 Keselowski
Finishes 13th in First Career Cup Race at Bristol
BRISTOL,
Tenn. (March 21, 2010)
Brad Keselowski, driver of the
No. 12 Penske Dodge Charger in the NASCAR Cup Series, finished
13th in the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday.
The first-year Penske Racing driver capitalized on great
pit strategy to keep his car in position for a potential
top-10 finish in his first career series start at the .533-mile
oval.
Rain showers were in the forecast for the Bristol area
on Sunday. They would become a factor before the end of the
event as the race would be halted twice for a total of 40
laps.
 Keselowski took the green flag Sunday afternoon from
the 36th position after a near-spin during the Friday qualifying
session. However, crew chief Jay Guy devised a game plan
that would allow the team to gain crucial track position
and he began to execute it under the first caution period
on lap 40. While many of the competitors chose to come down
pit road, Keselowski remained on the track and he would restart
the event from the top spot in the running order on lap 46.
Despite having older tires on his Dodge Charger, Keselowski
was able to keep his car inside the top-10 until his first
pit stop on lap 116. He radioed to Guy that the No. 12 Dodge
was handling tight in the center of both ends of the track
and the crew made a small air pressure adjustment to allow
the car to turn better.
The first caution flag for rain fell
at lap 126 with Keselowski running in the eighth position.
He continued his strong top-10 run when the race resumed
and over the next 100 laps he displayed the necessary "give
and take" attitude needed to have success at the tight BMS
oval.
After restarting the race following a lap 204 caution,
Keselowski called to t he pits to describe a continued tight-handling
condition on his Penske Dodge Charger. This issue would result
in Keselowski falling outside of the top-10 while the crew
began to diagnose the problem. Several adjustments had no
effect on the chassis and Keselowski dropped to 19th in the
running order, his lowest position since the start of the
race.
The team dodged potential disaster as a 13-car accident
in Turn 3 happened directly in front of Keselowski on lap
343. He was able to drive through the melee while only suffering
minor body damage to the right side of his Dodge Charger.
Fearing that he may have "flat-spotted" his tires while navigating
the spinning cars, Keselowski brought his car down pit road
for his fifth pit stop of the day. Air pressure adjustments
by Guy and the team proved to be the right call as Keselowski
began marching back towards the top-10 following the lap
358 restart.
Rain reappeared over BMS on lap 390 and, once
again, Keselowski remained on the track while most of the
other drivers visited pit lane. This would give Keselowski
the top spot for the second time and it looked as though
there was a chance that the race would be called early due
to rain and Keselowski would make the trip to Victory Lane.
However, the skies cleared and racing resumed on lap 411.
As the laps wound down, Keselowski's worn tires placed him
at a disadvantage to the cars with fresher rubber. Seeing
a chance to gain position before the checkered flag, Guy
called his driver down pit lane for the final time for a
two-tire stop under a lap 482 caution. However, Keselowski
was not able to hold his position inside the top-10 and fell
back to 13th place at the conclusion of the race.
Penske
Racing teammates Kurt Busch and Sam Hornish, Jr. finished
third and 32nd, respectively. F
ollowing the fifth race of
the season, Keselowski is ranked 30th in the 2010 NASCAR
Cup Series driver point standings.
The No. 12 Penske Dodge team will remain close to its home base of Mooresville,
N.C. for next weekend's Goody's Fast Pain Relief 500 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.
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RACE
REPORT
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR PIT STRATEGY? "Jay (Guy, crew chief) called a great race.
We had a lot of fight in our team today. Taking two tires isn't something that
you want to do, but we had to roll the dice to try and gain the track position
that we needed. We got a yellow flag when we needed it that got us track position
up front. You never want to be up front on older tires, but sometimes you have
to bit the bullet and just do it and live with your call.
That's just part of
the game and just ran really well today."
WITH ALL THE ATTENTION WITH YOU AND THE 99, CAN YOU TALK ABOUT HOW IMPORTANT
IT WAS FOR YOU TO HAVE A GOOD RUN TODAY? "It's good to run well here especially
considering that it was my first time in a COT here in Bristol. We ran up front.
We were competitive. I got a decent finish out of it and brought our Penske Dodge
home in one piece. It feels great."
JAY
GUY (Crew Chief, No. 12 Dodge Charger) "A great solid points day for the Penske
Dodge. It's just a relief to see all three Cup cars running so strong. I know
the 77 had some problems late in the race, but he was fast all day. We got Brad
some track position and that's what we needed. We just had a good, smart solid
day. We tried not to put ourselves in a position to knock ourselves out of the
race and it paid off. Brad did a great job.
The pit crew did a great job. It's
a good finish for Bristol. All the Penske cars have been running well all year.
We (12 car) haven't had the results that we needed. The 2 car is running great.
We're making progress every week and that's a great sign. I'm proud of Brad (Keselowski)
today. He ran a great race and really showed a lot of maturity out there. He's
a smart racer; a very calculated racer. I think that he did a really good job
today."
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