running fast from time to time; but when you look at Brad, he's that guy that's always just hanging out there until it really counts. A lot of that is just his hard work in trying to understand how a race is going to play out, what he needs his car to do at the end of the race. And a lot of these races are very long events. The track changes a lot. Trying to prepare for that and understand what he's going to want out of his car, he does really well with that. I think you see that in the drivers that are successful like that.”

DOES HE GET TO WATCH THAT RAY LEWIS VIDEO? “I have not watched a video yet, no.”

EVEN THOUGHT IT WAS A MISFORTUNE BY THE 48 AT PHOENIX THAT PUT YOU GUYS IN A COMMANDING LEAD GOING INTO HOMESTEAD, THE No. 2 TEAM HASN’T BACKED INTO YOUR SPOT AT ALL. YOU GUYS HAVE TAKEN THE LEAD UNDER GREEN AT PHOENIX A LAP OR TWO BEFORE (JIMMIE) JOHNSON CRASHED. HOW DOES IT FEEL TO HAVE DELIVERED SUCH CONSISTENCY OVER THE COURSE OF THE CHASE? YOU MENTIONED THE RESPECT YOU HAVE FOR THE 48 TEAM BUT TO VISIBLY BEAT THEM AND OUTRUN THEM EVERY WEEK DURING THE FIGHT FOR THE CHASE? “It's been a great Chase for us. There's no doubt about it. Everybody wanted to look at the stat books each and every week. We didn't always have the best stats, maybe. We've grown so much as a team over the years. I think it's hard to look back at those things, and I think we've proven that throughout the Chase. We felt like we needed to go into Phoenix and win that race to put us in position to have a shot at it going into the final race. I was definitely caught off guard by the 48. I expected those guys to run much better than they did. It just seemed like they were never able to get it turned around all weekend, and then they had the tire issue.

“So was caught off guard by that a little bit. But we still went there and stuck to our plan and did what we needed to do. Now we're in a much better situation than we could have planned for, or hoped for going into the final race. From here it's go down to Homestead. We know this is a great racetrack for us. We've been very strong on the mile-and-a-halves. Goodyear is bringing the same tire we were on in Chicago and Texas, so we have some confidence in where we're at with that. If we go down there and do the things we know we're capable of, I feel like we're going to be in good position.”

THAT PERFORMANCE, DO YOU FEEL THAT INFLUENCED THE 48 CALL AT ALL? DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU FORCED THEM INTO SOME ERRORS BECAUSE YOU WERE SO STRONG AND YOU CAUGHT A LOT OF PEOPLE OFF GUARD? “Well, I don't really know if it did. I think we've probably possibly run better than some may have expected going into it. So from that standpoint, I guess maybe you could look at it and say that. I don't know what everyone's expectations of the two teams were starting the Chase. But I feel like we've done a great job. There's been a lot of hard work that's gone into this from all departments here at Penske Racing. Everyone really stepped up for this effort and went above and beyond anything we could have asked of them. I think that's a lot of the reason we're in the position we're in.

IF YOU DIDN’T HEAR BRAD’S COMMENTS IN THE MEDIA CENTER AFTER THE RACE, YOU MIGHT BE AWARE. HE WAS TALKING ABOUT CRITICISM HE TOOK FROM SOME OF THE OTHER DRIVERS ABOUT THE WAY HE DROVE ON THE RESTART AT TEXAS. DO YOU THINK HE TOOK THAT THERE IS A DOUBLE STANDARD FROM PEOPLE ABOUT THE WAY HE DRIVERS ON THE TRACK IN THAT PEOPLE THINK THAT HE IS MAYBE TOO AGGRESSIBE OR PUSHES THINGS TO THE LIMIT TOO MUCH? “I don't know. Maybe a couple years ago you could say that. But to be honest with you, that's the most aggressive I've seen Brad all year. I think he's done a great job. We've had fast race cars. He hasn't had to push issues. But we're talking about coming down to the final few races of racing for a championship. And I think that just shows how hard he's going to run, and what this means to him. I don't know if Brad has a lot of friends in the garage or not. I don't know how he feels about that. But at the end of the day I feel like he's doing all the right things. If people are upset with him, they'll be upset with him. But I haven't seen him do anything in my eyes that I felt has been out of line. If I did, obviously we'd talk about it. But I think he's done a great job and shown that he's in this to the end and he's going to race everyone hard.”

