Brad Keselowski

BRAD KESELOWSKI TO JOIN PENSKE RACING
MOORESVILLE, N.C. (September 1, 2009)

Penske Racing announced today that Brad Keselowski, one of NASCAR's rising stars, will compete for the team full-time, beginning with the 2010 NASCAR season.

Keselowski, a 25-year-old native of Rochester Hills, Mich., will drive the No. 12 Penske Dodge in the NASCAR Cup Series next season. He will also run a full-season schedule in the 2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series where he will compete for a championship with the team.

" We are very excited to welcome Brad to the Penske Racing family," said Roger Penske. "Brad has shown terrific success on track the past several years and has quickly established himself as one of the top young stars in racing. He comes from an impressive family background in motorsports. He is a proven winner and a welcome addition to our team.

" Penske Racing also thanks David Stremme for his contributions to the team. We are looking forward to a strong finish to the 2009 season with David and the No. 12 Penske Dodge team."

A third-generation driver, Keselowski has won at every level in which he has competed. He is currently ranked third in the Nationwide Series standings with three wins to his credit in 2009, including a dramatic victory in August at his home track at Michigan International Speedway. Keselowski also scored his first Cup Series win earlier this year at Talladega Superspeedway and he has produced three top-10 finishes in just eight Cup Series starts this season.

" Penske Racing is one of the top teams in all of motorsports and I am honored to join Roger Penske's organization and compete for wins with his Cup and Nationwide Series teams," said Keselowski. "This is a great opportunity for me to continue competing in the Nationwide Series and to run my first full season in the Cup Series with a strong and experienced team."

Growing up working for his family's team, K Automotive Motorsports, Keselowski followed in the footsteps of his father Bob, a 23-year veteran driver who won more than 50 races and the 1989 ARCA Series championship. The younger Keselowski joined NASCAR in 2004, racing for his family's team in the Truck Series. Expanding to Nationwide Series competition in 2006, Keselowski's career began to blossom.

He finished third in the 2008 Nationwide Series championship, the highest standing for a regular series racer, earning a pair of wins while also being named the Most Popular Driver in the Nationwide Series. After making his Cup Series debut in Texas last season, Keselowski has continued to shine. He has posted Nationwide Series victories at Dover, Iowa and Michigan in 2009, along with his first Cup Series win in April at Talladega. His performances have made Keselowski one of the most sought-after talents in NASCAR this season.

About Penske Racing
In 2009, Penske Racing competes in the NASCAR Cup Series with former Cup Series champion Kurt Busch and the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge, former three-time IndyCar Series champion Sam Hornish Jr. in the No. 77 Mobil 1 Dodge and David Stremme in the No. 12 Penske Dodge. The team also competes in the Nationwide Series with Justin Allgaier, the 2008 ARCA RE/MAX Series champion, in the No. 12 Verizon Wireless Dodge. Competing in a variety of disciplines, cars owned and prepared by Penske Racing have produced more than 300 major race wins, over 350 pole positions and 22 national championships. For more information about Penske Racing, please visit www.penskeracing.com

Penske Racing Press Release

11/19/09

FINAL RACE WITH JR MOTORSPORTS - Brad Keselowski will make his final start for JR Motorsports in the No. 88 GoDaddy.com Chevy this weekend. For the 21st consecutive week, Keselowski is ranked third in the NASCAR Nationwide Series point standings, 60 points behind second place Carl Edwards. In 34 races this season, Keselowski and the No. 88 team have four wins, 22 top-fives, 28 top-10s and two pole awards. His average starting position is 13.3 and average finish is 6.8. In the 103 races Keselowski has started for JRM, he has notched six wins, 33 top-fives, 53 top-10s and three pole awards. Before joining JRM, the best Keselowski had finished was 24th.

KESELOWSKI AT HOMESTEAD-MIAMI - Keselowski will make his third career Nationwide Series start at Homestead-Miami Speedway this weekend for JR Motorsports. In his previous starts, Keselowski has scored one top-five finish which came at the conclusion of the 2008 season.

IMPRESSIVE AT INTERMEDIATES - Keselowski has shown strength on tracks measuring 1.5 miles in length in the second half of the season. In his last four races on intermediate tracks (Texas Motor Speedway, Lowe's Motor Speedway, Kansas Speedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway) Keselowski has finished no worse than sixth, with an average finish of 4.5.

FINISHING UNDER THE LIGHTS - While he has earned all four of his wins in daytime races, Keselowski has impressive stats under the lights. In 14 such races, Keselowski has amassed nine top-fives, 13 top-10s and an average finish of 7.1. His highest finish under the lights came at Nashville with a second place showing.

