Category: XFINITY Series

HEADING TO ‘DEGA: Elliott Sadler heads to Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway with only two NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) starts at the 2.66-mile superspeedway, but that doesn’t mean he lacks experience at the track. The 16-year NASCAR veteran has 23 Cup Series starts at Talladega, and has completed a combined total of 4,242 laps (11,283 miles) around the Alabama circuit. In his 25 combined series starts, Sadler has led 125 laps, and has earned three Cup Series pole awards.

GOING TO THE FRONT: After six races in 2011, Sadler sits fourth in the NASCAR Nationwide Series Driver’s Point Standings. Since the season opener at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway, Sadler has gained more positions in the point standings than any other driver. Following his involvement in “The Big One” at Daytona, Sadler was mired in 27th place with only six points. Over the course of the past five races, Sadler has improved 23 positions, and is now only 30 points outside of first place and six markers behind third place.

AUTISM AWARENESS MONTH: During the month of April, Sadler and the rest of the NASCAR community will celebrate Autism Awareness month. Sadler, whose niece was diagnosed with Autism a few years ago, started the Hermie and Elliott Sadler foundation which raises funds to help educate those who have children that are affected by the spectrum disease which reportedly affects 1 in every 110 children in the United States.

CHASSIS HISTORY: The No. 2 OneMain Financial team will be utilizing chassis No. 073 this weekend at Talladega. No. 073 is a new chassis built by the KHI team for competition this season.

PREVIOUS RACE RECAP: Elliott Sadler scored his third consecutive top-five finish of 2011 in the O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 at Texas Motor Speedway. After fighting with a very loose-handling racecar for more than half of the 300 mile race, Sadler and the No. 2 OneMain Financial team improved the handling of the car, rallying to finish fifth and move up to fourth in the NASCAR Nationwide Series Driver’s Point Standings.

THOUGHTS FROM THE DRIVER: Elliott Sadler

How do you feel going into the race at Talladega Superspeedway?

“It’s kind of a crapshoot race. You’ve got to be lucky, and you’ve got to have great teammates. We showed in Daytona that we had a really fast racecar. We were involved in a wreck and weren’t able to run the entire race there, so going to Talladega our goal is to run the entire race, and stay close to our teammates. You’re going to see the two car draft again just like we saw in Daytona, so our plan is to stay hooked up to a partner the entire race and hopefully stay out of trouble. It’s the one wild card race of the year where a lot of times your fate is not in your hands. Hopefully we’ll have some good luck and make it all the way to the end.”

Media Access: Members of the media can now log on to www.kevinharvickinc.com to gain access to press kit information online. For more information, please email Jessica Trippy at KHI at jtrippy@kevinharvickinc.com.

CitiFinancial

CitiFinancial, soon to be OneMain Financial, is the premier community lender in North America. With more than 1,300 locations across the United States. CitiFinancial has been serving communities since 1912. Additional information may be found at www.citifinancial.com.

Citi

Citi, the leading global financial services company, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 140 countries. Through Citicorp and Citi Holdings, Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management. Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com or www.citi.com.

Top-Finishing Championship Contender Jumps Three Spots In Driver Points

FORT WORTH, Texas (April 9, 2011) – Elliott Sadler scored his third consecutive top-five finish of 2011 in the O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 at Texas Motor Speedway Friday night. After fighting with a very loose-handling racecar for more than half of the 300 mile race, Sadler and the No. 2 OneMain Financial team improved the handling of the car, rallying to finish fifth and move up to fourth in the NASCAR Nationwide Series Driver’s Point Standings.

After taking the green flag from the third position, Sadler immediately relayed to crew chief Ernie Cope that the No. 2 Chevrolet Impala was turning way too loosely. The race progressed without a caution for over 50 laps, so Sadler remained on track, slipping back to the fifth position. On lap 51, Sadler brought the car down pit road in a green-flag pit cycle, taking four tires, fuel, an air-pressure adjustment and a chassis adjustment. Unfortunately, the car’s condition did not improve with the adjustments.

