LET’S TRY THIS AGAIN: Brad Keselowski will attempt to put the No. 25 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet in the Dickies 500 field during Friday afternoon’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series qualifying session at Texas Motor Speedway. Should he be successful, Keselowski will make his first-ever Sprint Cup start on Sunday. The 24-year-old driver was scheduled to attempt his first Cup race Oct. 11 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway before qualifying was canceled due to inclement weather.
HOMESTEAD ADDED: Keselowski will attempt two Sprint Cup Series events for car owner Rick Hendrick this season. In addition to Texas, Hendrick Motorsports will enter the No. 25 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet team in the Nov. 16 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The Homestead race was added to Keselowski’s Cup schedule this week as a replacement for the Lowe’s Motor Speedway rainout.
RETURN OF THE 25: The Dickies 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).
25 NUMEROLOGY: In his seven NASCAR starts at Texas Motor Speedway, Keselowski has logged 1,025 competitive laps in the Nationwide Series (602) and Craftsman Truck Series (423) combined. He started and finished 25th in his first-ever race there—the June 11, 2004, O’Reilly 400K NCTS event. And with a strong run in the Nationwide Series or Sprint Cup Series this weekend, Keselowski has the opportunity to record his 25th top-10 finish in NASCAR.
NOT HIS FIRST RODEO: Although he has yet to start a Cup race at Texas, Keselowski has quite a bit of experience there. The Rochester Hills, Mich., native has recorded seven NASCAR starts at TMS in the Nationwide Series (four starts) and Craftsman Truck Series (three starts) combined. He has that many starts at only one other racetrack on the Sprint Cup schedule: Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., where he has run five times in the Nationwide Series and twice in the Craftsman Truck Series.
McGREW ON THE BOX: Veteran crew chief Lance McGrew will call the shots for Keselowski and the No. 25 GoDaddy.com team at Texas Motor Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway. McGrew, who has been successful working with young drivers like Ricky Hendrick, Brian Vickers and Kyle Busch, is a former Sprint Cup Series race winner and Nationwide Series champion.
CHASSIS 441: McGrew has selected Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 25-441 for this week’s Sprint Cup activities at Texas 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 Lowe’s Motor Speedway. 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.
THIS YEAR: Keselowski has been impressive this year running the No. 88 Chevrolet in Nationwide Series competition for JR Motorsports. Nearing the end of his first full Nationwide Series season, Keselowski sits third in championship points with two victories, one pole position, 10 top-five finishes and 18 top-10s in 32 races.
HENDRICK AT TEXAS: Hendrick Motorsports has posted two wins, three pole positions, 14 top-five finishes and 22 top-10s at Texas Motor Speedway. “Texas” Terry Labonte went to Victory Lane there in 1999, and Jimmie Johnson won last year’s running of the Dickies 500.
QUOTES
BRAD KESELOWSKI, DRIVER, NO. 25 GODADDY.COM CHEVROLET (ON TEXAS.): “I have some experience at Texas, and I’ve run well pretty much every time I’ve been there. Had some trouble with the trucks with equipment failures and a little bit when I started out with the Nationwide car. But the last few times I’ve been there in the Nationwide Series, I felt very comfortable. We had some strong runs and a chance to win there last fall, but it just didn’t work out. I feel confident going there with Lance McGrew and the No. 25 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet. He’s gone there and ran up front and been competitive. I think those style tracks are some of my strengths with the way you drive into the corner and the way you roll the center. I’m looking for good things to come out of it.”
KESELOWSKI (ON THE APPLICATION OF LOWE’S TESTING TO TEXAS.): “The biggest thing about the Lowe’s Motor Speedway test has nothing to do with the track, and that’s building chemistry between the team and myself. There’s a few things you can take away. The track size and the way the car deaccelerates—those kinds of things are the same. Texas is more of a one-groove track than Lowe’s is. I think you saw that you can move around a little more at Lowe’s. I’m not sure if that’s going to develop at Texas or not. That will be a little different, but the biggest thing is the people and building the chemistry.”
KESELOWSKI (ON THE MENTAL ASPECT OF QUALIFYING BEING RAINED OUT AT LOWE’S MOTOR SPEEDWAY.): “One of the benefits that I have, coming in being 24 years old versus being 19 or 20 years old, is that I’ve seen some of this before. I’ve seen it happen to other guys and seen how it worked out just fine for them. It’s not the end of the world, and not getting to qualify at Lowe’s is just part of paying your dues. It’s not something I’ve lost any sleep over. I’ve just looked forward to going to Texas. I think preparation-wise that I’m more prepared than I’ve ever been, and I feel like the cars are more prepared than they’ve ever been. It’s not anything that’s worried me or anything I’ve lost any sleep over.”
