CUP DEBUT: Brad Keselowski will attempt to put his No. 25 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet in the Bank of America 500 field during Thursday evening’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series qualifying session at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Should he be successful, Keselowski will make his first-ever Sprint Cup Series start Saturday night.
FIRST OF TWO: Car owner Rick Hendrick will enter Keselowski and the No. 25 GoDaddy.com team in two Sprint Cup races this season—Saturday night’s Bank of America 500 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway and the Nov. 2 Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. Hendrick Motorsports won both events in 2007.
RETURN OF THE 25: The Bank of America 500 will mark the return of the No. 25 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, which most recently was fielded in the 2007 Sprint Cup season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway with driver Casey Mears. Hendrick Motorsports ran the No. 25 Chevy full time from 1986-2007, winning 17 races with drivers Tim Richmond (nine victories), Ken Schrader (four), Jerry Nadeau (one), Joe Nemechek (one), Brian Vickers (one) and Mears (one).
HE’S GOT COMPANY: Two of Keselowski’s Hendrick Motorsports teammates also made their Cup-level debuts at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Dale Earnhardt Jr. kicked off his Sprint Cup career at the Concord, N.C., track on May 30, 1999, by starting eighth and finishing 16th. Two seasons later, Jimmie Johnson qualified 15th at LMS for his first Cup race on Oct. 7, 2001. Now a two-time Sprint Cup champion, Johnson went on to finish 39th after an accident.
McGREW ON THE BOX: Veteran crew chief Lance McGrew will call the shots for Keselowski and the No. 25 GoDaddy.com team at Lowe’s Motor Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway. McGrew, who has been successful working with young drivers like Brian Vickers and Kyle Busch, is a former Sprint Cup Series race winner and Nationwide Series champion.
TESTING, TESTING: The No. 25 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet team participated in the Sept. 23-24 Sprint Cup open test at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Keselowski posted the 12th-best lap time of the two-day session at 29.250 seconds and 184.615 mph. Teammate Jeff Gordon was quickest overall at 28.841 seconds and 187.233 mph.
EXPERIENCED ROOKIE: The Lowe’s Motor Speedway test hardly was Keselowski’s first time in a Sprint Cup car. The young driver has logged hundreds of laps in the new Chevrolet Impala SS by testing with Hendrick Motorsports’ research and development team. The experience also has allowed Keselowski to develop a strong relationship with McGrew, who helps guide Hendrick’s R&D efforts.
KESELOWSKI AT LOWE’S: Keselowski, 24, has made five career NASCAR starts at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. He has run four Nationwide Series races at the track, where most recently he led 25 laps and finished third in May. Keselowski has one NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series start at LMS, which came on May 20, 2005 when he finished 24th.
CHASSIS 441: McGrew has selected Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 25-441 for this week’s Sprint Cup activities at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. The Impala SS, which formerly was used by the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports team and since has been completely rebuilt, was tested Sept. 23-24 at LMS. As a No. 24 Chevrolet, the car posted top-five results in its only two Sprint Cup races—at Loudon, N.H., in June 2007 (finished second) and Richmond, Va., in September 2007 (finished fourth). It qualified eighth at Loudon and second at Richmond.
HENDRICK AT LOWE’S: Hendrick Motorsports has posted a record 15 Sprint Cup Series victories at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, including wins in seven of the most recent 11 races there. Hendrick-owned teams also have earned 13 pole positions, 45 top-five finishes and 67 top-10s at LMS.
QUOTES
BRAD KESELOWSKI, DRIVER OF THE NO. 25 GODADDY.COM CHEVROLET (ON RUNNING IN BOTH THE NATIONWIDE AND SPRINT CUP SERIES ON THE SAME WEEKEND.): “I think it’s a mental challenge going between the two cars because they drive so much different, but the big thing is the track itself. You get to learn a lot about it. You get to see how it changes with the temperature. You know the track is constantly changing, not only with temperature, but the way the tires lay rubber into it. You get to learn a lot about the track, so I think it’s an advantage all in all.”
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