Team Penske: Phoenix Preview

Brad Keselowski might be smiling. But the 2012 NASCAR champ has spent the past few weeks ruffling the feathers of fellow competitors.

Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500
Phoenix International Raceway
Sunday, November, 9, 2014, 3:00 pm ET

THE NEWS AND NOTES

The No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion driven by Brad Keselowski

Â· CONTENTIOUSLY CONTENDING: Despite an eventful couple of weeks in the Eliminator Round of the Chase, Keselowski is still very much in the hunt as he strives to win his second NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship. With two Chase victories each to their credit, Keselowski and teammate Joey Logano have produced the most wins in NASCAR’s playoff format.

Â· RISING IN PHOENIX: Keselowski owns 10 career starts at Phoenix International Raceway (PIR). His best finish to date came in the spring race earlier this season when he finished in third place. The 30-year-old driver has four top-six finishes in his last five starts at PIR.

Â· NO. 2 MILLER LITE TEAM ON A MISSION FOR TWO: Last weekend at Texas, the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford team and driver showcased their mettle. Keselowski started 26th but worked his way to the front where the team challenged for the win and brought home a third-place finish to keep their quest for a second Sprint Cup championship alive.

Keselowski has excelled on the short tracks in 2014.

Â· PERFECT PLACE FOR THE FIRST TIME: Short tracks are one of Keselowski’s many strengths. He has claimed NASCAR Sprint Cup Series short track victories at Loudon and Richmond this season. Phoenix is a track that Keselowski knows well and he and the Miller Lite team would like nothing more than to claim their first PIR win on Sunday.

Â· CHERISHING THE CHASE: Through the first eight races of the exciting new Chase format, Team Penske has captured the checkered flag four times. There are five teams and six other drivers represented in the Eliminator Round of the Chase. Thus far, Team Penske drivers have produced as many wins this year as all six of the other Elimination Round drivers combined.

Â· ONE WEEKEND TWO DESERT TOWNS: Keselowski will be in Las Vegas on Thursday of this week at the renowned SEMA event. The 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion will make appearances at the EnerSys display and then visit the PPG display beginning at 11:00 am local time. Once he finishes up at SEMA he will head to Las Vegas Motor Speedway to spend a few hours at a Discount Tire event before traveling to Phoenix.

THE Q&A

BRAD KESELOWSKI, NO. 2 MILLER LITE FORD

YOU ARE ON THE CUSP OF ADVANCING TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND OF THE CHASE. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT PHOENIX BEING THE TRACK TO DETERMINE THAT THIS WEEKEND?

“If this team is in the race then we are more than capable of winning. We’ve demonstrated all year long that we can contend for wins and that we are a viable threat to win every weekend. Team Penske and this Miller Lite Ford team have been building great cars all year long. We’ve executed very well on race day and we’ve stood strong and united through more than our fair share of adversity. I couldn’t be more proud to be a part of an organization that has this tradition of excellence on and off the track. We are going into the Phoenix race with our heads up, our hearts pure and our eyes focused. It’s going to be fun."

AFTER A DOMINANT START TO THE CHASE, YOU’VE HAD TO WORK EXTREMELY HARD TO ADVANCE THESE LAST COUPLE OF ROUNDS. DOES THAT IMPACT YOUR MINDSET?

“With this format you don’t feel like you are ever secure unless you win a race, and it is hard to build a big lead that means anything, kind of like where Joey Logano is now. On the other side of it, you always feel like you can get your way out of a jam and in this case it is with a win. We were able to do that in the last round. I am optimistic we can do that in this round. I completely understand that and am ready for that challenge. When it comes down to moments like this, great teams have to step it up. I believe we are a great team, and we are ready for the challenge."

THE NEWS AND NOTES

Joey Logano has been at the top of the Sprint Cup standings 5 of the last 6 weeks.

The No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Fusion

Â· BACK ON TOP: Despite his 12th-place finish last weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, his worst result of the Chase thus far, Joey Logano regained the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) points lead last weekend. Logano has now led the NSCS standings for five of the last six weeks.

Â· A CHASE LEADER: Through the first eight races of the 2014 Chase, Logano continues to be the driver out in front of the pack. His two wins and six top-five finishes in the Chase leads all drivers, along with his average finish of 5.25 through the first eight races. Logano has also spent more laps running in the top 15 than any other driver in the Chase. Under the old Chase system, Logano would hold a 35-point lead over Kevin Harvick and a 49-point lead over teammate Brad Keselowski with just two races remaining.

Â· A QUICK STOP IN VEGAS: This week, SEMA, the premier automotive specialty products trade event in the world, takes place in Las Vegas and Logano will be there as both a spectator and a featured guest. Logano will sign autographs at the Whelen booth on Thursday, November 6 from 2-4 pm PT. While he’s there, Logano will also walk the floor and check out some of the newest products and cars from around the world.

Â· DON’T LOOK AT PAST STATS: Logano’s career numbers at Phoenix International Raceway aren’t overly impressive with just two top-five and five top-10 finishes in 11 starts at the one-mile track, but he has performed well there recently. In his last two starts at PIR, Logano recorded finishes of ninth and fourth place. In March of 2013, his first race at Phoenix with Team Penske, Logano was running in the top 10 when a fuel pickup problem with less than 10 laps to go brought him to pit road. And in the fall race in 2012, Logano was running in the top five when he was swept up in an accident between Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer. Without those two incidents, Logano would have produced six straight top-11 finishes at Phoenix.

Â· A SOUTHWEST HOMECOMING: One of the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil team members will be making a homecoming of sorts this weekend. Kellen Mills, the gasman on the No. 22 Ford, is originally from Mesa, Arizona, just 30 miles east of Phoenix International Raceway. Mills also played college football at Arizona State, where he was a defensive end from 2004 through 2007.

THE Q&A

JOEY LOGANO, NO. 22 SHELL-PENNZOIL FORD

ONLY TWO WEEKS LEFT IN THE 2014 SEASON. CAN YOU BELIEVE THE YEAR IS COMING TO A CLOSE?

It's been a breakout season for Joey Logano.

“It seems like it just started. I remember Daytona like it was yesterday. But it’s been a fun year – definitely the best year of my career, no matter what the stats say. The guys on this Shell-Pennzoil team are just great to be around. We’ve had so much fun together. This is the best team I’ve ever worked with for sure. They believe in me and I believe in them. I’m just proud of the way that we’ve pulled together in the good times and in the tough times this year. That is the kind of attitude that allows teams to go for Championships, and we are fortunate that that is where we are right now, in the hunt for this Championship. But we will continue to do what we’ve been doing and work on finishing out the year. It’s been a fun ride this far though."

WHAT DO YOU AND THE NO. 22 SHELL PENNZOIL TEAM HAVE TO DO TO MAKE IT TO HOMESTEAD TO FIGHT FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP?

“I feel like a broken record because I feel like I keep saying this week after week, but we just need to keep doing what we’ve been doing. Like my crew chief Todd Gordon said, we aren’t out here trying to reinvent the wheel, we are just trying to polish the wheel. We are just fine-tuning everything that we’ve been doing all year long. This team has had some bad luck, and when we do, we fight through it and make the best of it, just like what happened in Texas. We were in a hole after we had the issue on the pit stop, and no one gave up and we were able to finish strong and come out of there with the point lead. That’s what this team does. And that is what we will keep doing, all the way through Homestead."

Team Penske