DOYOU THINK THERE IS A GARAGE ETIQUETTE? I THINK FROM A NON-RACER POINT OF VIEW AND A FAN POINT OF VIEW OR MEDIA POINT OF VIEW, WE LOOK AT IT IF A CHAMPIONSHIP WAS ON THE LINE AND IT’S THE GUYS WHO ARE ONE AND TWO IN THE TITLE BATTLE LINED UP ON A RESTART RACING FOR THE WIN FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP, THAT THEY SHOULD BE ENTITLED TO RACE ALL OUT. IS THERE ETIQUETTE? WE HEAR GUYS LIKE KYLE BUSCH SAY THAT BRAD MAYBE DID SOMETHING WRONG OR HE RACED HIM TOO HIGH OR RAN HIM UP THE TRACK OR SOMETHING. ARE THERE THINGS THAT ARE OR ARE NOT ALLOWED TO BE DONE? “I don't know. Maybe that's a better question for Brad. In my eyes, like I said, I didn't see anything wrong. Like I said, when it comes down to racing for a championship, maybe, there are a lot of things that we've probably done in the past that's probably not the norm. But at the end of the day, we're going to do it our way. We might not make a lot of friends along the way, but I feel good about what we've done as a team. Like I said, we're going to try to continue that this weekend at Homestead.”

COMING FROM YOUR HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER WE’RE INTERESTED IN HOW YOU GET FROM MILFORD CENTRAL SCHOOL TO CREW CHIEF WITH A CHANCE TO WIN THE SPRINT CUP? “Well, it's been a long road and a lot of hard work. Just continuing to try to put myself around good people and learn the sport. I feel like I've been able to do that. It's put me in with a great company in Penske Racing, and a great driver with Brad. I think Brad and my relationship is a big part of it and the communication. I look forward to our future together. I feel like as a team we're still not probably at our full potential yet. So it's definitely encouraging to be into our second year and challenging for a championship. We're going to hopefully challenge for a lot more here in the near future.”

WHAT YEAR DID YOU GRADUATE FROM MILFORD? “'95.”

AND IN TERMS OF YOUR EVOLUTION, YOU WANTED TO BE A RACER ORIGINALLY AND THEN YOU WORKED YOUR WAY INTO CREW CHIEF? “Originally, I just wanted to get into the sport of NASCAR. Didn't really think driving would ever be an option for me. Obviously, along the way I've been able to do that some. I think that's helped me. But just growing up as a kid watching NASCAR on TV and local short track racing in upstate New York, when I had the opportunity to move down south, that's what I did and just learned it from there.”

A LOT HAS BEEN MADE OF THINGS THIS YEAR ABOUT HOW BRAD SEEMS TO BE A DIFFERENT BRAD THAN HE WAS A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO ON THE TRACK AND MAYBE PERSONALLY TO BE ABLE TO TALK ABOUT TEXAS AND THE RESTARTS AND WHAT NOT. IS THAT SOMETHING YOU WOULD AGREE WITH? IF SO CAN YOU EXPLAIN THINGS THAT YOU’VE SEEN THAT WOULD MAKE YOU SAY THAT THIS IS A MORE MATURE RACER? “I think you're right. I think he has matured over the last few years. I think as I have in my role as well. I think a lot of that just comes with experience and time. You've got to understand and learn the sport, learn how it works and what you need to do to be successful. The guys that work really hard at that and pay attention, I feel like usually find their way.

“I feel like that's kind of where Brad's at at this point. Obviously, he's shown that he's capable of winning races and contending for a championship as anybody in the garage. He's worked really hard at it. And I think he deserves to be where he's at, for sure.”

IS THERE ANYTHING YOU CAN POINT TO PARTICULARLY THAT YOU SAW THAT MAYBE YOU’D SAY OH, HE WOULDN’T HAVE DONE THAT THREE YEARS AGO OR HE WOULD HAVE DONE THAT DIFFERENTLY? “Probably just understanding the race and what he needs out of his car. What the limits of his car are. Obviously, he's very good on his equipment and that's very important. I think that's one of the things that we continue to show week-in and week-out is that he's always around at the end, and really manages his race car well.”