FINAL GODADDY RACE - Keselowski will make his final start for primary sponsor GoDaddy.com in Homestead. GoDaddy.com has been a JRM partner since the 2008 season with drivers Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Ron Fellows in addition to Keselowski in 2009. This season, Keselowski has performed well with GoDaddy on the hood with three wins, 12 top-fives, 14 top-10s and an average finish of 6.7.

CHASSIS NO. 356 - The No. 88 GoDaddy.com team will run Chassis No. 356 this weekend in the season finale Ford 300. This car was last run at Texas Motor Speedway and has been a favorite of the No. 88 team in 2009. Chassis 356 has been raced eight times this season with one win (Michigan), five top-fives and six top-10s.

DEGREE V12 CHALLENGE - NASCAR fans still have a chance to team up with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Brad Keselowski in the Degree V12 Challenge. Players compete against each other for a chance to win a variety of great prizes including tailgate entertainment systems, gaming packages, cash, and more! Visit www.DegreeRacing.com to register for the Degree V12 Challenge and begin racing to win. (No purchase necessary. Must be 18 to enter. Void where prohibited. Ends 12/27/09. Visit www.DegreeRacing.com for complete rules.)

KESELOWSKI (on finishing out his career with JR Motorsports at Homestead) - "It has been an amazing year both for me and this No. 88 JR Motorsports team. I knew we had the potential and ability to get these four wins and top finishes all season, and it's been awesome to be able to actually do it. I can't thank everyone at JRM enough for all of the countless hours of hard work that's been put into this year. You can definitely tell that it's been a team effort all around. Even after I made my announcement a few months back that I would be moving on, nothing changed. Everyone continued to step up. We all wanted to get more wins and finish as well as possible at Homestead.

"We are bringing back one of my favorite cars to Homestead as it's the one we won with in Michigan. While the championship is out of reach at this point, a win to finish out the season isn't. If things are going our way, we could also move to second in the point standings. And I'd love to be able to do that for this team, our sponsors and fans."

PaddockTalk Perspective

11/16/09

Keselowski meets with NASCAR before race
By JENNA FRYER (AP)

AVONDALE, Ariz. - Brad Keselowski met with top NASCAR officials for about 20 minutes before Sunday's race at Phoenix International Raceway, where the young driver had yet another on-track run-in with Denny Hamlin.

Keselowski was summoned to a closed-door meeting in the NASCAR truck with president Mike Helton, vice president of competition Robin Pemberton and Nationwide Series director Joe Balash to discuss growing tension among rival drivers about Keselowski's aggressive nature.

NASCAR chairman Brian France entered the truck mid-meeting.

"I really respect the fact that Brian France walked in there, that meant a lot to me," Keselowski said after the meeting. "It's really the first time I've ever had a conversation with him. I think that's a good sign for the sport that he was involved in that conversation."

At issue is an escalating feud with Hamlin. Contact between the two has led to five Hamlin wrecks dating back to last season, and the latest came in Saturday's Nationwide race at PIR.

Hamlin hit Keselowski on a restart, and Keselowski retaliated by hitting him back to knock Hamlin's car out of line. He then followed with a second hit that wrecked Hamlin.

"The second time was a little overboard," Pemberton said.

Hamlin has vowed revenge in next week's Nationwide finale at Homestead, pretty much promising to wreck Keselowski. He's grown increasingly frustrated with an inability to discuss on-track issues with his new rival, and it continued after Saturday night's race when the two had a short but animated conversation in which Hamlin declared he'd have been more successful making his point "talking to the concrete."

Keselowski said after meeting with NASCAR that he doesn't see a need to talk to Hamlin about their conflict.

"I don't really want to engage that," he said. "I'm quite satisfied with my own role in the sport as it is with the other drivers. So I don't feel the need to engage that situation."

But Rick Hendrick, who co-owns the Nationwide car that Keselowski will drive one last time next weekend, said he thinks the two need to sit down and resolve their differences.

"The sooner they get that behind them, the better off they are going to be," Hendrick said. "Those kind of things only tear you down and slow you down and get your head all tore up. The way to bury that deal is face-to-face, talk it out, and it will be over."

Keselowski is moving to Penske Racing full time next season for a Sprint Cup Series ride, and there seems to be a growing list of drivers who hope Keselowski has a difficult transition. Hendrick thinks Keselowski needs to avoid that situation.

"If you get to a point where everybody you get to wants to put a fender on you, you are not going to be very successful," Hendrick said.

11/15/09

Are you ready to Rumble!

If you want to see racing like it was in the old days watch the WWE, at the Nationwide Series!
Even if you don't like what happened, who did what to who etc, this is fun! Earnhardt vs Wallace, Kevin Harvick, versus, well, just about everone, now Brad Keselowski vs Denny Hamlin. Love it!