The first caution flag of the night waved on lap 69 for a spin in turn two and Sadler was scored in the 11th position. Cope used the opportunity to bring the No. 2 back to pit road and make wholesale changes to the OneMain Financial machine. In an effort to continue improving the handling of the KHI machine, Cope called for four tires, fuel, spring rubbers and shock, air-pressure and major chassis adjustments.

Taking the green flag on lap 74 in the 12th position, Sadler immediately relayed that the car was still extremely loose and that the changes did not improve the car’s condition. A yellow on lap 89 allowed Sadler to bring the No. 2 down pit road for a third time, opting for further chassis and spring rubber adjustments. Restarting on lap 94 in 16th, Sadler stated that the car was “wicked loose.” By the race’s halfway point, the car was improving slightly, but Sadler continued to run 15th. The third and final caution flag of the night waved on lap 124, and Sadler brought the No. 2 Chevrolet to pit road for four tires, fuel and chassis adjustments. An excellent pit stop delivered by the KHI crew put Sadler in 11th place when green-flag racing resumed.

The final round of adjustments made a major difference in the handling of the No. 2 Chevrolet, and Sadler began his march to the front of the pack. By lap 164, Sadler was sixth, running lap times similar to the leaders. On lap 176, Sadler brought the No. 2 to pit road under green for the final pit stop of the evening. The team quickly changed four tires and filled the car with enough fuel to make it to the checkered flag. Sadler was once again running sixth as pit stops cycled through. With 10 laps remaining, Sadler broke into the top-five, running fifth when he crossed the finish line.

“I am so proud of this team tonight, this finish was all because of them,” said Sadler following the race. “We were so incredibly loose at the beginning and we just kept adjusting on it until we got it right. The guys were really fast on our final pit stop under green, and that’s what put us in the position to finish in the top five. It just shows how much our team has progressed. We’ve gained more positions in the points than any other team since Daytona, and we just keep getting better. I’m so grateful that Kevin and DeLana [Harvick] have given me such awesome equipment and such a great team so I can run up front each and every week.”

The Nationwide Series returns to action next weekend at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway on April 16th for the Aaron’s 312.

CHINA GROVE, N.C. (April 9, 2011) – Robert Richardson, Jr. and the No. 23 Wildlife Conservation Society Dodge team of R3 Motorsports had a daunting task ahead of them at Texas Motor Speedway on Friday night.

First, they needed to qualify in on time after being ranked 32nd in the Owner’s Standings coming into the race. Once that was achieved, they then needed to race their way back into the top-30 with a good finish.

When the green flag waved over the 1.5-mile oval of TMS as the sun was setting, Richardson vaulted from 43rd to 31st on the first lap. From there, he and the Walter Giles-led team worked to get the car better and better with an eye on a good finish.

After the first green-flag stop on lap 47 for tires, fuel, air pressure and chassis adjustments, Richardson returned to action with better lap times. Just 20 laps later, it looked like disaster struck as the native of nearby McKinney, Texas spun the No. 23 Dodge off of Turn 2.

As the car headed for the inside wall, Richardson applied the proper amount of brakes and steering to avoid making contact and damaging the car. With four flat tires, he limped the car back to pit road for attention.

Great work by the R3 Motorsports crew to replace all the tires, check for any damage and get their driver back into action paid off as they didn’t lose a lap on pit road. When the race resumed, Richardson was now in 33rd place.

The rest of the race was pretty uneventful for Richardson and team as they made a fuel-only pit stop, wave arounds, good changes on other stops and good driving to move up the scoring chart. When all was said and down, they left TMS with a 26th-place finish and moved up two positions in the Owner’s Points to 30th – mission accomplished.

That means they are locked in for this weekend’s race at Talladega Superspeedway and don’t have to endure the “go or go home” situation they did in Texas. And, the finish also moved Richardson up to 22nd in the Driver’s Standings, only nine markers out of 20th place.

Robert Richardson, Jr. quotes: “Man, I can’t even begin to tell you what it’s like to go through what we did this weekend. Having to qualify in on time just sucks; that’s about as nice as I can say that, folks.