KESELOWSKI (ON GAINING INSIGHT DURING MEETINGS WITH HIS TEAMMATES.): “Being a rookie, the talent and the depth at Hendrick Motorsports strengthens my position. It’s added input. It’s a fresh perspective. The perspective they have is obviously one that’s working. I think you look at Jimmie (Johnson), who has been very successful at Texas over the years and this season, and Dale (Earnhardt Jr.), who qualified on the pole last spring. All that advice—those perspectives are sitting there on the table, and it’s there for you to grab and to learn from and use. I’m very fortunate to have them as teammates.”
KESELOWSKI (ON QUALIFYING ON HALLOWEEN.): “I think it’s cool. It will be interesting to see if any of the fans dress up. I’m sure some of the guys will pull pranks on me. But I’m looking forward to it. I think that’s going to be cool. Qualifying on Halloween night for my first Cup start? That’s cool.”
LANCE McGREW, CREW CHIEF, NO. 25 GODADDY.COM CHEVROLET (ON WORKING WITH BRAD KESELOWSKI.): “He’s a young, talented race car driver. It’s been nice to get him in the R&D car quite a few times this second half of the season and get some laps with him in the Sprint Cup Series car. He’s good. He’s definitely good. He’s very talented and very good with feedback. Coming from his background, he definitely has a wide knowledge of how the cars go together and how they’re supposed to work, which is very helpful when he’s diagnosing issues or telling me what they’re doing. He’s very descriptive. Coming from his family and what they’ve accomplished in racing, it’s very helpful.”
McGREW (ON WHAT SETS KESELOWSKI APART FROM OTHER YOUNG DRIVERS.): “He’s all about racing. All he’s worried about is going fast and making the right moves in his career and trying not to step back.”
McGREW (ON HOW LOWE’S MOTOR SPEEDWAY TESTING WILL AFFECT THE TEAM’S GAMEPLAN FOR TEXAS.): “The tracks are similar, but they’re not that similar. The bank angle is the same and the loading is relatively the same. The track at Texas is very bumpy. The transitions into the corners are way different than Lowe’s. But Texas is a place Brad chose. He felt real confident in how he gets around that place, and he likes the racetrack, which helps. With our teammates at Hendrick, we have a wealth of background information we can dig through, and a couple of our cars were very good there in the spring. So we’re looking at that information, plus the things that Hendrick Motorsports is doing now. We feel pretty confident.”
McGREW (ON HOW HE SEES KESELOWSKI LEAN ON HIS CUP TEAMMATES.): “As we’ve done the testing, I’ve worked with all of them so it’s pretty easy for me to go to them if I have a question. But with Brad, I’ve seen him talking with those guys and go to a couple of the debriefing meetings and understand what goes on and take in the information and adjust something that he’s doing. It’s always a benefit when you’ve got multiple-time champions giving you advice.”
McGREW (ON WORKING WITH YOUNG DRIVERS.): “I guess I have more of a mentoring personality. Everyone seems to feel like I do a good job of working with young guys, and when you have the opportunity to do that, you jump at it. Brad is very open to any sort of idea or information that I want to give him. The old, salty veterans tend to clam up a little bit when it comes to that stuff. They’re very open-minded when you say, ‘Hey, I think you should look at this,’ or ‘Hey, don’t worry about that.’ They listen. And once you gain that level of trust with them, everything you say is the gospel.”
McGREW (ON WHAT HAS GONE INTO FIELDING THE NO. 25.): “It was a previous (No.) 24 car, so those guys in both the Cup shops (Nos. 24/48 and 5/88) have helped us tremendously in acquiring parts and pieces. We actually did the fab work in the 24/48 shop and the body work in the 5/88 shop. It’s been a distraction to those guys, which I’ve hated because I know they’re in the middle of a Chase run. We’ve relied on those guys a lot, and they’ve come up with lots of pieces and parts for us. Without a doubt, we couldn’t do what we’ve done without them.”
McGREW (ON WHAT KESELOWSKI SHOULD BE FOR HALLOWEEN.): “A first-time Sprint Cup driver. That would be good.”
