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Keselowski Finishes Fourth in "Monday Double" at Texas Motor Speedway |
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Fort Worth, Texas April 19, 2010
Penske Racing's Brad Keselowski defined the
role of a double-duty driver on Monday at Texas Motor Speedway. The 26-year-old
driver finished 14th in the No. 12 Penske Dodge Charger in the Samsung Mobile
500 NASCAR Cup Series race. He followed that up with a fourth-place finish in
the No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge Charger in the O'Reilly 300 Nationwide Series
event. Keselowski was one of 15 drivers to compete in both races that totaled
800 miles on the day.
Persistent rain in the Dallas-Fort Worth area over the weekend forced the NASCAR
Cup Series and Nationwide Series races to be run on the same day for the first
time since the fall events at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway in 2008. |
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Immediately following the Cup Series race, Keselowski made his way back to the
driver introduction stage for the start of pre-race activities for the
Nationwide Series race. For the second consecutive race, Keselowski was a victim
of track conditions during qualifying. The sun broke through the clouds during
his time trial and, as a result, the slick conditions relegated Keselowski to a
12th-place starting spot.
NASCAR announced that the Nationwide Series race would also feature a lap 25
competition caution. Keselowski ran cautiously in the Discount Tire Dodge until
the yellow flag fell before bringing his car down pit road for chassis
adjustments to fix a loose-handling condition. Upon restarting the race on lap
31, Keselowski's Charger "bottomed out" getting into Turn 1. He lost six spots
in the running order as a result and the situation continued to be a problem
that plagued the team on restarts throughout the race. |
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On lap 91, Keselowski entered the top-10 in the running order for the first
time. The No. 22 would remain one of the fastest cars on the track for the next
50 laps. The first visit by the Discount Tire Dodge Charger inside the top-five
came on lap 143.
Keselowski entered the race riding a streak of five consecutive top-five
finishes. He looked to be in position to make it six in a row late in the race
until he lost six positions on a lap 173 restart. However, a fast race car and
brilliant moves behind the wheel resulted in Keselowski rallying to extend the
streak with a fourth-place finish.
Penske Racing teammate Justin Allgaier finished 11th in the race. |
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Following the seventh race of the season, Keselowski currently sits second in
the 2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series driver and owner point standings, only 20
points behind leader Kyle Busch.
"Man, that was a long day," said Keselowski. "800 miles in one day is not
something I want to do again anytime soon. We had two strong cars with the No.
12 Penske Dodge Charger and the No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge Charger, but nothing
came easy for us today. We probably stole a top-15 finish in the Cup race, but
we've also had good finishes taken away from us this year. All in all, it was a
very good points day for us in both series. We'll take it and go to Talladega."
Both the No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge Charger team and the No. 12 Penske Dodge
Charger teams will move to the state of Alabama for the Aaron's 312 and Aaron's
499 at Talladega Superspeedway. The Nationwide Series race will be seen live on
Saturday afternoon, April 24, on the ABC television network beginning at 2:30
p.m. ET. The Cup Series event will be broadcast live on Sunday afternoon, April
25 on the FOX television network beginning at 1:00 p.m. ET. Both races can also
be heard live on MRN Radio, as well as Sirius Satellite Radio Channel 128. |
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Visit the Racing News Archive to read previously featured stories. |
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