“That spin there was pretty scary at first, but once I realized it was going to happen I knew what I had to do to save it, too. I just got up too high there in the turn and couldn’t save it once I got up in the marbles there. Great job by the crew getting us back out and not losing a lap there on pit road. The rest of the race was just spent getting the car better off of the turns and earning positions.

“I would have liked a much better showing on my home track, but we’ll take what we have here and get ready for Talladega knowing we’re good to go for qualifying. This allows up to concentrate on race set ups and drafting during the practices. I love ‘Dega racing.”

HORNISH FINISHES 16TH IN ALLIANCE TRUCK PARTS DODGE AT TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

FT. WORTH, Texas (April 8, 2011) – Sam Hornish Jr., driver of the No. 12 Alliance Truck Parts Dodge Challenger in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, finished 16th in the O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 at Texas Motor Speedway on Friday night. Hornish had a car capable of a top-10 finish, but a mid-race wheel issue put him a lap down and ended his chance for strong result.

Hornish started from the 16th position after turning a lap of 30.780 seconds around the 1.5-mile high-banked oval at an average speed of 175.439 miles per hour to qualify 16th on the grid. Early in the race, the Defiance, Ohio native reported that the No. 12 Dodge was running way too free in the corners.

Crew chief Chad Walter and the Alliance Auto Parts team made adjustments throughout the race, but the constantly-changing track conditions proved to be a challenge. Despite a car that was difficult to drive, Hornish ran much of the first half of the race inside the top-15 in the running order.

At the halfway point of the race, Hornish was running in the 13th position when he felt a vibration on the Alliance Truck Parts Challenger and he had to make a green-flag stop for four new Goodyear tires. The unscheduled pit stop put Hornish one lap down to the race leaders. Initially, the problem was believed to have been a cut tire on the No. 12, but the problem proved to be a loose wheel.

Hornish remained on track during the next caution period to get his lap back, but the next green flag run was extended and the Alliance Truck Parts car had to make another green-flag stop and subsequently fell one lap down once again.

As the laps wound down, Hornish was able to make up some ground and went on to finish the race in the 16th position, positioned one lap down to the leaders.

“Being out of the car as long as I was (since Daytona), we had some ups and downs tonight,” said Hornish Jr. “I feel like we had a car that we definitely could have brought home in the top-10 if not the top-five. We had a wheel issue and had to pit which had us off sequence. We could never get it back. That’s one of the interesting things about the Nationwide Series – we only have five sets of tires. That dictates some of the strategy. That’s what happens sometimes. I’m really proud of all the guys that work on the Alliance Truck Parts Dodge and I look forward to next week, racing two weekends in a row.”

Hornish and the No. 12 Alliance Truck Parts Dodge Challenger will next compete in the Aaron’s 312 at Talladega Superspeedway next Saturday, April 16. The event will be air live on ESPN2 at 3:00 PM ET. The race will also be heard on the Performance Racing Network and Sirius Satellite Radio Channel 128.

###

Sam Hornish Jr. O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 Race Statistics

Start: 16

Finish: 16

Laps: 149/150

Laps Led: 0

Status: Running

Points Position: 33rd

MUSTANG WINS FIRST NASCAR NATIONWIDE RACE

. Mustang added another series victory to its 47-year racing resume with today’s first NASCAR-sanctioned race win as Carl Edwards took home the checkered flag in the O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 at Texas Motor Speedway in Ft. Worth, Texas.

JAMIE ALLISON, Director Ford Motorsports – “A historic moment today by Mustang … We are all proud of Mustang first win in NASCAR Nationwide race. This victory by Carl Edwards puts his name into the record books among the many great drivers who have won in Mustangs since it debuted in 1964. It was always said Mustang was ‘born to race,’ and this victory, along with the victories Mustang has won in drag racing, sports car racing and rally racing over the years, just further proves that point.”

Other Mustang Motorsports Milestones: . A little more than a month after its April 17 introduction, Mustang was on the race track as a pace car leading the 1964 Indianapolis 500. Before the year was out, Mustang was a winner in competition, finishing first and second in class in the 1964 Tour de France international rally.