Now for the report;

Edwards' win staves off Busch title
By JENNA FRYER (AP)

AVONDALE, Ariz. - Carl Edwards has rolled to a dominating win at Phoenix International Speedway that staved off Kyle Busch's bid to clinch the Nationwide Series title.

Busch overcame an early accident to finish ninth, but because Edwards picked up bonuses for leading the most laps and winning the race, Busch will have to wait until next week's finale to wrap up his first NASCAR championship.

The race was marked by yet another run-in between rivals Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski during a late sequence of hard racing. Both were inside the top five when Hamlin tapped into Keselowski, who retaliated by hitting Hamlin twice. The second contact caused Hamlin to spin.

Keselowski grew up in an environment where spending time at the race shop and the track was just a way of life. His father, Bob Keselowski, was a 1997 race winner in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. His uncle, Ron Keselowski, competed at the Cup Series level in the early 1970s.

At the age of 14, Brad Keselowski made the transition from turning wrenches for his family-owned team, K Automotive Motorsports, to racing. He started competing in the Senior Honda 120 Quarter Midget division in 1998. In his first season, he earned six feature wins. The next year, he moved up to the Senior Honda 160 Quarter Midget division where he won eight feature races and the championship.

In 2000:

Keselowski began racing stock cars in the Factory Stock division. That season, he collected nine feature wins as well as Rookie-of-the-Year honors at two Michigan tracks - Auto City Speedway and Dixie Motor Speedway.

During the next three years, Keselowski balanced his budding racing career with his full-time job working for his family's Camping World Truck Series operation. He advanced to the Limited Late Model and Super Late Model divisions and continued to rack up wins, despite competing on a limited basis. In 2001, he earned five fast qualifier positions, one feature win and five top-five finishes. In the next two seasons, he collected 11 fast qualifier positions, two Super Late Model wins, two Limited Late Model wins and nine top-five finishes.

2004:

Keselowski began competing in NASCAR in 2004, when he began racing in the Craftsman Truck Series, driving the #29 for his family-owned K Automotive Racing team. He made his debut at Martinsville Speedway, where he started 26th and finished 33rd. He made seven more starts that season, his best finish coming at Mansfield, where he finished 16th.

2005:

Keselowski began competing in the Truck Series full-time with backing from SUBcrews.com and Samson Stone. He opened the season with a career-best seventh-place finish at the Florida Dodge Dealers 250. Running every race that season, he finished 21st in points. He ran the first two races of 2006 for K-Automotive, finishing sixteenth at California Speedway, before a lack of sponsorship caused the team to temporarily suspend operations. Keselowski then drove a pair of races filling in for the injured Kelly Sutton, where he had a seventh-place start at Memphis Motorsports Park. He returned to the Trucks in August, where he finished 33rd at Bristol Motor Speedway driving the #63 for MB Motorsports.

2006:

Keselowski continued to gain more NASCAR experience as he ran a partial schedule in both the Nationwide Series and the Camping World Truck Series. He earned valuable seat time as he competed in 13 combined races - seven in the Nationwide Series and six in the Truck Series. That experience prepared him for 2007, when he caught the eye of Dale Earnhardt Jr., owner of JR Motorsports.

2007:

Keselowski began running in the NASCAR Busch series full time and for Rookie of the Year honors with Keith Coleman Racing, but the team suspended operations in July. During the 2007 racing season, Keselowski was tabbed by Germain Racing to replace Ted Musgrave at Memphis Motorsports Park after Musgrave was suspended for an in race scuffle with another driver in Milwaukee. He qualified first for the Saturday night race, and led a majority of the race, but got bumped by Travis Kvapil with about nine laps to go. Keselowski finished 16th. Shortly afterwards, he was called by car owner Dale Earnhardt, Jr to drive his #88 United States Navy Chevrolet for JR Motorsports for the rest of the year in the Busch Series, posting five top-ten finishes

Though Earnhardt was aware of Keselowski's talent, he really became intrigued as he watched the young driver win the pole position, lead 62 laps and compete for the win that day in Memphis. But what struck Earnhardt the most about Keselowski was how he handled himself on the track, especially after being spun out with 10 laps to go by eventual race winner Travis Kvapil. Keselowski still salvaged a 16th-place finish after the incident. The race was the turning point in Keselowski's NASCAR career. Realizing how much Keselowski had to offer, JR Motorsports signed the young gun to drive the No. 88 car full-time in the Nationwide Series.

