NEWS & NOTES
FIRST TIME AT KANSAS: Brad Keselowski will attempt to make his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start at Kansas Speedway this weekend driving the No. 25 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. The 25-year-old earned a sixth-place finish there in the September 2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series event, his only previous start at the 1.5-mile racetrack.
THIS SEASON: Keselowski, who is splitting time this season qualifying Sprint Cup Chevrolets for Hendrick Motorsports and Phoenix Racing, has recorded one win, one top-five finish and three top-10s in nine Cup attempts. In his most recent outing with Hendrick Motorsports, Keselowski started 12th and climbed his way into the top 10 by Lap 143 at Michigan International Speedway. The No. 25 team gambled on fuel mileage, and Keselowski finished 24th.
DOUBLE DUTY WEEKEND: Keselowski also will drive the No. 88 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports this weekend when he lines up for Saturday’s Nationwide Series event. Keselowski is ranked third in that series’ driver standings and is coming off of a third-place finish at Dover (Del.) International Speedway last weekend.
ONE MORE TO GO: Keselowski will make his final attempt to qualify Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 25 Chevy this season on Oct. 17 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. In his seven career Cup starts for Hendrick Motorsports dating back to 2008, Keselowski has one top-10 finish.
CHASSIS CHOICE: Crew chief Tony Eury Jr. has chosen Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 25-537 for this weekend’s event at Kansas Speedway. This is the same car that Keselowski raced to a seventh-place finish at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway earlier this season.
HENDRICK AT KANSAS: Hendrick Motorsports, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, has scored three wins, nine top-five finishes, 15 top-10s and led 535 laps in eight Cup events (34 starts) at Kansas Speedway. A Hendrick driver has led at least one lap in all eight Cup events that have been held at the track.
QUOTES
BRAD KESELOWSKI, DRIVER, NO. 25 GODADDY.COM CHEVROLET (ON KANSAS.): “I really think that Kansas is the place we can break out and get a solid finish in this GoDaddy.com Chevy. We have definitely shown some strength at the last couple of races I’ve competed in for Hendrick Motorsports. We just don’t have the finishes to back that up. At both Michigan and Chicago we had top-10 runs going but didn’t finish that way for one reason or another. I’m confident that Tony Jr. (Eury Jr., crew chief) will have this car ready to go, and I’m excited to get out there on the track and see what we can do.”
KESELOWSKI (ON CHEERING THE MICHIGAN WOLVERINES FOOTBALL TEAM THIS SEASON.): “Michigan is having a great start to the season, and I’m lucky that I’ve been able to watch them quite a bit in my coach before races. They had to peel me out of there last week to get to driver intros on time. I actually got to go to a game up at the Big House on the Nationwide Series off weekend two weeks ago. I watched the game from the press box and got the chance to talk to Lloyd Carr and coach Rod (Rich Rodriguez) after the game. I reminded coach about my prediction of nine wins when I was up there for camp, and I think they are well on their way to achieving that.”
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