. By 1965, Ford was involved with cars competing in the National Hot Rod Association’s Factory Experimental, or A/FX class, as the 427-cubic-inch single overhead cam V-8 made a potent powerplant in Holman & Moody’s A/FX Mustangs. Ten of these Mustangs were built, and five of them qualified in the Factory Stock Eliminator field at the ’65 NHRA Winternationals. Bill Lawton drove his Tasca Ford Mustang A/FX to victory in the car’s very first race.

. In 1965, Carroll Shelby, responding to Ford’s challenge to build a winning road racing program, introduced the Mustang GT-350 – a stripped down Mustang 2+2 with modified suspension, shocks, steering, brakes and Ford 289-cubic-inch V-8s – for Sports Car Club of America competition. Jerry Titus, Bob Johnson and Mark Donohue drove GT-350s to national titles in 1965, and the GT-350 went on to win SCCA B-Production national championships for three straight years.

. To performance enthusiasts, 1969 was dominated by the hottest Mustangs ever – 428 Mach 1, Boss 429 and Boss 302. Three modified examples of this fearsome threesome were taken to the Bonneville Salt Flats in search of speed records. Driven by Mickey Thompson, Danny Ongais, Ray Brock and Bob Ottum, they collected 295 United States Auto Club-certified records, including a 24-hour run on a 10-mile course at an average speed of 157 miles an hour.

. In 1970, Bud Moore’s team raced against one of the most competitive Trans-Am fields of all time with six factory teams. Parnelli Jones and George Follmer fulfilled the promise of a year earlier by winning six races and the manufacturers’ championship as Jones took the drivers’ title.

. Mustang was a favorite of short-track stock car racers through most of the seventies. In 1972, Dick Trickle raced a Mustang to a national record of 67 short track feature wins in one season. And in drag racing, drivers like Connie Kalitta, Shirley Muldowney and Don Nicholson kept Mustang in the winner’s circle.

. Pro Stock gained popularity, and by 1975 a now-familiar name was in the record books. Bob Glidden drove a Ford Pinto to his first Pro Stock championship in ’74, and then switched to Mustang for ’75, winning four national events and his second NHRA championship – Mustang’s first Pro Stock title.

. John Force, perhaps the most dominant racer of a single race series, broke his own NHRA drag racing record by winning his 12th national crown in his Ford Mustang Funny Car in 2002 and registered his 15th series championship last season.

FT. WORTH, Texas (April 8, 2011) — Carl Edwards started on the pole and never looked back, leading 169 of 200 laps in a dominating victory in Friday night’s Nationwide Series race at Texas Motor Speedway. The win marked the first trip to victory lane for the Ford Mustang in the Nationwide Series. It is Edwards’ second consecutive victory in the NNS at Texas and Roush Fenway’s sixth series win at the 1.5-mile track. It was Edwards’ 30th career Nationwide Series win, making him just the fifth driver ever to accomplish that feat. The win was Roush Fenway’s 14th overall NASCAR win at Texas.

“That was big,” said Edwards. “Just an unreal race; the car was fast. The first win for the Mustang and the first win for Fastenal this season, they have come on board and been a great partner and I’ve had a lot of fun with them. It was a great effort by this team. We still have space on this car, so if anyone wants to market with a great company and a great team, we have space available. ”

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. , who led five laps in the race, maintained his Nationwide Series points lead after qualifying third and finishing eighth. It marks Stenhouse’s fifth top-10 finish in six races this season. Trevor Bayne, who qualified sixth, finished 13th.

The Nationwide Series returns to action next weekend at Talladega Superspeedway where Roush Fenway has won twice in NNS action.

WINNING PRESS CONFERENCE FEATURING CARL EDWARDS, JACK ROUSH AND MIKE BEAM

JACK, CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE MEANING OF THIS WIN TONIGHT? “It is really great to be here. God bless Texas, we enjoy every time we have a chance to come race at Texas. I wasn’t aware we have won that many times here. I knew we had seven wins in the Cup side but didn’t know how many Nationwide and Truck wins we have had here. It feels good being back here. We didn’t have the year we hoped to have last year. We didn’t put him in equipment that was as fast as he was. I think we are getting closer on that now. We made a move of the team into the Cup compound so that they can share information and that has been useful. We got the new FR9 engine and we are real proud of these Mustangs.”

