 |
 
All
things #12 into 2010 - follow us on Twitter |
and Facebook for
the latest photos and news!
35th-Place
Finish at Texas in Penske Racing Debut After Incident Damages
No. 12 Penske Dodge
Brad Keselowski
made his Penske Racing debut on Sunday afternoon at Texas
Motor Speedway with high expectations behind the wheel of
the No. 12 Penske Dodge. As the 25-year old talented racer
made his way towards the front of the NASCAR Cup Series field
in the Dickies 500, he was collected in an incident coming
out of turn 2, which effectively ended the hopes for a solid
finish by Keselowski and the Penske Dodge team.
 Making just his 13th Cup Series start of the season, Keselowski
took the green flag for the 500-mile event in the 35th position,
but it did not take the No. 12 team long to show it had a
machine capable of producing a strong result. Keselowski
radioed crew chief Roy McCauley early in the race to explain
that the car was handling a bit tight at both ends of the
1.5-mile speedway. The condition didn’t stop Keselowski
from passing the competition, however. By lap 80, he had
the Penske Dodge positioned in the 25th spot and was gaining
ground on the leaders with each lap.
When the caution flag was displayed to the field on lap 86,
the No. 12 crew geared up for a pit stop. Keselowski rolled
down pit lane on lap 89 for service and the team changed
four tires and filled the car with racing fuel. The crew
also made both chassis and air pressure adjustments as they
tried to dial in the car’s handling for the next green
flag run.
By lap 100, the No. 12 Penske Dodge Charger was racing inside
the top-25 and Keselowski began using the high line on the
track to move towards the front. He informed the team that
the adjustments helped the car, but it still had a tight-handling
condition.
Keselowski was undeterred and was once again on a march towards
the front. By lap 150, he had the No. 12 running inside the
top-20 and posting lap times as fast as the leaders. Keselowski’s
car came to life after 15 laps and he was on a tear past
the competition. He rode the white line at the bottom of
the high-banked speedway in turns 1 and 2 and then ran the
high groove through turns 3 and 4.
On lap 174, the car driven by Carl Edwards spun coming out
of turn 2 and made contact with the outside wall. Keselowski
did all he could to avoid the incident, but unfortunately
the Penske Dodge clipped the No. 99 machine, which caused
significant damage to the right front fender of the No. 12.
The damage was too extensive to repair on pit lane, so Keselowski
took his machine to the garage area. There, the No. 12 team
worked feverishly to repair the car so it could return to
the racing surface.
Keselowski did rejoin the race and he picked up two valuable
positions over the remainder of the event to cross the finish
line in 35th place. Penske Racing teammate Kurt Busch reached
Victory Lane as he captured his second win of the 2009 season,
while contact brought an early end to Sam Hornish Jr.’s
race as he finished 40th on the day.
NEXT UP
Keselowski and the No. 12 Penske Dodge team moves
to Phoenix International Raceway for the second-to-last race
of the 2009 season. The Checker O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 will
be seen live on Sunday, November 15 on ABC-TV. Race coverage
is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. ET. The event will also
be heard live on MRN Radio as well as Sirius Satellite Radio,
channel 128.
|
|
“ I thought we did a good job today with our Penske Dodge,” commented
Keselowski after his first race for the team. “We were caught up in a wreck
that took our right front fender off. I think we had a top-15 car, but just got
caught up in the wrong spot at the wrong time. That’s racing. I am really
proud of all my guys.
Congratulations to Kurt [Busch] and the Miller Lite team.
That’s a great win for the 2 car and our entire organization. They definitely
had a great car tonight.”
Brad
Keselowski Dickies 500 Statistics
Start: 35
Finish: 35
Laps: 262/334
Laps Led: 0
Status: Running
|
 |
