Testing SpeedwayMedia.com

Tag: penske racing

  • Sam Hornish Jr. In Demand With Pocono and Iowa Double

    Sam Hornish Jr. In Demand With Pocono and Iowa Double

    [media-credit name=”Gary Buchanan” align=”alignright” width=”236″][/media-credit]While Sam Hornish, Jr. may be thrilled with the opportunity presented to him to drive the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge, he is also pleased with his new status. He is now officially in demand in multiple NASCAR series.

    Hornish, Jr. is attempting the double, running both the Nationwide race at Iowa Speedway and the Cup race at Pocono Raceway.

    “It’s kind of a lot on my plate this weekend,” Hornish said. “I’ll close my eyes and sleep for a little bit on the airplane to try to catch up.”

    Hornish advised that after he finishes up in the Cup car, he will head to Iowa to practice in the Nationwide car. He estimates giving up about thirty minutes of track time on both ends of the racing spectrum.

    “It’s just a little bit too far to be able to make all the practice sessions on both sides,” Hornish said. “We think we’ve got a good plan as far as what we’re going to do and try to get as much time as we can in both places.”

    “I’ll sleep here, qualify the Cup car tomorrow, then we’ll go back over there, qualify, do the driver’s meeting, race and come back here,” Hornish said. “It seems like a lot but last year when Brad (Keselowski) was hurt, I actually did the same trip without getting to drive the Cup car so this is an added bonus.”

    The double duty may be tricky for the driver, but it is also a challenge for the crew chiefs and teams as well.

    “Fortunately, it’s something we have done before,” Travis Geisler, Director of Competition for Penske Racing, said. “We’re really fortunate to have a lot of really great people around us to help ad support and make this doable and to make it very smooth.”

    “Obviously, they’ll be a lot of little things along the way, but we’re down to figuring out what kind of food we need to have where for him and just trying to make it as comfortable as possible,” Geisler continued. “Sam is going to be in a heck of a lot of race cars in a lot of different places in a short amount of time.”

    “I’m excited about it,” Geisler said. “I think it is a unique challenge.”

    One of the other major challenges that Hornish and company may have to face is the unpredictable weather in both Long Pond, PA and Newton, IA. Although just really hot at Iowa Speedway, there are some threats of thunderstorms at Pocono in the forecast.

    “We’ve got contingency plans for contingency plans,” Geisler said with a smile. “Obviously you try to think of all those scenarios, of everything that can go wrong, everything that can happen.”

    “There are a few that can make it really, really difficult that we’ll have to deal with,” Geisler continued. “You know everybody is trying to be as prepared as possible.”

    “We’re hoping for the best,” Geisler said. “Otherwise it will be a forest fire and we’ll try to put it out.”

    Pocono Raceway has a special place in Hornish’s heart, with his most successful runs being at the ‘Tricky Triangle’. Hornish finished fourth in 2009, his best career Cup finish in 113 series starts.

    “We’ve led laps and had some of our strongest runs at Pocono,” Hornish said. “We finished fourth in 2009, but really had our best shot at winning there in the races during the 2010 season.”

    “We led pretty late in both of those races and if luck had been on our side, we could have won.”

    Hornish is also looking forward to the Nationwide race in Iowa, driving the No. 12 WURTH Dodge Challenger. He will be making his 20th start of the season and his third Nationwide start at Iowa Speedway.

    Hornish’s best finish came in May of this year, where he finished 12th. After 19 races, Hornish and his Nationwide team are fourth in the championship point standings.

    “Our WURTTH Dodge team is in a very good place heading into Iowa,” Hornish said. “We have been consistently improving our performance throughout the year.”

    “We have qualified well in the past at Iowa – we just haven’t put it all together and this weekend we are poised to do just that,” Hornish continued. “We feel like we’ve built some strong momentum and we are looking forward to finishing this one on top.”

    Whether by plane, helicopter, car or golf cart, Sam Hornish Jr. is most thrilled just to be given the opportunity to race in both major series in the sport.

    “I feel like we’ve got some really good opportunities here and just trying to maintain everything and not get stressed out about it,” Hornish said. “I plan to just enjoy it.”

    “Something good happened to me at the end of last season,” Hornish continued. “We got the opportunity to go full-time Nationwide racing and you know, we’re doing pretty good over there.”

    “Now we’ve got the opportunity to go Cup racing too,” Hornish said. “So just trying to take both things and run with it and enjoy it as best I can.”

    “It’s a good feeling to be in a little bit of demand.”

  • Coke Zero 400 Review: Daytona Knows Drama

    Coke Zero 400 Review: Daytona Knows Drama

    NASCAR announced 90 minutes before the start of the Coke Zero 400 on Saturday that driver AJ Allmendinger would be temporarily suspended from competition after failing a drug test taken at Kentucky Speedway last weekend. The Penske Racing organization scrambled to find a replacement driver; the team flew in Penske’s Nationwide driver Sam Hornish Jr. from Charlotte, NC to Florida to fill the ride. Hornish arrived with police escort in Daytona just in time for pre-race ceremonies to begin.

    “You know it’s a disappointment at this particular time, but we’re going to wait and see what the second test results are before we make any comment or decisions. I don’t think it’s fair to him,” team owner Roger Penske said Sunday before the IndyCar race in Toronto. Penske was vacationing in Europe and was traveling to Toronto when the news was released.

    [media-credit name=”Credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images” align=”alignright” width=”311″][/media-credit]The fate of Allmendinger rests with the results from his “B” drug test sample. He has 72 hours from the time he was notified of testing positive on Saturday to request his “B” sample be tested. If the sample comes back positive, Allmendinger will be subject to being suspended from NASCAR indefinitely.

    Allmendinger’s will remain suspended for the upcoming Cup race at New Hampshire and Hornish will continue to pilot the No. 22 Pennzoil Dodge until the results of the “B” sample are released.

    Penske Racing hired the former Red Bull driver in late December after the team parted ways with Kurt Busch at the end of the 2011 season. Allmendinger was 23rd in the Sprint Cup Series standings heading into Daytona, where he won the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona sports car race in January.