CARL, WHAT DOES THIS NIGHT MEAN TO YOU? “This is a huge night for Mustang and Ford and this is a true team effort. A year ago we were struggling. We were not fast enough and Jack and all the guys at the shop, the engineers, Doug Yates and everyone pulled together. We have great engines now and great pit stops and Mike Beam puts the fastest car on the race track underneath me every week and Jack lets us go do all this. The pole today we talked about that pole run being a true team effort. Mike was adjusting while Jason was telling me the line and Jack was telling me what Ricky said. It is a good day. It ended the way you wish every race would. Teamwork led us to victory lane.”

MIKE, CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE INCIDENT ON THE TRACK AND WHAT YOU WERE THINKING? “I couldn’t really see it but a photographer took a picture and I could see a close up of the brace hanging out of the left quarter panel and I thought it was broke off. I was really wanting to stop there and luckily it came to one to go and Carl made that call there and I am glad he did after it happened. I was concerned by that brace hanging out there but luckily it wrapped around. We were very fortunate. It shows the commitment of Ford and all our sponsors and Jack and Doug and everyone. It is great that we could pull this off. Especially putting this Mustang in victory lane for the first time in NASCAR.”

CARL, WHAT CAN YOU TAKE FROM THIS RACE THAT YOU COULD USE TOMORROW? “Our Fastenal Mustang actually handled quite a bit like the Aflac Fusion we will race tomorrow. They didn’t feel the same in practice but once I got in the race I felt it did feel a lot like my Cup car. I learned a bit about the race track and how it changes. I learned a little and was reminded where the race track had grip and where it had some bumps and the character of the race track. I think it will help me for tomorrow. I think there are a couple of really fast cars tomorrow and it is hard to say who has the advantage because nobody has practiced racing in the night. I hope my car is as fast tomorrow as this one was tonight. That is really fun to drive a car that is that fast.”

CARL, HOW MUCH DO YOU THINK KYLE BUSCH WOULD HAVE BEEN A CHALLENGE FOR YOU IF HE DIDN’T HAVE THAT ACCIDENT? “I think he would have been a real tough challenge. Our car got a little better as we went but it looked like we were pretty well matched. I think he and I were going to race real hard. I was able to get in front of him on that restart which was huge. That says a lot about our engines. He was right behind me and we were passing that car and just by sheer luck behind me the car ended up missing us and caught him instead. That could have gone either way. I would have rather raced him for the victory though and I think it would have been a great race but I think or car was a tick faster.”

HOW ABOUT WITH SIX TO GO WHEN BRAD WAS CLOSING IN. YOU CAME ON THE RADIO AND SAID ‘THAT WASN’T VERY SPORTY’, WHAT DID YOU MEAN BY THAT? “His teammate did a perfect job of sliding right up in front of me and boxing me in. I think he had the option and made the decision to go ahead and make me swerve to go under him. That might not be the case but it sure seemed awfully suspect that his teammate almost helped him get past me. That is okay though. That is racing. I will remember it (laughter). I am kind of joking around. I don’t really care. He got loose and it was 50/50 in my eyes. It was convenient though. Jack would probably like Ricky to do that for me. He ain’t saying anything (laughter).”

CARL, HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE THE GUY THAT PUT MUSTANG IN VICTORY LANE FOR THE FIRST TIME? “It is an honor to put Mustang in victory lane. I think all of us are proud of that and everyone at the shop should be proud too. Those cars look really cool. That was neat of Ford to let us drive the Mustang. When I walk into the garage and see my Fastenal Mustang it gets my blood going. It is cool to drive that race car. I drive a Mustang on the street and the weather has been nice the last couple of weeks in Missouri and I have been driving it. It is neat to be able to drive the same car into victory lane. It is cool.”