YOU TALKED ABOUT THIS WEEK TRYING TO DO THINGS THE WAY YOU’VE DONE THEM ALL DURING THE CHASE. I’M JUST WONDERING IN THE BACK OF YOUR MIND, YOU AND BRAD SEEMED LIKE SUCH LEVEL-HEADED GUYS AND ON TOP OF THE GAME AND EVERYTHING. WHAT IS SOMETHING UNEXPECTED HAPPENS BEFORE THE RACE? IS THAT IN THE BACK OF YOUR MIND LIKE HOW WILL WE HANDLE THIS IF SOMETHING COMES ALONG THAT YOU’RE NOT EXPECTING? “We've always got to be prepared for the worst. We've done the best job we can preparing for this weekend's event. It's something that this team's done really well is being able to overcome adversity I feel like over the last couple of years. We do that really well. So we're going to just do the best job at controlling the things we can, and we'll do the best we can at dealing with any situation that may come up. But we definitely don't want to change our thought process going into the weekend. We want to go down there and contend for the win. We know we're capable of that. We've shown we've got the speed in our race cars and all the guys on the team are capable of that.

“So short of just a few small things on the race car from a mileage standpoint is making sure that we're extra careful with things like that we're not going to change our game plan of how we go into the weekend. As the race plays out, if we feel like we need to adjust or change a little bit, we can do that on the fly. But as of right now, it will be business as usual.

BRAD WAS TALKING AND KIND OF TOLD PART OF THE STORY IN THE PAST A FEW TIMES ABOUT HOW HE FIRST APPROACHED YOU ABOUT BEING HIS CREW CHIEF I THINK IN AUGUST OF ’09. HE SAID YOU LOOKED HIM STRAIGHT IN THE EYE AND SAID YOU LOOKED HIM STRAIGHT IN THE EYE AND SAID YOU DIDN’T WANT TO DO IT. HE SAID A FEW MONTHS LATER AT PENSKE THEY WERE KIND OF GOING OVER POSSIBLE CREW CHIEF PEOPLE AND SAID, WELL, WE THINK WE WANT TO PURSUE THIS PAUL WOLFE AND BRAD SAID GOOD LUCK, HE’S ALREADY TOLD ME NO. AND THEY SAID WELL, WE’VE BEEN TALKING TO HIM FOR THE LAST FEW WEEKS. WHAT CHANGED? WHY DID YOU ORIGINALLY SAY NO AND WHAT CHANGED YOUR MINDSET THINKING THIS MIGHT BE A GOOD OPPORTUNITY FOR YOU? “Well, originally, I like to consider myself a pretty loyal guy. I had committed to the race team I was with at the time. They were giving me everything I had asked for, and what I wanted to do in building a race team. But come the end of the season, there was no funding there to continue on. So at that point I was looking at all of my options that were out there. As I sat down and looked at them, I had seen -- obviously, I had raced with Brad and seen what he was able to do, and I felt like together him and I could hopefully win races and contend for championships. Just seeing what he had done in the past and the opportunity was here at Penske to do that. It would be a brand-new start-up team and that was something that really excited me. Seeing a guy like Brad that I knew could win races and an opportunity to build a race team. The combination of the two things is what brought me here to Penske.”

WHAT TEAM WERE YOU WITH AT THE TIME? “That was CJM Racing.”

HOW DO YOU BALANCE PUSHING PARTS OR PIECES OR SETUP TO THE LIMIT WHEN YOU KNOW THAT YOU CAN FINISH OF 15TH AND MAYBE NOT HAVE POSSIBLY PUSH A PIECE TO THE LIMIT THIS WEEKEND? “Well, it's a tough balance. Just sitting here every day this week preparing and thinking about that a little bit. But like I said before, the last thing I want to do is change my mindset or my thought process of how I go racing every weekend, because I feel like if I do that, I'm going to miss something. So for the most part the guys back here in the shop, assembling these cars and there are mileage limits on parts and pieces that we typically run during the season. We would look at some of those pieces and not err towards the pieces that are close to being mileaged out.

“But from a set-up standpoint, I don't expect to change that a whole lot. I feel like 15th is not like that's a cake walk. We know we've performed way above that, and we're capable of much more than that. But it's going to be tough. By no means do we want to go into Homestead thinking we're just going to go down there and ride around and finish 15th and all is well, because that's kind of scary to even think about like that right now.

“I feel like it was great that we were able to get the points lead back. But our goal coming out of Phoenix was let's hope we're within three so we can go to Homestead and control our own destiny, meaning we can go down there and win the race and win the championship. So, obviously, we're in a much better situation than that, but I don't see us this weekend changing our approach to anything less than that, going down there and trying to contend for this win.”