    Allmendinger is the most well-known driver suspended from NASCAR for a failed drug test since Jeremy Mayfield in 2009. Mayfield has fought NASCAR over the test for many years and has not raced a NASCAR event since. If Allmendinger’s “B” test does come back positive, he may have the opportunity to go through NASCAR’s drug rehabilitation program and return to competition in the future.

     

    Roush Duo Comes Up Short

    Matt Kenseth won the pole for the Coke Zero 400 and with the help of Roush Fenway Racing teammate, Greg Biffle, led the first 41 laps of the race. The No. 17 was trying to accomplish something that no driver has done since 1982 – win both Sprint Cup races at Daytona in the same year.

    The duo was a force to be reckoned with all throughout the race, despite Biffle being penalized and sent to the rear of the field for making a pit stop while pit road was closed under caution. The RFR teammates were able to reconnect and rebound to take over the lead once again.

    With half a lap remaining in the Coke Zero 400, Kenseth remained in the lead with Biffle following closely. The No. 17 Ford was passed by Tony Stewart after Kenseth slowed down to reconnect with his teammate on the back straightaway. The No. 16 was involved in a multi-car wreck that unfolded coming to the checkered flag, resulting in a disappointing 21st place finish for Biffle. Kenseth finished in third position, with Jeff Burton passing him for second on the final lap.

    “I guess you need to be happy when you finish that good, but also when you have restrictor plate cars that fast, that doesn’t happen very often and sure want to figure out how to win with so the last two I feel like you always second-guess your moves, but I feel like we had one of the fastest cars all three races this year really”, Kenseth said in the media center after the race.

    “Happy to get third but on the other hand, I am incredibly disappointed. My team kind of deserved to be down there holding the hardware and I kind of let them down. But overall, we had a really fast car, we had a pretty good race, made our way back to the front after the pit road thing and were in contention, just didn’t get it done that last lap.”

    Kenseth remains the point’s leader with 25 points over Dale Earnhardt Jr., who finished 15th after being involved in the crash on the final lap. Biffle was able to gain one position in standings, moving him to third position.

     

    Point’s Battle Heats Up

    [media-credit name=”Credit: Tom Pennington/Getty Images” align=”alignleft” width=”285″][/media-credit]Tony Stewart scored his 18th overall victory at DIS, second-most all-time to Dale Earnhardt. This is the No. 14 team’s third win of the season and has propelled him in Cup standings. The Stewart Haas driver and team owner gained four position’s in points with his win Saturday night and is now in 5th position, 84 points out of the lead. The three-time series champion looks to be on another championship run heading into New Hampshire, a track where he has three previous wins.

    Clint Bowyer has fallen three positions to 10th place in standings after a 29th place finish in the Coke Zero 400. After riding in the back of the pack for most of the night, Bowyer looked to be heading to the front in the final laps of the race. His potentially good night came to a halt with eight laps to go after being involved in a multi-car accident, ending his night. The No. 15 5-Hour Energy Toyota is now 104 points behind the leader, just three points behind 9th place of Brad Keselowski.

    The Michael Waltrip racing team has high hopes heading to Loudon, where Bowyer has won twice; including his first Cup series victory in 2007, where he started on the pole and led 222 of 300 laps.

    The Wild Card battle – the two positions in the Chase given to the two drivers with the most victories ranked 11th to 20th in points – is heating up between some of the sport’s most popular contenders. The battle is as close as it’s ever been after top-five runs by Joey Logano and Ryan Newman at Daytona. A seventh-place finish for Kasey Kahne has increased the intensity of the wild-card hunt; with only eight races remaining until the Chase, anything can happen!

  • Penske sticking with Keselowski: ‘I wouldn’t trade him for anybody’

    Penske sticking with Keselowski: ‘I wouldn’t trade him for anybody’

    [media-credit name=”Credit: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]Roger Penske has won a lot of races with many different drivers over the course of his NASCAR career. He’s had some of the best drivers in the sport drive his cars, represent his company and become big stars.

    But Sunday afternoon when Brad Keselowski won at the Talladega Superspeedway, driving Penske and Miller Lite’s famous blue deuce, it was almost as if ‘The Captain’ was going through the motions for the very first time.

    Keselowski, the 28-year-old Michigan native who’s in just his third NSCS season, delivered Penske his first win at Talladega and the first win for Dodge at the track since August of 1976. It’s why afterwards Penske was calling Keselowski, the 2010 Nationwide Series champion and six-time winner in the NSCS, a world-class driver among other things.

    “I’d say that you certainly become a student of the game,” Penske said of Keselowski. “The fact that he slowed down there at the beginning to get Kyle [Busch] on that restart so they could get a run, then pulling on the outside of [Matt] Kenseth was amazing. Obviously with the moment, he was to pull it off.

    “Kurt [Busch] does a great job, [Ryan] Newman is a great race, Rusty [Wallace]. If you look at the rules today, I would say he [Keselowski] ran a perfect race. He ran the bottom lane all day. When it was time to go, he had it figured out. For me, that’s what we hire these guys for, so it was a good job.”

    Amazing and world-class were the two adjectives Penske used to many times describe Keselowski, who now sits 12th in points and looks to be a sure-fire lock for the Chase thanks to the wildcard format.

    The win marked the second time Keselowski has visited Victory Lane in the still early 2012 season. It’s what has Penske looking toward the future and what else Keselowski might be able to accomplish, like helping him break through and win his first championship.

    “I think he’s matured a lot,” said Penske. “He’s been a tremendous asset to the team, not just for Brad Keselowski, for Penske Racing. You can see when he comes in the shop; he’s spending a lot of time. I wouldn’t trade him for anybody right now.

    “He came to me before he went to work for us, he said, I’d like to come to Penske Racing and help build a winning Cup team. He’s certainly demonstrated that from the driving ability. His chemistry with Paul Wolfe and that whole team has made a difference.

    “That is not about the driver, the car, the sponsor, it’s about the whole team. He’s the real package. What we’re trying to do is give him everything we can to make him a winner. Obviously, one of the goals in my life is to sit up on that stage in New York or Las Vegas and I think he’s the guy that can make it happen this year, hopefully.”

    The team owner’s praise for Keselowski did come from win bias. It was true, genuine and steams from the praise and belief that Keselowski has for him. If there’s no other driver for Penske, there’s no other owner for Keselowski.