JACK, WHAT ABOUT DAVID RAGAN WINNING THE POLE ON THE CUP SIDE? WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR HIM? “I would like to say David has been an instant success but it has taken him a little while. He has been running well and has been fast in practice. Drew Blickensderfer has done a really nice job. I am glad that they were able to close the deal today. Carl came up to me after that happened and congratulated me for David as well. The whole team is behind David and we are hoping he can have the kind of result that his qualifying indicates tomorrow night. We are ready for David to close one of these big deals and tomorrow night may be the night.”

CARL, WHERE IS YOUR CONFIDENCE GOING INTO TOMORROW NIGHT? “It is really high right now, on both the Nationwide and Cup side. We talked about Martinsville and that was not a good race for us but other Ford guys were really fast. The way we qualified and practiced here I feel like we have a really good shot at running well and look forward to Richmond too. Darlington should be a fast race track for us too. It is good to be driving one of Jack’s Fords right now. It is fun.”

Friday, April 8, 2011

Texas Motor Speedway O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 Post-Race Quotes NASCAR Nationwide Series

http://twitter.com/teamdodge www.media.chrysler.com

BRAD KESELOWSKI (No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge Challenger R/T) Finished 2nd “I thought that we were really close today. It was a good battle at the end. I hope everybody enjoyed it. I thought that I might be able to get him (Carl Edwards). He had about six or seven lap newer tires; more importantly he had the clean air and the ability to put his car where he wanted to and he did a good job with that. I caught a few breaks in lapped traffic to inch closer. I felt like I could almost get him and then I’d lose the nose with an aero push. That’s just racing. I needed the track to widen up just a little bit more and maybe could have moved around. All and all, a pretty decent day. I think we made some pretty big strides with our Nationwide program this weekend. I saw a little bit of it a couple weeks ago in California. I felt like if we could have beaten him off of pit road, we might have been able to hold him off with clean air. Who knows; it was a good race.”

WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM TONIGHT THAT YOU CAN CARRY OVER TO TOMORROW? “Probably, mostly how important clean air is and how valuable it can be even if your car is quite a ways off the pace.”

HOW BIG WAS CLEAN AIR? “It was everything. When I got out in the lead, it felt like I ran a half of a second faster. Clean air is really important. The track really hasn’t widened up and it’s still a tough place to pass at times. We brought a really fast Discount Tire Dodge Challenger to Texas. We made some big gains from where we’ve been this year. Just some small tweaks and I think we’ll be right there.”

TODD GORDON (crew chief, No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge Challenger R/T) “We unloaded pretty fast and got a chance to work on our Discount Tire Dodge Challenger from there. I felt like if we would have gotten out in clean air, I think we would have drove away from them. Every week is a learning experience for the two of us. Every time we go racing, it helps us get better as a team. A good night for us tonight that’s for sure.”

SAM HORNISH JR. (No. 12 Alliance Truck Parts Dodge Challenger R/T) Finished 16th “Being out of the car as long as I was (since Daytona), we had some ups and downs tonight. I feel like we had a car that we definitely could have brought home in the top 10 if not the top five. We had a wheel issue and had to pit which had us off sequence. We could never get back. That’s one of the interesting things about the Nationwide Series, we only have five sets of tires. That dictates some of the strategy. That’s what happens sometimes. I’m really proud of all the guys that work on the Alliance Truck Parts Dodge and look forward to next week, racing two weekends in a row. We were way too free starting off the race. We adjusted the car too much when it was hot and when it cooled off, the car was really loose. We could go after 20 laps, but it was getting to that 20 lap mark.”

CHAD WALTER (Crew Chief, No. 12 Alliance Truck Parts Dodge Challenger R/T) “You always want to come here, be competitive and run up front. We had a car to do that, but had an unfortunate issue with a loose wheel. That’s racing luck. Sam hung in there. We didn’t have very good luck with the wheel, so we tried to make a little luck with the wave around, but didn’t get the caution that would have put us back in the sequence. All in all, the Alliance Truck Parts Dodge team did a good job tonight. This is a team working together for the first time. Sam drove his heart out. He really did a good job. This builds confidence for the whole team. We would take this car to Talladega, but we’ve got a better bullet back at the shop. That race is a wildcard, anybody can win there. I feel like Penske Racing has really done its homework and we’re going to have something for them next week.”