BRAD WAS FINED THIS WEEK FOR HAVING A PHONE IN HIS CAR. HE’S ON PROBATION FOR IT. ARE YOU GOING TO CHECK WITH HIM TO MAKE SURE THAT YOU DON’T HAVE YOUR PHONE WITH YOU, DO YOU? YOU CAN’T RISK BEING CAUGHT WITH IT THIS WEEK. “Yeah, Brad and I have briefly talked about it, and he obviously handled that with everybody at NASCAR. I don't know, just a small miscommunication or what happened. I don't know what happened. I haven't been involved in a whole lot. But definitely remind them to make sure it's not a habit because of not even -- that never even crossed my mind to be honest with you, we get so involved in worrying about how to make the race car go around the track that, obviously, Brad's cell phone is not on my mind a whole lot. I'll definitely remind him this weekend.”

THE WAY THAT THE CREW CHIEF’S POSITION HAS EVOLVED OVER THE YEARS, YOU’RE PART COACH, YOU’RE PART PSYCHIATRIST, YOU’RE PART CONFIDENTE AND YOU’RE PART FRIENDS. DRIVERS ARE LOOKING FOR ALL OF THAT EACH AND EVERY WEEK. FROM WHERE YOU’RE SITTING WHAT WILL IT MEAN TO BRAD IF HE PULLS THIS OFF ON SUNDAY? “Well, I think it's huge. His family history and how they got started. How hard he's had to work to get to this point. I don't know how much time he's spent thinking about this. I know me personally I know it's human nature and hard not to do, but I try to block it out and not let my mind go there. We still have our work cut out for us this weekend. Obviously,it will be huge, huge for Penske Racing and everyone involved. But to be honest with you, like I've said, I tried not to let my mind go there right now and stay focused on trying to go to Homestead and contend for the win.

PEOPLE ARE ASKING HOW YOU CHANGED FROM THE LAST CHAMPIONSHIP THAT YOU WON TOGETHER UNTIL NOW. I THINK BACK TO THE ATLANTA CRASH AND HOW HE CAME IN TO POCONO DESPITE ALL THE PAIN THAT HE MUST HAVE BEEN ENDURING AT THAT POINT. CAN YOU LOOK AT THAT CHAPTER AS A TURING POINT PERHAPS TO WHERE YOU GUYS WERE TO WHERE YOU ARE NOW? “I'm not sure it was necessarily a turning point. I can definitely say that I think everybody on the team kind of looked at Brad a different way after that weekend. I think he proved to everyone how mentally strong he is and what he's capable of doing. It surely did for me. I was there for that accident, and I spent a lot of time in the hospital with him. By no means did I think we'd be sitting in victory lane that next week, so pretty amazing. The guy is very dedicated and is working very hard at this. I don't believe you could find anybody in the garage that's working as hard as he is and as dedicated as he is to trying to win this championship. He's a great guy to work for. He's a great leader and makes it a lot of fun for sure."

WHAT CONCERNS YOU THE MOST ABOUT THAT TRACK IN TERMS OF GETTING SETUP RIGHT THAT IS MAYBE UNIQUE FROM SOME OF THE OTHER TRACKS? WHAT KIND OF THINGS ARE YOU LOOKING AT GOING IN THAT SEPARATE THAT TRACK FROM SOME OF THE OTHERS? YOU TOUCHED ON THE TIRE BEING THE SAME EARLIER AS CHICAGO. BUT WHAT THINGS SPECIFIC TO HOMESTEAD CONCERN YOU THIS WEEKEND? “Sure, good question. The one thing I said, the tire is similar or the same tire as we did run at Texas and Chicago. A mile and a half track, it's obviously got its own shape to it without the trial or dogleg as we run at Texas. The way the car loads up through the corner is much different than the normal intermediate style track. Only going there once a year makes it tougher too because you have a lot less information to pull from. As I said, the mile-and-a-half tracks have been good for us. We feel like we're prepared to address anything we need to. We feel like we should be able to have similar performance to what we've had on the mile-and-a-halves in the Chase so far.”

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT HOW YOU CAME TO THE ATTENTION OF THE PENSKE OPERATION OR WHETHER, IN FACT, YOU INITIATED THE CONTACT? AND ALSO GIVEN THAT YOU’RE WITH TEAMS THAT WERE PRETTY MUCH JOUSTING WITH WINDMILLS HALF THE TIME, WAS THERE ANY SENSE BEFORE THAT THAT YOU WERE SPINNING YOUR WHEELS? “As far as the deal with Penske, I think probably what got that started was looking back to 2009. In 2009 I was with CJM Racing, and at the time we had a few different drivers in the car at the end of the year. And Mike Bliss drove a good bit for us. And we were able to -- we didn't win any races, but we were running in the Top 5 and had fast race cars. At the time I think Mike was racing (Justin) Allgaier for a Top 5 in the Nationwide points. But I don't know if they were paying attention a little bit to how we were running because of that, and saw that for a very small team, underfunded, that we were putting pretty fast race cars out there. I believe that's a little bit of what they saw.”