    Late last season he spoke about why he came to work for Penske, citing the man’s ethics, integrity and love of the sport. He knows that being surrounded by someone like Penske is the best thing for him and the goals he would like to accomplish.

    Winning at Talladega was another step in the right direction. And according to Penske it all happened because Keselowski already had a winner’s attitude and because his best attribute is being a team player, helping everyone around him become better as well.

    The move Keselowski made coming out of turn four to pull away from Busch and set sail for the finish line wasn’t a surprise to Penske because he knows how methodical and hardworking his driver is. Had it not been for Keselowski spending as much time behind the wheel, running the NNS program for Penske that might not have happened.

    Racing on Saturday’s helps him learn for Sunday’s. And where Penske’s looking for Keselowski to finally bring him to the promise land, Keselowski’s eager to meet that challenge and make it happen sooner rather than later.

    “It’s a large part of the reason why I came here to drive for him,” said Keselowski. “I want to be that first guy. I feel like he’s dedicated to making that happen. I look at some of the other elite car owners in the sport, and I don’t want this to be offensive, but to win another Cup championship for Hendrick or Richard Childress is not the same as winning the first for Roger Penske.

    “That’s a whole different accomplishment. I think he’s certainly paid his dues in this sport, has that reputation, as a titan for a reason, and that is that he can get it done. I want to be the guy that proves it in the record books.”

    Penske certainly wouldn’t take it for granted, just as he doesn’t take Keselowski for granted. He’s the complete package: winner, a fan favorite, sponsor friendly and most importantly, in a Penske Racing Dodge.

    “When I look for a driver, I think the first thing we look at is does he know how to win races?” said Penske. “Brad obviously had that attribute when he came with us … He could have raced for other people. He came with us. At that point he said, I want to help you attract the best people.

    “I said that to Paul [Wolfe, crew chief]. If the driver helps you attract the best people, a crew chief like Paul, you get stronger and stronger. I saw a driver that could win, one that was committed to the team, not just himself, and he has been good with all our sponsors. That’s the third element, you have to have, someone that is key from a commercial standpoint.

    “When you put that all together, I wouldn’t trade him for anybody on the grid.”

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Kansas STP 400

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Kansas STP 400

    [media-credit name=”Credit: Tyler Barrick/Getty Images” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]From the command to start engine from Victory Junction Gang campers to Brad Keselowski manning the tank to rip up the Kansas track after the race ended, here is what was surprising and not surprising in the 2nd Annual STP 400.

    Surprising:  While Kansas may be known as the Land of Oz, it was more like the land of highs and lows for this race day, with an extremely high number of engine failures and pit errors to a record low number of cautions.

    Dale Earnhardt, Jr., driver of the No. 88 Diet Mountain Dew/National Guard, was one of the first to struggle on pit road, missing it completely as he attempted to pit early in the race. Other drivers, such as Kasey Kahne and Kevin Harvick barely made it to the pits after running short on fuel. And even five-time champion Jimmie Johnson had his own set of pit woes with his team struggling with a loose lug nut.

    There were also an extremely high number of engine problems, affecting  drivers from Bobby Labonte and Mark Martin to four-time champion Jeff Gordon, all of whose engines either sputtered or just plain blew up completely.

    And as for cautions, there were only three, the lowest ever for a Sprint Cup race at Kansas Speedway. Although there was the lowest number of cautions, on the flip side, the average speed was surprisingly the highest at Kansas, 144.126 mph, a new track record.

    Not Surprising:  On the rough surface of the Kansas Speedway, it was not surprising that tires made all the difference in the outcome of the race. Just ask Martin Truex, Jr. whose tires fell off after leading 173 laps, costing him the race win and handing it to Denny Hamlin with just 31 laps to go.

    “We put that last set of tires on and it wasn’t anything like it had been all day long – just bad, bad loose,” the driver of the No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota Camry said. “We had them. I don’t know what happened with that last set of tires but they were terrible.”

    With Truex’s tire troubles, Denny Hamlin capitalized, scoring his 19th victory in 231 Cup Series races. This was the No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota driver’s second victory and fourth top-10 finish in the 2012 season. It was also the first time his manufacturer, Toyota, was in victory lane at Kansas.

    “I knew that he was driving his heart out as well as I was driving mine,” Hamlin said. “What got me the lead was driving hard and that’s kind of where we were able to stretch it out.”

    Surprising:  After scoring the pole position, it was surprisingly heartbreaking that the troubles that have been omnipresent for A.J. Allmendinger continued. The driver of the No. 22 AAA Dodge for Penske Racing went from race leader to a 32nd place finish because of engine troubles.

    “Man, it’s just starting to feel like ‘Ground Hog’s Day’,” Allmendinger said. “We were off to such a great start and then the gremlins hit us.”

    “Not sure how to explain it other than you’re on the pole one minute riding around leading laps and then the next thing you know your car isn’t right,” Dinger continued. “I just couldn’t believe it. Like I said, ‘Ground Hog Day.’

    Not Surprising:  With his confidence growing, it was not surprising to see fellow Penske racer Sam Hornish Jr. have a respectable run in his one off deal for the team. The driver of the No. 12 SKF Penske Dodge scored a 19th place finish.

    “We had a decent day,” Hornish Jr. said. “We led some laps and made a very respectable effort.”

    “It was good to get back in a Cup car again.”

    Surprising:  Since everyone wants to win in front of their friends and family, it was surprising that no home town heroes were in victory lane at Kansas Speedway. Carl Edwards, who was able to drive to the track from his home, finished ninth and Clint Bowyer, fellow Kansas native, had engine troubles, finishing in the 36th spot.

    “It was just a major bummer,” Clint Bowyer, the driver of the No. 15 5-Hour Energy Toyota, said. “I just wish it wouldn’t have happened here.”

    “It wasn’t a great result but a really good effort,” Edwards said of his run in the No. 99 Aflac Ford Fusion. “I wanted to win here more than anything but we get to come back.”

    “It’s humbling and I can’t wait to come back,” Edwards continued. “We’ll do it.”

    Not Surprising:   The quest for the 200th win for Hendrick Motorsports is not surprisingly beginning to resemble the streak that Susan Lucci experienced with her Daytime Emmy awards. While Hendrick Motorsports had a fairly good day, with the exception of Jeff Gordon, the 200th victory still remains elusive.