Keselowski made his debut for JR Motorsports in the July 2007 Nationwide race at Chicagoland Speedway. He earned a 14th-place result - the first of eight top-15 finishes he would score during the season. Keselowski competed in 27 races in all, but earned his best results driving the No. 88 entry, recording five top-10 and eight top-15 finishes in 14 starts.

2008:

Keselowski re-signed with JR in 2008, and got his first win came June 7, 2008 at Nashville Superspeedway, overcoming Clint Bowyer after the final caution in the closing laps of the race. His second Nationwide career win came in the same fashion at Bristol Motor Speedway on August 22, 2008. He ended the season third in the points standings, the highest finish by a full-time Nationwide Series-only driver.

Late in the season, Keselowski was hired to drive the #25 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet for two races with Hendrick Motorsports. Keselowski was on stand-by for an ill Jeff Gordon in Kansas and for expectant father Casey Mears at Talladega that season as well. Keselowski made his Cup series debut at Texas after failing to qualify twice due to rainouts. He finished the Dickies 500 in 19th position, and 23rd in the season finale at Homestead Miami Speedway.

2009:

Keselowski drove the 88 for JR in 2009 as well as competing in a limited Cup schedule. He also drove the #25 in seven races, and is scheduled to drive the #09 Phoenix Racing in ten races,

Keselowski pulled off an upset and earned his first Sprint Cup win during the 2009 Aaron's 499 at Talladega. He and Carl Edwards were dueling for the win on the final lap, with Keselowski running second until the final stretch when Edwards, who had been trying to keep Keselowski behind him by blocking, hit the front of Keselowski's car as he attempted to keep the block on and crashed, becoming airborne and hitting the catch fencing surrounding the track. Keselowski won in his fifth career start (third start in 2009) and led his first career Sprint Cup lap, Lap 188 (in fact the only lap he led the entire race). It was the first time since May 2007 a driver had won his first career win in a major, and the first win in the Aaron's 499 by a first-time driver since Phil Parsons 21 years ago. It was also the first time a driver's first ever lap led was to win the race. In the pass through the tri-oval, Brad went high to try and fake Carl Edwards out. When Edwards went high to block, Brad went low to pass. Edwards went to block thinking that he was clear, however, Edwards' left rear quarter panel hit the right front of Keselowski's car. Brad Keselowski did not go down due to the circumstances at the race last year involving Regan Smith and the yellow line (Smith passed Tony Stewart below the yellow line to finish first, but lost the win, even when he was forced to go down). Edwards went spinning and Keselowski won the race.

It appears that his win in Talladega has earned him more seat time in the James Finch-owned Chevy. Originally scheduled to appear next in the 18th race of the season, at Daytona International Speedway, is now scheduled to appear in the upcoming race at Richmond International Raceway. Keselowski will now race the Sprint All-Star Race as well. He was forced to pull out of the Richmond race due to commitments to his Nationwide series team.

Keselowski got his third Nationwide victory at Dover. Kyle Busch cut a tire on the restart, second-place Joey Logano rammed Busch and Keselowski passed them both.

After taking a gamble and staying out past his "pit-window," Keselowski garnered his fourth win at the first ever Nationwide race at Iowa Speedway after battling Kyle Busch to take over and maintain first position. Keselowski finishing first over Kyle Busch made Busch tie his record of nine consecutive top 2 finishes.

Brian Vickers and Kyle Busch dominated Michigan, but Keselowski came on top when momentum broke between the two, allowing Keselowski to pick up a victory in his home state.

Reports had surfaced that Keselowski will leave JR Motorsports and Phoenix Racing after the 2009 season to drive the #12 Dodge for Penske Racing. NASCAR.com reported that the deal had gone through but no confirmation has been made yet. Keselowski announced on August 27, 2009 that he would be leaving the #88 Nationwide car at the end of the season, but refused to comment on whether the reports of him going to Penske were true or not. Those reports were confirmed days later as Penske announced that not only would he drive full-time in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, but also in the Nationwide series with teammate Justin Algaier. As of October 15, 2009, Keselowski doesn't have a crew chief intact for 2010.

Sprint Cup (1 win)
2009
Aaron's 499 at Talladega Superspeedway - April 26, 2009

Nationwide Series (6 wins)

2009
1. Heluva Good! 200 at Dover International Speedway - May 30, 2009
2. U.S. Cellular 250 at Iowa Speedway - August 1, 2009.
3. Carfax 250 at Michigan International Speedway - August 15, 2009
4. Kroger On Track for the Cure 250 at Memphis Motorsports Park - October 24, 2009

2008
1. Federated Auto Parts 300 Presented by Dollar General at Nashville Superspeedway - June 7, 2008
2. Food City 250 at Bristol Motor Speedway - August 22, 2008

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