WHO CALL YOU? WAS IT SOMEBODY LIKE (TIM) CINDRIC? “Yeah, I met with Michael Nelson and Tim Cindric was my first meeting, and was able to get together with RP (Roger Penske) and had a lot of good conversations. Obviously, they knew Brad was on board with it, because he had reached out to me earlier in the season. Obviously, it's been a great transition for me.”

WAS THERE A SENSE, WAS THERE ANY BUILDING FRUSTRATION THAT IT WASN’T MOVING FASTER FOR YOU IN TERMS OF BEING A TOP-NOTCH TEAM INSTEAD OF SOMEBODY THAT WAS UNDERFUNDED? “Honestly, it never really crossed my mind. I guess maybe because I didn't really know any different. I started working on smaller teams and having to make do with very little. I hadn't had the opportunity to be around a real big team. So, no, to be honest with you, I look back at a lot of those experiences and teams I worked for and different drivers and I feel like in a lot of ways it's made me better today. I had to work my way up through a lot of those smaller teams and trying to make do with very little. I think it's made me a lot better in my role today.

HOW GOOD OF A DRIVER WERE YOU? “I was great, isn't that what we all think? Obviously, I wasn't good enough or I'd still be driving. Everybody always tells me I do a way better job at crew chiefing than I was driving. So I'm definitely happy and contend with my role now.”

IT SEEMS LIKE TODAY IN THE SPORTS THAT MORE IS BETTER. MORE TEAMS, MORE INPUT, MORE NOTES, MORE EVERYTHING. YET YOU GUYS ARE SUCCEEDING AS A TWO-CAR DODGE TEAM WITH NO SATELLITE TEAMS PLUS ALL THE DRAMA THAT YOU GUYS HAD WITH THE 22 CAR THIS YEAR. HAVE YOU ALL SORT OF BROKE THE MOLD ON THAT THEORY THAT YOU NEED TO BE MORE SUCCESSFUL? “Yeah, I guess we have. That's what you typically think that more is better. Dodge has done a great job at supporting us. We've been able to accomplish a lot with them. For myself, in the three years I've been here, we've accomplished a lot. I know the relationship with Penske goes much farther than that. In a lot of ways I think it's not a bad thing to be the only Dodge team. We definitely get all the attention. I think there is a lot to be said for that. It's definitely different than some of the teams. Looking at Hendrick Motorsports, for instance, that does have a lot of teams to pull information from. But at the end of the day -- but this is the deal we're in. We've made the most of it, and I'm happy with where we're at.”

COMPARING YOU TO JIMMIE JOHNSON, A LOT OF PEOPLE SAY THEY’VE GOT FIVE CHAMPIONSHIPS AND ALL THIS EXPERIENCE. YOU AND BRAD HAVE WON A NATIONWIDE CHAMPIONSHIP TOGETHER. HOW DOES THIS COMPARE TO THE OTHER TITLES YOU GUYS WON IN THIS RUN? AND IS THERE ANYTHING YOU’VE LEARNED DURING THAT YEAR THAT YOU’VE BEEN ABLE TO SORT OF APPLY TO WHAT YOU HAVE NOW? “That's a tough one. Winning a championship at different levels is great. You'd like to think you've probably learned something along the way. There is nothing big that stands out. I think it's a whole other level from Nationwide to the Cup series. Our championship that year as we got down to the closing few races, we really had such a points lead that it wasn't like a battle that we had with the 48, per se. Can't really compare it a whole lot, really. It's something that's grown and just the communication between him and myself, obviously that's gotten stronger, and has made us a lot better as we continue down this path.

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE THINGS YOU DO DURING THE WEEK TO RELAX AND JUST KEEP YOURSELF BUSY? “Not a whole lot, to be honest with you. Our weeks are pretty short here. We're in meetings throughout the week, and preparing the race cars and with our busy travel schedule; we're flying out on Thursday. So there really hasn't been a whole lot of time to do much of anything just being around friends and family and make it nice. Obviously have a lot of nice people around me, and it definitely makes things a lot easier for sure.”