    “It just didn’t happen,” the driver of the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger said. “As a group, we know it’s coming.”

    “It’s just when you have a target, it always makes it more challenging,” Gordon continued. “We’re trying not to put too much pressure on us with that and just trying to go out and do our thing and do our job.”

    Surprising:  While Hendrick Motorsports struggled to reach their 200th win marker at Kansas, it was surprising to note that there is another quest for a 200th victory. The race winning No. 11 car in fact now has 199 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victories, breaking a tie for most wins all-time with the No. 43.

    Other drivers who have won in the No. 11 car include Cale Yarborough with 55 wins, Ned Jarrett with 49, Darrell Waltrip with 43, Denny Hamlin with 19, Junior Johnson with 11, Bill Elliott with 6, Geoff Bodine with 4, Terry Labonte with 4, Bobby Allison with 3, Buddy Baker with 2, A.J. Foyt with 1, Mario Andretti with 1 and Parnelli Jones with 1.

    Not Surprising:  Greg Biffle, to no one’s surprise, has continued his consistently good runs. The driver of the No. 16 3M Ford finished fifth and more important maintained his points lead.

    “It’s not a disappointing day for a fifth-place finish,” Biffle said. “But it’s probably a disappointing day for how the car ran.”

    “It feels good to be disappointed with a fifth-place finish,” Biff continued. “Fifth is OK but we wanted to compete better on the race track.”

     

  • Sam Hornish Jr.: I feel like we’re going to continue to work hard

    Sam Hornish Jr.: I feel like we’re going to continue to work hard

    [media-credit name=”Simon Scoggins” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]After not having the warranted success at the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series level, Sam Hornish Jr. took a step back to the NASCAR Nationwide Series to spend some more time learning. Hornish proved his talent last year, winning the second last race of the season at Phoenix. Now he enters the 2012 season, ready to run the full schedule.

    So far, it hasn’t gone as well as he would’ve hoped as he sits sixth in points, 54 points behind Elliott Sadler.

    “We would’ve liked to have better results so far,” Hornish says. “But all in all, we’ve shown that we’ve got an opportunity to take a big step forward moving on out so looking forward getting through our couple off-weekends here and getting back to racing.”

    Once he gets back going, Hornish is hoping to win some races and contend for the championship.

    “I feel like we’re going to continue to work hard and try to get the results we want out of it,” he says. “We really have a good opportunity to bring a couple sponsors along, with Alliance Truck Parts and WURTH Group. They’re new to racing and sponsoring anything, so we have the opportunity to bring them along.” He adds that he hopes to make the transition back to the Sprint Cup Series.

    Hornish made the move over to NASCAR full-time in 2008, driving for Roger Penske.

    “It’s been a good relationship so far,” he says of the partnership with Penske. “Roger has always been really good to me and we started off back in 2003. When we started off, we had a couple goals in mind – we achieved the first couple, and now we’re working on the next one.”

    One of the benefits to the Nationwide Series program at Penske is Hornish can lean on teammate Brad Keselowski, but he says that it works both ways as he can also help Keselowski if he is having problems.

    “I kind of look at it that we’re both in the same boat and that we’re doing everything we can do to learn as much as we can to be successful,” he adds.

    In continuing to work at his NASCAR career, one of the biggest lessons he learned in racing as a whole about attitude plays a huge factor.

    “There’s a lot of about your attitude and a lot of about persistence and not wanting to give up and to continuing learning,” he says. “Racing is ever evolving; I believe you have constantly willing to learn and try new things. I guess that all goes with your attitude; you got to be willing to do those things. You got to have a good attitude, embrace the positives and remember a bad day at the race track is always better than a good day anywhere else.”

    The 32-year-old started in racing, running go-karts to have something to do with his dad.

    “All of the sudden it was 30 weekends a year and we were traveling all over the United States and Canada,” he says. “I continued to move up to ladder and eventually found myself in open wheel and after I achieved everything I wanted to achieve over there, I decided I wanted a new challenge and moved over to run stock cars.”

    While racing in open-wheel, he won three IndyCar championships and the 2006 Indianapolis 500. Of the transition, Hornish says one of the biggest differences between open wheel and stock car is the people.

    “In NASCAR, it’s called “stock car” racing, but there’s a lot more lien in the rules and what you’re allowed to do – geometries, set-up of the cars – that you’re not allowed to do in IndyCar,” he explains. “IndyCar is more of a spec race, where everybody has the same car. There’s sometimes when there’s different engines, but the package is the same and it’s really hard to gain advantage. Over here, it’s really easy to get yourself lost if you’re not doing the right things, just ‘cause there are so many things that you can change with the car itself. With all those things that you’re changing, you have to have the right people to be able to make the changes to help you move forward and allow you to kind of learn the things you need to be successful.”

    Hornish says one of the biggest racing memories in his career was the Indianapolis 500 win, but there are also plenty of other good memories.

    “There’s a lot of my favorite memories that don’t necessarily coincide with a win,” he says. “There just more of a good day at the track or involved in racing. Racing has always been a family sport for me; it started out as something to do with my dad. Now I take my family to the race track with me and hopefully some point in time, I can have the roles reversed when I’m watching somebody else race. But we’ll see how that all plays out.”

    Besides spending time with family away from the track, Hornish enjoys building and restoring things.

    “I restored a 108 barber chair a year ago and two years ago for Christmas, I redid my dad’s 1950 Swing Bicycle that he had,” he says.

  • Brad Keselowski: Car is best car I’ve ever had in Cup

    Brad Keselowski: Car is best car I’ve ever had in Cup

    [media-credit name=”Brad Keppel” align=”alignright” width=”213″][/media-credit]On Saturday, Brad Keselowski tweeted “Cup car for 2morrow is best car i’ve ever had in cup.” Many questioned Keselowski’s attitude in approaching that, saying it was cocky, or could jinx him.

    “I’m always mindful of jinxing it,” he said after the Bristol race when asked. “I felt it was the best car we ever had.  I just say what I think is real.  If I think it’s the best car I ever had, I’ll tell them.  If I think I have a s*** box, I’ll tell (Crew Chief) Paul (Wolfe), You got to fix this.  Some people appreciate that and respect it.  Other people make a big deal and say, You’re being negative, you’re being cocky.  How about just being truthful?”

