SRT Motorsports - Weekend Motorsports Recap - July 15

 
NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES (NSCS)

Brad Keselowski finished fifth in Sunday’s Sprint Cup race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, his sixth top five of the season.  In his last 12 starts in the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger, Keselowski has only one finish outside the top 15.  In that span, he has recorded two of his three victories along with four top-five and six top-10 finishes. 

Only seven races remain until the field is set for the Chase for the Sprint Cup.  The top 10 in the point standings after the first 26 races advance into the Chase field.  The final two spots come from drivers 11th to 20th in the point standings with the most wins.    Keselowski is currently 10th in the standings with a 46-point advantage over 11th.  Keselowski is one of only two drivers with three wins this season.  Tony Stewart is the second.

Keselowski started 22nd in the 301-lap event.  Passing at the 1.058-mile, paperclip-shaped track requires lots of patience and a fast racecar.  Keselowski had both but getting to the front proved difficult.  The race had only three cautions, setting up the double-file restarts.  Twice, Keselowski was fifth on the grid which had the No. 2 Dodge on the inside for the restart.  Both times, he lost five spots before the field sorted out and he could move up on the track to a better racing line.  Once there, he was able to work his way back into the top five.  He had a firm grip on fifth over the final 21 laps.

“We had a really, really good long-run car today but we were off just a little bit on short runs,” Keselowski said.  “I’m proud of the effort.  Obviously, you want to come here and win.  Wins are really what matters but a good strong, consistent effort that gives us something we can bring back for the Chase is important.  So, I’m proud of the effort.”

Keselowski was referring to the fact the second race in the 10-race Chase will be at NHMS.  The issue with the inside line on restarts won’t be overlooked as the team prepares for the return in September.  Neither will qualifying. 

“We’ve got to go to work and figure out how to get the Miller Lite Dodge qualified better,” said crew chief Paul Wolfe.  “That’s been a challenge.  It’s something we’ll put a little emphasis on and see if we can’t get it better.  Any time you can finish top five in the Cup series, that’s a pretty strong day.  We got stuck on the bottom on a couple of restarts.  Both times, we went from fifth to 10th.  Our car was really good 15, 20 laps into the run but this place is so tough to pass.  We were able to fight our way back.”

Sam Hornish Jr. finished 22nd in the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger.  He ran in the top 20 most of the afternoon and was looking to make a big jump with some late-race pit strategy.  Crew chief Todd Gordon opted to forego a pit stop during the third and final caution on lap 235 for track position.  The hope was for another caution before the No. 22 would have to make a scheduled pit stop.  The caution didn’t come and Hornish had to pit under green 27 laps from the finish.

“The big thing for us was to make sure we stayed out of trouble,” Hornish said.  “I would like to have finished better but that wasn’t in the cards for us today.  At times, I thought we were pretty good but we just weren’t consistent enough.  We didn’t have corner-entry stability.  I could get up to ‘em, roll the center on ‘em and come off the corner beside ‘em but I couldn’t drive it down in there like I needed to make passes.”

The race was won by Kasey Kahne, his second win of the season.  Denny Hamlin, who led 150 laps, finished second.  There were 16 lead changes among eight drivers.  Keselowski led twice for three laps. 

NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES (NNS)
Brad Keselowski collected his second NASCAR Nationwide Series win of the season with a dominant performance Saturday afternoon in the F.W. Webb 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. 

Keselowski started from the pole and led 131 of the 200 laps.  He passed Kevin Harvick to take the lead for the fourth and final time with 22 laps remaining as the two battled through lapped traffic.  Once in the lead with his No. 22 Snap-on Dodge Challenger, Keselowski was in command to the checkered flag.  The margin of victory was .717 seconds.

“Kevin (Harvick) raced me hard,” said Keselowski.  “He's a lot of fun to race with.  I caught a little bit of a break in lapped traffic. That's the way it goes.  I think he made contact with the 24 (Amber Cope).  It looked like at least from my view and it just slowed down his momentum.  You know, from there it’s just a matter of trying to capitalize on it and the move I made capitalized on it.  That’s as short and sweet as I can be.  It’s just lapped traffic and the battles that come with it.”

Keselowski claimed his second win of the season and 19th in 182 Nationwide races.  It was his first win in five starts at NHMS.  He claimed the pole for the 200-lap event, his third consecutive pole at the 1.058-mile track.  Teammate Sam Hornish Jr. finished fourth in the No. 12 Alliance Truck Parts Dodge Challenger, his fourth top-five finish of the 2012 season.  He remains fourth in the season standings, 32 points behind the leader.

“We were really good on the short runs but we weren’t good enough the longer the runs went,” Hornish said.  “We were way too tight in the center of the corner and weren’t able to get off the corner like we needed to.  I’m real proud of the guys at Penske Racing, from the guys on the road crew here to the guys that put the cars together.  They’ve built us some real good cars with real good reliability as well.  It was a good finish for the Alliance Truck Parts Dodge.”

GLOBAL RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP (GRC)
Travis Pastrana erased the disappointment of the first three races of the 2012 Global RallyCross Championship season with an impressive victory in Saturday night’s race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.  Pastrana drove his Red Bull/Discount Tire Dodge Dart to a 1.431-second win over Samuel Hubinette.