WITH SWITCHING TO FORD IN 2013, WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO AS CREW CHIEF, LIKE READ BOOKS OR STAY UP ON FORD? DO YOU HAVE TO DO THAT OR IS IT A PRETTY MUCH TRANSITION SINCE THE CARS ARE PRETTY MUCH THE SAME JUST

DIFFERENT BODY TYPES NEXT YEAR? “Well, there will be a few different things that we'll have to deal with. I think just some of the communication with the folks at Ford and how their support works and what support they have for the race teams and is it different than our relationship was with Dodge. There will be some transitioning there. But from the car side of it, I think this is obviously a great year for this to happen with everyone changing the bodies for 2013. It's going to be a whole new aero package for everyone. So I think that will definitely play into our favor for making this transition a lot easier. I don't see it being, you know -- the normal transition from the 2012 to 2013 car is more of a bigger challenge for us than necessarily going from the Dodge to the Ford.

YOU’VE KIND OF TOUCHED ON YOUR PAST, OBVIOUSLY, ALL THE EXPERIENCE IT’S TAKEN FOR YOU TO GET TO THIS POINT. WHAT DO YOU THINK PREPARES YOU MOST TO WEATHER THE CHAMPIONSHIP? “What prepares me most? The way we've approached this Chase this year, I think we said it from race one when we won at Chicago, was we were going to go into this Chase and we were going to be aggressive and do all the things that we did in the preseason to get us to the point where we were at. Some people might have believed it or not. But I think we showed that as we went throughout the Chase. We weren't going to change what we were doing. I think it's worked really well for us.

“I can't say that we've changed a whole lot or did things differently for this championship than we'd do any other week. So for me it I've tried to just stay focused on race to race and treat it like it's a regular season race. It seems to have worked pretty well for us.”

COULD YOU KIND OF DESCRIBE WHAT THE PENSKE RACING AND THE GARAGE OPERATION THAT THEY HAVE OVER THERE, HOW DOES THAT AFFECT YOUR TEAM? “Oh, I think it's great. When you look at all the success Penske Racing has had in Motorsports, not just on the NASCAR side, but all the different series and success and championships, things they've accomplished, it sets quite a standard. I think everybody respects what they've been able to accomplish here. If we could go on to win the Sprint Cup Championship, that would be really great. I feel like we've got as good a chance as anybody as we go into this weekend.”

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SRT Motorsports - Nationwide Advance - Homestead
November 14, 2012 , Auburn Hills, Mich. -

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.

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
Crew Chief: Chad Walter

Career Stats:
Starts: 65
Wins: 1
Top Fives: 11
Top 10s: 27
Poles: 1
Laps Led: 243

2012 Season Stats:
Starts: 32
Wins: 0
Top Fives: 9
Top 10s: 21
Poles: 1
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:
Starts: 12
Wins: 0
Top Fives: 1
Top 10s: 6
Poles: 0
Laps Led: 0

2012 Season Stats:
Starts: 12
Wins: 0
Top Fives: 1
Top 10s: 6
Poles: 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 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.

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

[rickaren]

SRT Motorsports - Sprint Cup Brad Keselowski Open Interview - Nov. 15
November 15, 2012 , Homestead, Fla. -

Brad Keselowski (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger R/T)
CAN YOU SPEAK TO HOW FAR YOU THINK YOU HAVE COME SINCE YOU STARTED WHEN DALE (EARNHARDT) JR. FOUND YOU? CAN YOU EXPAND ON HOW YOU THINK YOUR DEVELOPMENT HAS BEEN? “It’s been a long road from where I started to where I’m at right now. And I look at that and say if you evaluate drivers when they first come into the sport and say Tony Stewart and Jimmie Johnson are here. Look at a Ryan Blaney, let’s say, that’s a great example. He started out right here which is really good. He’s not at Jimmie’s and those guys level but he started out really high. I did not start out right there. I started out way down here and my success story is attributed to a constant desire to improve. That’s how I’ve got to where I’m at and that’s how I feel like I’ll continue to be successful, with a commitment to improvement every day. And I want to be better tomorrow than I was today and better in the future than I was tomorrow you know beyond that. So I think it’s that commitment that’s took me from that level to get up to here and I don’t know, maybe here is where I’ll top out or maybe I’ll fall down but I certainly didn’t start out as high as I would have liked to. And when I look at guys like Ryan Blaney and that’s what impresses me so much is that they’re starting out right here. If they can improve at the same level I’ve been able to improve, they’ll be way up here which is so impressive. For me, it’s been a long road.”

GIVEN HOW HARD YOU’VE HAD TO WORK TO GET TO THIS POINT, IF YOU DO WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP ON SUNDAY, WHAT WILL IT MEAN TO YOU? “It’s a question that’s a lot easier to answer specifically what it means to me after it’s been done and that’s to the benefit of hindsight. You know, I can speculate what it’s going to mean to me now but I really don’t know.”