    In the end, Keselowski was being truthful as he led 232 laps on his way to winning his second race in a row at Bristol Motor Speedway.

    For Keselowski, it was a really good day at a track that he really likes.

    “I love Bristol and Bristol loves me,” he says. “It’s a great track that really demands a hundred percent out of a driver and out of a team.  Today my team certainly delivered.  You could probably argue whether or not I did (smiling).  But it was good. Great pit stops.  Had a little bit of damage early on in the race, got it fixed.  Nobody panicked.  It’s tough racing that requires so much discipline mixed in with some aggression obviously.”

    The win wasn’t easy for the Penske Racing team as they were involved in a wreck early on lap 24 that was triggered when Kasey Kahne cut across Regan Smith’s bumper.

    “I certainly ran into the back of the 78 car,” Keselowski comments. “Then as Kasey spun down the track, barely nudged him, as well. Just a bit of contact there, enough to certainly do some damage.”

    For the second win in a row, it was with a different car than the car used last season. Crew Chief Paul Wolfe says that’s a key as they don’t rest, always trying to build quicker racecars.

    “There was no way we could bring back the same racecar and setup we won with in the fall and expect the same result,” Wolfe says.

    Keselowski had also come back to Bristol with something to prove. After playing the pit road speeding lines to his advantage last year, critics were saying it was the only reason that he won.

    “I do enjoy the challenge, for sure,” he says of proving people wrong. “That’s what I like about racing in general. I tell this all the time. Racing’s the one thing – Paul (Wolfe) could probably get a pretty good laugh out of this – is the one thing that makes me get up in the morning.  That’s how I know it’s special.  Maybe not on his timeline, but I still get up earlier than noon.  I may get up at 9 a.m.  That’s because it’s special.  I love the challenge, I love the fight that you have to put up, the man versus machine or man with machine, against other machines and men.  It’s cool as hell to me.

    “When somebody challenges me, whether it’s fans, media, other drivers, I think that I have the desire beforehand, but it helps me focus in for sure.  Of course, it means nothing if you don’t have a great team that you’re surrounded by.  I feel very fortunate to have that as well.”

    A win at Bristol means a lot to Keselowski as he says this is a track that only champions seem to win at.

    “I think it speaks volumes for this track and what it means to your career,” he says. “There’s other places that perhaps have a little more prestige, and I said that last year as well, but this place defines a race team.”

    He adds that each aspect of the weekend really tests a team in how they are able to deal with the elements.

    “I think the teams that come out on top, whether it’s driver or whatever, I think they show that they’ve got what it takes to overcome adversity,” he continues. “To win championships, you have to be able to overcome adversity.  I think it’s very much a defining racetrack in that sense.”

    For Keselowski, he attests his experience from running the Nationwide Series as being an important contributor to being successful at the Sprint Cup level.

    “I was very fortunate, and I know I was very fortunate, when I got the ride to drive for Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in the Nationwide Series,” he says. “I spent two seasons in that series as a partial Cup competitor and full-time Nationwide competitor. During that time span, I was very fortunate to race with some of the best.  I don’t think we’ve seen a system that’s existed like that in decades past.”

    He says that racing against Sprint Cup competitors in the series allowed him to grow as a driver.

    “It obviously frustrates me a little bit when I take some heat, any Cup driver takes some heat from the press, media, fans, whatever, about running the Nationwide Series, because it’s really a character builder,” he continues. “If you can run well over there, you can come here and get the job done. That series helped me build a lot of character.  It helped me learn in a smaller spotlight.  I feel like when I got over here that the learning process was a lot quicker.  It just came down to getting with the right team that I gelled with and that believed in me.”

    Keselowski’s popularity has exploded this year virtue of what he has been able to do with social media. At Daytona International Speedway under the red flag, he tweeted a picture from inside the racecar. After he won at Bristol, he attempted to send a picture from victory lane, that showed up a little late.

    “It’s something I thought would be really cool to do, for sure,” he says. “Certainly in our generation, timeliness is of extreme importance. I’d like to see that process obviously get a little bit faster, and the right people are working on it to make it happen.”

    Moving forward beyond Bristol, Keselowski is looking success this season, hoping his team can deliver more strong cars this season.

    “I’ve said pre-season this year that the goal here at Penske Racing is to win a Sprint Cup championship,” he says. “That’s where we’re all pushing. One win certainly doesn’t achieve that, but it’s a great step. I know I’m committed to it.”

  • Kurt Busch Snags 14th Career Pole at Pocono; Paul Menard Scores Second

    Kurt Busch Snags 14th Career Pole at Pocono; Paul Menard Scores Second

    [media-credit name=”Ed Coombs” align=”alignright” width=”209″][/media-credit]After crashing his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge in practice and having to pull out a backup car, Kurt Busch was despondent, especially thinking that if qualifying was rained out, he would start the 5-Hour Energy 500 at Pocono Raceway dead last.

    But the racing gods were with him, the weather held, and Busch snagged his 14th career pole, with a speed of 171.579 mph and a time of 52.454 seconds. This was Busch’s first pole in 21 races at the ‘Tricky Triangle.’

    “There were quite a bit of different emotions out there today, especially after having to bust out the backup car from yesterday’s  mishap,” Busch said. “If it were raining today, we’d be starting last.”

    “Now luckily the weather held out and we’re on the pole,” Busch said. “It’s an amazing swing of events and an honest thank you to my guys. To pull the backup out as a pole winning car is really something you wouldn’t hear about back in the day.”

    Busch’s pole also signified the third straight pole for Penkse Racing and his teammate Brad Keselowski was the winner of last weekend’s event at Kansas Speedway. Busch admitted in the media center after his pole run that Penske Racing has indeed turned a corner.

    “We haven’t changed a lot of things since Richmond and it’s just been some procedures and processes and maybe looking at the data a bit differently,” Busch said. “It’s great to come back out and get on the pole again.”

    Busch also referenced his superstition, feeling that he was stuck on the ‘unlucky 13’ pole.

    “To be number 14 already, really feels good,” Busch said.

    Busch’s crew chief, Steve Addington, echoed his driver’s feelings about the pole run.

    “I want to thank everybody on this Shell/Pennzoil Dodge,” Addington said. “The work they did to get this car ready was awesome.”