“It’s been so long, I almost forgot what it’s like to win,” said Pastrana.  “It is absolutely awesome to get out here and get on top.  Everyone on this Dodge Dart team has worked so hard.  We've just been creamed and crushed every race.  I have to thank everybody that has supported me.  It’s been a really rough year.”

The challenging circuit involved more elements and obstacles than previous events at Charlotte and Texas.  Drivers had to deal with a chicane, moguls, dirt, a tabletop jump, a 180-degree hairpin turn and a 70-foot gap jump.  The race also involved a Joker Lap (turn) – each driver was required to take a longer route at least once during the Heat Race and Main Event. 

Pastrana qualified third fastest and won his heat race which gave him a prime starting spot in the Main Event.  “It really comes down to qualifying and we were able to qualify third which put us up front for the Heat Race,” he said.  “We qualified second at X Games and should have had a smooth run like this but we had help in the first turn (hit from behind and pushed into the retaining wall).

“This is a brand new car.  Dodge put so much behind this.  Guys from every different branch of Dodge were coming out.  The motor has been strong the whole time.  It’s just a matter of getting everything else in place.  I want to thank everyone for backing me.  I know it’s only our fourth race in this brand-new car which actually, if you think about it, it’s amazing to be on top of the podium.  But for us, we had a lot of expectations coming into this season and we wanted to win.  X Games was such a letdown, this was a good way to bring it back.”

Getting out front was the key.  Pastrana was able to do that in the Heat Race and Main Event.  He and Hubinette had a torrid battle in their Heat Race and it continued in the Main Event.  After overtaking Tanner Foust at the tricky hairpin turn on the first lap, it was vintage Pastrana maneuvering the Dodge Dart through the various obstacles in the finale.

“This Dodge Dart is an awesome car,” said Pastrana.  “These guys (crew) gave me what it took to win.  I just want to thank each and every one of those guys standing back there (in Victory Lane) with the big smiles.  Thank you guys for believing in me and thanks to all the fans that kept backing me because I tell you what, it’s been tough.”

Brian Deegan finished third with Foust and Ken Block rounding out the top five.

How big was the victory?  “It’s bigger than you could ever imagine,” said Pastrana.  “I feel like we had the best car, we have a great crew and we finally showed where this Dodge Dart should be – Victory Lane.”

NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES (NCWTS)
Parker Kligerman drove the No. 29 Reese Towpower RAM to his fifth top-10 finish of the season Saturday night at Iowa Speedway.  He raced in the top 12 throughout the 200-lap event and finished 10th.

“Everybody on this Reese Towpower RAM team never gave up,” Kligerman said.  “Doug (Randolph) and I had a heart-to-heart after practice to try and figure out what we needed to do to get the truck to run better.  We talked about a lot of things and we threw everything that we had at the RAM.”

Kligerman acknowledged things could have been much worse.  “We weren’t a top-five truck, maybe a top-10,” he said.  “We had a mishap in the pits with one of the lap-down trucks and that tripped us from a seventh or eight-place finish.  If you would have told me that we would get a 10th-place finish after practice, I would have told you that you’re crazy.”

The race was slowed for seven caution flags – three in the final 35 laps – for a total of 39 laps.  Timothy Peters earned the win, leading four times for 87 laps.  Ron Hornaday Jr. finished second.  Kligerman remains fifth in driver standings, 47 points behind the leader.

AMERICAN LE MANS SERIES (ALMS)
Tommy Kendall is the latest addition to the SRT Viper GTS-R team that will compete in the American Le Mans Series.  The first on-track appearance will be Aug. 4 at the Mid-Ohio (Lexington, Ohio) Sports Car Course. 

Kendall made the announcement Sunday night on SPEED’s Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain.  “I got a call out of the blue about six weeks ago inviting me to a driver shootout,” he said.  “I said what the heck, let’s do it although I haven’t driven anything competitively in six years.  I didn’t have any idea how it was going to turn out, but fortunately the stopwatch doesn’t know how old you are.  Obviously, it went well enough and I got the nod.  I’m going to be campaigning for SRT Motorsports and their Viper program in ALMS.”

Kendall joins three other full-time drivers previously announced including Dominik Farnbacher, from Ansbach, Germany; Marc Goossens from Geel, Belgium; and Kuno Wittmer from Montreal.  Ryan Hunter-Reay from Dallas will join the team for the longer endurance races.

“Tommy Kendall is an excellent addition to our team,” said Beth Paretta, Director of Marketing and Operations – SRT Brand and Motorsports.  “It’s fitting that Tommy makes his return to competition as the SRT Viper GTS-R returns to ALMS.  He competed in the SRT Viper Cup Series recently at Virginia International Raceway and drove from the back to the front of the field in impressive fashion before a fuel problem relegated him to a third-place finish.  His experience as a road racer makes him a strong addition to our team.”  

SRT Motorsports has partnered with Riley Technologies, based in Mooresville, N.C., on the design-and-build process of the new SRT Viper GTS-R race cars. The team will compete in the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Challenge, a three-hour American Le Mans Series (ALMS) endurance race presented by Tequila Patron.

Following the limited schedule this season, the SRT Motorsports team will compete full time in the series in 2013.

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