YOU PROMISED ROGER (PENSKE) THAT YOU’D WIN HIM A CHAMPIONSHIP IF HE’D HIRE YOU. “Well, I won him one (laughs). I felt very confident that if Roger and I worked together that it was just a matter of time before we’d be successful, if we truly worked together, not just, you know, hire me, throw me in the seat and let’s go but truly work together with a common goal that I just talked about in the previous question. And I feel like that’s how we’ve been able to be successful.”

FROM THE INDYCAR SIDE, HOW MUCH CONTACT HAVE YOU HAD WITH SOME OF THOSE GUYS? “I haven’t spoken that much with the Indy guys. I saw Will (Power) a couple weeks ago but that’s about it. I mean they’ve got their own lives and things going on. They know how significant this is to RP, absolutely. I mean, they’ve got to (smiles).”

HOW DO YOU STAY AWAY FROM GUYS THAT YOU KNOW HAVE A GRUDGE? “How do you stay away from it? It’s not really easy. You just try not to give ‘em a reason to be mad (laughs) and you hope they can be adults about it and realize that’s it’s a different decade. But there are no guarantees of that.”

DO YOU RACE MORE CONSERVATIVELY? “Yeah, I mean, you’ve got to be careful about that. You’ve got to try to race everybody the same or bad things will happen to you in general. So, that’s kind of my rule of thumb.”

WHAT DO YOU GET OUT OF THE RAY LEWIS VIDEO? “What I like about Ray Lewis, I know he’s got a lot of people that don’t like him so I’m just going to preface it by saying I acknowledge that, but what I like about Ray Lewis is that he brings a level of passion that is really unparalleled in his sport and he’s successful because of it. It’s kind of this mix of old-school mental prep that just fascinates me. So I’ve read a lot about him and just constantly impressed by it. I want to bring that same level of passion and same level of intensity to NASCAR that’s he’s brought to his respective team in the NFL.”

BEFORE A RACE, WHEN WOULD YOU WATCH THE VIDEO? “Probably the night before. I don’t usually watch that kind of stuff on a race day. There’s too much going on.”

WHEN YOU WERE DOWN AT THAT LEVEL, WAS THERE A MOMENT WHEN YOU WERE DOWN AND REALLY THINKING THIS ISN’T GOING TO WORK OUT? “Oh, absolutely! Absolutely. There were plenty of moments where I thought I wasn’t going to make it. But Lord willing, I caught the opportunities and was able to capitalize on ‘em and progressed.”

YOU WERE ALMOST APOLOGIZING ON TWITTER FOR THE POST-RACE RANT THEN YOU HAD THIS WHOLE PHONE THING. HAVE THOSE BEEN GOOD DISTRACTIONS FOR YOU OR HAS IT BEEN ANNOYING? “I don’t really think they were either, to be honest. They’re just kind of neutral to me, other than the money, I’d really like to have that back (smiles). From that perspective, I didn’t really apologize, per se, for the remarks. I apologized for the vulgarity but the remarks I stand behind. And I believe, with a passion, that our sport needs a level in intensity that we saw at Phoenix. It needs that on the track in a battle for the win and a battle for position, not in a battle in the garage.”

HOW YOU GOTTEN ANY REACTION FROM OTHER DRIVERS? “Other than Dale Jr., I really haven’t seen anyone.”

DO YOU AGREE THAT A PHONE CAN BE USED TO DOWNLOAD INFORMATION? DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT THE REASONING IS BEHIND THAT RULE? “I see all sides for sure. It’s a tough situation because technology in this sport is obviously limited to allow the drivers to really showcase their talents. It’s a bit ironic the way this sport has developed over time. I think the sport doesn’t get the credit it deserves for the amount of technology that exits in it. People look at the car and think of that as a product of technology or think of that as the technology where the teams and the way the sport is set up, the car is a product of technology but not necessarily itself.

“Think of it this way. It’d be like holding up an iPhone versus looking at a skyscraper. The skyscraper doesn’t look that complex but if there’s a bunch of 3-D models and years of surveys and all sorts of technology involved in building the skyscraper, it actually may have more technology put into it. And so I guess that’s the analogy I’m trying to make is that in the sport the car itself is not really all that technological but the process of building it and so forth, there’s a ton of technology in the sport. So from that standpoint, it’s a bit ironic, you know, what you’re saying about the phone and I guess that’s how I look at it.”