    “To lay down a lap like that is pretty impressive,” Addington continued. “And that guy that sits behind the steering wheel isn’t too damn bad either.”

    Paul Menard, driver of the No. 27 Pittsburgh Paints/Menards Chevrolet, scored the outside pole, with a speed of 171.422 mph and a time of 52.502 seconds. This was Menard’s fifth top-10 start of 2011 and his first such start in nine races at Pocono.

    “We definitely thought it would rain out qualifying today,” Menard said. “So, we tried to post a good time early in practice and felt that would be our qualifying run.”

    “We were hoping for rain, honestly,” Menard continued. “To qualify second and actually put a lap down was pretty cool. It was much more meaningful that way.”

    Four-time champion Jeff Gordon posted his 22nd top-10 start at Pocono Raceway. He qualified third in his No. 24 Dupont Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports, with a speed of 171.350 mph and a time of 52.524 seconds.

    “I’ll be honest, prior to that run, I was kind of hoping it was going to rain,” Gordon said with a laugh. “We made a couple of qualifying runs yesterday and we weren’t really thrilled with the pace.”

    “The track was definitely a lot different as it was hot and slick,” Gordon continued. “We did our fastest laps in race trim and so we weren’t really sure what to expect today.”

    “We looked at the lap times and seeing just how fast the track was today, it gets you anxious when you ran a 54.10 and guys were running in the 52s,” Gordon said. “It was interesting because right before I left the truck I told Alan (Gustafson), ‘It looks like half a second per corner’ and as a driver, a half a second a corner just isn’t fathomable.”

    “As a driver, to go out there and do that and put up a good lap and be third, I’m thrilled,” Gordon said. “I’m very, very happy.”

    Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota and past master of Pocono Raceway, qualified fourth with a speed of 171.174 mph and a time of 52.578 seconds.

    Regan Smith, behind the wheel of the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet, continued his hot qualifying hand and rounded out the top five, with a speed of 171.164 mph and a time of 52.581 seconds.

    Starting Lineup
    5-Hour Energy 500, Pocono Raceway
    http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Cup/qual.php?race=14
    Pos. No. Driver Make Speed Time
    1 22 Kurt Busch Dodge 171.579 52.454
    2 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 171.422 52.502
    3 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 171.35 52.524
    4 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 171.174 52.578
    5 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet 171.165 52.581
    6 99 Carl Edwards Ford 171.057 52.614
    7 9 Marcos Ambrose Ford 170.836 52.682
    8 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 170.532 52.776
    9 0 David Reutimann Toyota 170.348 52.833
    10 5 Mark Martin Chevrolet 170.2 52.879
    11 6 David Ragan Ford 170.177 52.886
    12 33 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 170.126 52.902
    13 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 169.908 52.97
    14 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 169.872 52.981
    15 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 169.856 52.986
    16 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 169.702 53.034
    17 4 Kasey Kahne Toyota 169.671 53.044
    18 47 Bobby Labonte Toyota 169.607 53.064
    19 20 Joey Logano Toyota 169.52 53.091
    20 2 Brad Keselowski Dodge 169.501 53.097
    21 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 169.447 53.114
    22 46 J.J. Yeley Chevrolet 169.444 53.115
    23 83 Brian Vickers Toyota 169.441 53.116
    24 71 Andy Lally* Ford 169.37 53.138
    25 51 Landon Cassill Chevrolet 169.307 53.158
    26 38 Sam Hornish Jr. Ford 169.278 53.167
    27 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 169.224 53.184
    28 43 A.J. Allmendinger Ford 169.176 53.199
    29 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 169.17 53.201
    30 34 David Gilliland Ford 169.119 53.217
    31 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 169.113 53.219
    32 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 169.084 53.228
    33 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 168.932 53.276
    34 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 168.89 53.289
    35 13 Casey Mears Toyota 168.666 53.36
    36 66 Michael McDowell Toyota 168.218 53.502
    37 16 Greg Biffle Ford 167.773 53.644
    38 37 Tony Raines Ford 167.395 53.765
    39 181 Scott Riggs Chevrolet 167.264 53.807
    40 36 Dave Blaney Chevrolet 167.057 53.874
    41 32 Mike Bliss Ford 166.867 53.935
    42 7 Scott Wimmer+ Dodge 162.414 55.414
    43 150 T.J. Bell* Toyota 166.633 54.011
  • Sam Hornish, Jr. Hopes Step Backwards Leads to Big Step Forward

    Sam Hornish, Jr. Hopes Step Backwards Leads to Big Step Forward

    While Sam Hornish Jr. has taken a bit of a step backwards, from racing in the Cup Series last year to now competing in select Nationwide races, he firmly believes that this step back will most surely lead soon to big steps forward.

    [media-credit name=”David Yeazall ” align=”alignright” width=”300″][/media-credit]Hornish will be back in his Nationwide No. 12 Penske race car this weekend at Richmond International Raceway. He will be sponsored for his fourth start of the Nationwide season, the Bubba Burger 250, by Olympic Paints, a sponsor that was on his car for his best finish to date, a fourth place finish at Pocono a few years ago.

    “I couldn’t be more excited for this weekend’s race at Richmond,” Hornish said. “It’s one of my favorite tracks and I have a lot of success here. I’ve always liked the track.”

    Hornish is also coming off a successful run at Talladega where he led laps and was in the top five most of the day. He finished the Aaron’s 312 NASCAR Nationwide race at Talladega in the 13th spot.

    Yet, in spite of moving forward with the 2011 Nationwide season, Hornish’s step back has not been without its challenges.

    “It’s been rough for us,” Hornish admitted. “All the guys that work on my car have other jobs at the shop. So, we’re a side project a little bit.”

    “It’s not exactly a perfect scenario,” Hornish said. “But sometimes you have to take a step back to take a step forward.”

    “We want to race in the Cup Series but this allows me to keep my foot in the game,” Hornish said of his Nationwide schedule. “We want to give this opportunity to our sponsor to get their feet wet in it and understand where they wanted to be and what they wanted to do. We feel like we’re growing a sponsor and it’s a way to keep myself in the game.”

    In spite of the step back, Hornish truly is embracing the opportunities and the lessons to be learned from it.