YOU WEREN’T DOWNLOADING EFI DATA ON YOUR PHONE? “You have to understand how that system works to know that that’s not a possibility. With the technology that we have with the current system, it’s not possible. With technology in general, it is possible but not with the system that NASCAR utilizes.”

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO YOU THAT YOUR SUCCESS HAS BROUGHT KATHY PENSKE TO THE TRACK AND ON THE PIT BOX? “Kathy Penske being at the race track is really phenomenal because I think she knows how important this is to Roger and she doesn’t come to a lot of races but when she does come to a race we know (smiles). So it’s a showing of the whole family’s commitment that he has, shows how strong a base he has to be successful because he too has a family and a support system that’s very strong.”

CLEARLY JIMMIE WANTS YOU TO START THINKING ABOUT THINGS OTHER THAN WHAT YOU NEED TO BE THINKING ABOUT AS FAR AS THE CHAMPIONSHIP. HOW DO YOU BRUSH THAT OFF AND BASICALLY STICK TO THE BUSINESS AT HAND? “I mean, I think it’s pretty self-explanatory of what you just said that he has a motivation behind his comments that you know discredits them from creditability and that’s pretty easy to brush off.”

KEVIN HARVICK SAID THE SAME THING ABOUT THE DEATH WISH COMMENTS THEY WERE ALL TRYING TO GET TO YOU BECAUSE THEY KNOW YOU’RE A FORMITABLE OPPONENT FOR THEM NOW. “I don’t disagree with that. That’s probably part of my motivation to win.”

WOULD IT BE EASIER TO FOCUS IF JIMMIE WAS JUST TWO POINTS BEHIND? “Ask me how I felt when he blew a tire out at Phoenix and I think they’re expecting me to, you know, rah-rah about it. No, it’s quite the opposite of that. I was really disappointed because I want the pressure. I wanted the pressure. I don’t have a choice in the matter. I wanted the pressure of coming down here and having to win the race to win the championship because that’s the type of person I am. I want the ball. I want to be on the field on the last play with the ball thrown to me. And that’s what that moment is. So I guess that shows you that there’s definitely some pressure but I like it. I thrive in it, that’s what I want. Go look at the career opportunities I’ve had that I’ve succeeded in. They haven’t been any easier, you know.

“I can remember the first time I drove for Dale Jr. and some of the stuff he told me: don’t wreck the car or you’re out (smiles). I remember the first race I ran for Dale Jr. was in Chicago in 2007 and to this day, that race has the record for the most Cup drivers in it. And I had never run Chicago in my life. I had no idea what to expect and here I am in this car: don’t wreck it, make the show, run well, the most amount of Cup drivers ever (smiles). It was like, wow, now that was pressure. Moments like that make this not seem so bad. They also build up a level of confidence that I feel like this is quite a bit easier than those moments.”

HAVE YOU HAD A CONVERSATION WITH DALE JR. LATELY? “I had a beer with him the other night, one morning, however you want to do that, and that was great.”

WHAT DID YOU GUYS TALK ABOUT? “The wreck (laughs).”

HE’S BEEN VOCAL WHEN HE THOUGHT YOU GOT OUT OF HAND. “He says stuff that’s true himself and that’s why I think we respect each other because he knows I do the same.”

IT SEEMS THAT YOU HAVE HAD TO WRESTLE RESPECT FOR YOURSELF AWAY FROM SOME OF THESE DRIVERS. IS RESPECT EARNED OR IS RESPECT TAKEN? “Well, you know, I look at that situation and it’s a bit of a difficult question to answer because, to your credit, I would say at the Cup level I’ve been here not necessarily a short time but not a long time by any means when you compare to drivers I’m surrounded which is a product of the low turnover rate from the driver’s perspective. Naturally, I’m at the bottom of the pecking order. To be a championship driver, you can’t be at the bottom of the pecking order. You have to fight your way to the top and these guys just aren’t going to throw away their seat and allow you to get to the top of the pecking order. So certainly, to some extent, you have to take it. And the best way to take it is to have success over a period of time and then that comes with it. It’s in the nature of any competitive sport and I’m thankful and I’m happy for this, for the competitors to not like that because I want to beat you. I want to be the best and that’s what makes it so tough but that’s what also makes it so great and such an accomplishment. When you do have success is the fact that you know those guys don’t want to see you be successful. So you know, it’s with a grain of salt that I take those things because I know to some extent, it’s a validation of everything you’re doing and why participate in a sport.”