    “For me, it gives me the opportunity to work with new people and a new sponsor,” Hornish said. “On the personal side, I’ve had a lot more time to spend with my family. That’s been one of the benefits of this scenario.”

    Hornish also is careful to put his step back this year in perspective, particularly with the difficulties that so many have experienced with the recent storms and tornadoes in the Midwest and Southern parts of the country.

    “It’s obviously an unfortunate situation for a lot of people and we’re definitely thinking of that this weekend,” Hornish said. “I woke up five times throughout the night watching the news and the weather.  It’s unfortunate for sure.”

    He also got a perspective check when he visited injured soldiers at the Hunter Homes McGuire Veterans Administration Medical Center in Richmond, Virginia in preparation for the race weekend.

    “We did a walk through the spinal cord injury unit at the VA and met a lot of nice people,” Hornish said. “It was a good day and it puts a lot of things in perspective.”

    Another benefit of Hornish’s step back is being able to participate in his newest off-track gig, giving voice to Roary the Racing Car, an animated series carried on the PBS Kids Sprout Channel. Roary the Racing Car tracks the adventures of a young race car that resides at the Silver Hatch Racetrack, exploring his relationship with his race car friends and Big Chris, a mechanic who loves karaoke.

    “That’s definitely a fun thing for me to do,” Hornish said. “It’s a once in a lifetime and most guys don’t get to have a part on a TV show. It’s been a lot of fun.”

    Bottom line, however, Hornish yearns to get himself and his season moving forward so that he can position himself for a return to the Cup Series at some point in the very near future.

    “Obviously my goal is to get back into the Cup Series one way or another,” Hornish said. “I don’t just want to start and park.”

    “So, I’m just looking how to do that,” Hornish said. “We’ll just see how things play out.”

    “I feel like the next step forward is just right around the corner for us,” Hornish continued. “With my previous success at Richmond and how well our test went, I’ve got a good feeling about this weekend.”

    “For the fans who are supporting us and giving us wishes and prayers to race more often, I’m hoping we get that job done for them.”

  • Flag-To-Flag: Will Power Dominates Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama

    In the past five road course races, Will Power has started on pole and finished either first or second.

    After finishing second last week, Power would not be denied this week as he qualified first and led flag-to-flag on his way to winning the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama. The win marked the 10th win of his career.

    “The key was to make sure I got the jump on him every time,” Power said. “It seemed like it was yellow-after-yellow. But man, that was one of the most relaxing races I’ve ever had. I am going to be a lot better on ovals and I am very determined. I am going to win that championship.”

    Power is the first driver to lead flag-to-flag since Dario Franchitti at Sonoma in 2009.

    Scott Dixon finished second after trying to find a way around Power all day.

    “It is going to take a long time to make back the points that we lost at St. Peterburg’s with all of these teams,” Dixon said. “I think Helio jumped us on the restart, but it was better to just let him go. We worked by Ryan on the second stint and then sat behind Will all day. I pushed hard behind Will to try to catch him but in those final eight laps, I couldn’t get close as I had ran the tires off of the car.”

    Dixon was followed by his teammate and last week’s winner Dario Franchitti.

    “Its like we said at the end of last year, every point means a lot as every position means something,” Franchitti said. “Briscoe pushed me in the grass in one, left the door open into two and then off the turn, he closed the door so that was just racing. You think on these restarts you’re able to get by these guys, but Will and Scott were too far in front of us. Up until the final restart, I thought we had a good car but we didn’t get the right balance. I was just trying to get a good finish and to go from seventh to third here is pretty good.”

    Marco Andretti finished fourth with Orio Servia in fifth. Tony Kanaan finished sixth after starting 26th.

    “A little bit of luck and a good start,” Kanaan said. “We took the advantage to pass a lot of cars on the start and that actually changed my strategy. We were thinking of pitting on lap 10, but when we got up front, we decided to pit a little later. I got to thank my pit crew for some good pit stops as we’re a relative new team. I struggled all weekend as it wasn’t a coincidence that I was almost dead last every sesson as there was something seriously wrong. We took Takumo Sato’s set-up and on the start, I made a good jump.”

    He was followed by Helio Castroneves, Sebastian Pagenaud, Simona de Silvestro and Charlie Kimball.

    It wasn’t easy for Power today as there were multiple cautions for multiple incidents throughout the day.

    The first caution came on lap 1 as JR Hildebrand and Raphael Matos made contact causing Matos to spin.

    Then on lap 37, Alex Taglani spun and got stuck on the sand trap to bring out the caution. Though a lap before, James Jakes pits as his car was on fire.

    We came in and made a pit stop,” Jakes said. “As I came out of turn three, it felt pretty hot in there and the team said to look at the telemetry. It looked a little hot so I brought it down pit road.”

    The restart came on lap 41, though right away, de Silvestro, James Hinscliffe and EJ Viso wrecked. Castroneves made it three-wide, which made things tight, causing drivers to make contact with each other.

    “We got off to a rough start,” Hinscliffe. “I was hoping to not make too many mistakes. I went around in lap 1 but the team was coming back in the top 10. Then Simona got into EJ, which it isn’t his fault that he spun. But any driving school you go to will tell you that you hit the clutch and the brake when you spin, not the gas. It just sucks for this Newman-Haas team.”

    “Unfortunately, we were in the wrong place, wrong positoon,” EJ Viso. “Simona had a pretty good restart, passing three-or-four cars and then she spun, I tried to avoid her and Hinscliffe came down into me.”

    The restart came on lap 46, which another incident then took place as Mike Conway got hooked into the wall by his teammate Danica Patrick.

    “Just coming over the top of the hill, I feel we just crossed paths, made contact and unfortunately wrecked,” Mike Conway said.

    The restart came on lap 50, and then six laps later, Ryan Hunter-Reay bounced off the curb into Ryan Briscoe.

    “Well, I mean I think Ryan is sticking his nose in where it doesn’t belong,” Briscoe said afterwards. “I tried to give him room and looks like he just stuck the nose in there. He was that much quicker and he could’ve waited the half a lap to pass me.”

    Hunter-Reay was given a penalty for unavoidable contact, in which he replied on the radio saying, “I thought I was giving him room and he just turned down. I just can’t believe this.”

    The restart came on lap 62, which then on lap 63, Justin Wilson wrecked after he hit Rapael Matos, causing him to turn back into him.

    “I think when I look back at it, its a racing incident,” Wilson said. “As we were racing in, Raphael gave me room and then came down, I kept backing down backing down and got into him. If you look there, he had a whole lane on the outside.”

    Wilson ran the race today with a wrist injury he suffered at St. Peterburg’s.

    “The wrist was bugging me, but it is fine,” he continued. “The carbonfibre brace I had broke on lap 45 so I threw that out and put this one on under caution.”

    The multiple back-to-back cautions were caused in a large part due to contact on the double-file restarts, which is fresh for the series.

    “From the fans point of view, it looked a lot of exciting,” Kanaan said after the race of the double-file restarts. “I think we need to work together on taking care of each other’s stuff. We crashed on almost every restart and that’s not a coincidence. This is only the second race that we’ve done it so we got to get used to it. Do I like it? No, but it worked into my favor. I think as drivers we need to learn to take care of other. Right now I am 50/50. They told me the fans like it and I am just a driver so if they tell me I have to do it, then I have to do it.”

    Plenty of debates have been brought up with the rule, including how the leader restarts the race. Dixon complained that Power was crossing lines on the start, in which Ganassi added at one point during the race that if Power does it one more time, he was going to get his driver to take him out.

    “Like usual, Brian did nothing about it,” Dixon said after the race. “If you’re going to make a rule, you need to enforce it.”

  • Penske Racing Dominates Testing at Barber Motorsports Park

    The IndyCar Series spent March 14th and 15th testing at Barber Motorsports Park, where Penske Racing assured their spot on top of the IZOD IndyCar Series. It also previewed another season of a Penske Racing-Target Chip Ganassi Racing battle for the championship.

    On the first day of testing, Penske driver Will Power topped the charts at 114.198mph, with a lap of 1 minute, 12.5056 seconds. Target Chip Ganassi Racing Driver Scott Dixon was second (1.12.5538) with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing’s Justin Wilson third (1.12.6791).

    On the second day of testing, Helio Castroneves led the field at 1 minute, 11.943 seconds with teammate Power second at 1.11.9636.

    “I was expecting something different from the car because it kept changing throughout the day based on the track,” Castroneves said. “I was expecting the car was going to push but it went the opposite way. The good news is that nothing was damaged.  The field is so competitive; we have some new teams up at the top giving us a hard time.   Also my teammates, they are two great talents – Ryan (Briscoe) and Will (Power) – pushing each other but I’m glad we were able to put the No. 3 up at the top at the end of the day.”

    “This was a really good couple of days of testing and our Verizon car was very good,” Power said. “We did a lot of work and learned tons of valuable information about our car here at Barber. Today we practiced pit stops, which are every bit as important as speed on the track with how tight the competition is in this series. I am definitely ready to get this season started.”

    Dixon, Penske’s Ryan Briscoe and Newman/Haas Racing’s Oriol Servia rounded out the top five on the second day.

    “Team Target had a good couple of days with lots of big and good changes,” Dixon said. “The No. 9 Target Honda has been decent, remaining in the top-3 both days. We’re just going through the motions and making necessary adjustments before we start the season in St. Pete.”

    “It was a really good couple of days here at Barber for the No. 6 IZOD Team Penske car,” Briscoe said. “We are very happy with the car we finished with today. We even did a long run, which compromised our chance to do a sticker tire run for time, but we did a lot of great race prep and we should be in good shape for the race here in a few weeks. This is an exciting track and I’m very happy to be back in an IndyCar.”

    “I’m so happy!” Servia said. “Obviously it’s great to be in the top-five, but I’m just so happy. When you are running in the top-five, there is a reason. I felt good in the car, with the team. I was a blast when I looked at the scoring board an hour before the end and we were one and two. That’s the way Newman/Haas has always been, and that’s the way it has to be and it just felt great that we got there with two days of testing. There is still a lot to come from myself and the car. We progressed big stages to get where we are and there is still more. I feel very happy; everybody is super motivated. James was super helpful all day yesterday and today with him knowing the track and I really hope we can be teammates. The two cars worked together really well and we made a lot of progress together. I’m very happy with the team and myself. When you are a year out of the car, of course you still think you can drive but it is just so great knowing it is true.”

    The test sesson was set to prepare for the season opener at St. Peterburg’s on March 28th, but also the Grand Prix of Alabama, which is set to take place on April 10th at Barber.

    The test didn’t go totally uneventful free as on the second day, Mike Conway made contact with the tire barriers.

    “The car handled a little differently than it did yesterday, and it just caught me out,” Conway said. “I got on the grass coming out of (Turn) 15 and it was so wet, it took me straight into the barrier. It’s a shame, but fortunately, it’s just a test day.”

    Dario Franchitti, last year’s champion, made some recommendations to track owner George Barber, but also had some compliments.

    “I asked him if the curbs could stand out more when they paint them — red and white as opposed to gray and white,” he said. “I also told him I wouldn’t mind borrowing the guy who cuts his grass because he does a hell of a job. If my wife sees what he’s doing here, planting trees and stuff, it will be very expensive for me. It’s a pretty special place.”

    Last year was a special year for Chip Ganassi as not only did he win the IndyCar Championship with Franchitti, they also won the Indianapolis 500 together. Ganassi also added a Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 victory to his resume with Jamie McMurray, along with the Grand-Am Championship. With his accomplishments, Ganassi is nominated for Executive of the Year, while his team Chip Ganassi Racing is nominated for Team of the Year in the Sports Business Journal Awards. The awards are set to be presented in New York on May 18th.

    “It’s great to be recognized for all the hard work the teams put in,” Ganassi said. “You have to remember that motorsports is one of those businesses that as great a year that 2010 was, and it was an unbelievable year and one that any car owner dreams about, that was last year and this is this year. It’s a zero-based game.

    “We’re starting back at zero and the points are all tied for all the championships. It’s a new year and no one is going to forget about last year faster than our competitors that want to beat us. It’s going to be a lot of hard work and to accomplish anything close to what we did last year, but that’s why we are back here. That’s the kind of challenge that we like and what attracts us to the sport — the challenge.”

    Ganassi has already started leaving his mark this year with a victory in the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona.