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Whataya think? Brad Keselowski outs Hendrick setups?

by Charlie Turner

Thanks for stopping by OnPitRow.com and the Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie blog. The best NASCAR and IndyCar news and opinion, exclusive pictures and video. I'm Charlie Turner. Follow me on Twitter @onpitrow

August 23, 2012 5:36 pm UTC No Comments

At the Michigan Speedway post-race presser, runner-up finisher The Kez did everything but call Hendrick Motor Sports, RCR and Roush-Fenway, a bunch of dirty cheaters.

How do you feel about that Junior fan? Ford Fan? Here’s how Steve and I feel about it. Photo credit: BethAnne Heisler – OnPitRow.com

Filed under: Brad Kesolowski, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Hendrick Motorsports, Michigan International Speedway, NASCAR, Penske Racing, Richard Childress Racing, Rusty Wallace, Sprint Cup Series

Tagged with: It's Only Cheating if You Get Caught, Pure Michigan 400

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NASCAR Pure Michigan 400: Parker Kligerman in #22 for Practice

by Charlie Turner

August 17, 2012 8:36 am UTC No Comments

Red Horse Racing driver Parker Kligerman will take the early laps in the Shell #22 for Penske Racing Dodge this weekend, filling in for Sam Hornish Jr. Kligerman joined us On Pit Row Tuesday and talked about his new Camping World Truck Series ride with Red Horse, filling in for Hornish on the #22 and philosophy on race drivers and the state of the sport. Kligerman is not your average 21 year old.

Filed under: Camping World Truck Series, Michigan International Speedway, NASCAR, On Pit Row The Fastest Two Hours on Radio, Penske Racing, Sam Hornish Jr

Tagged with: Parker Kligerman

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Putting Penske’s Switch To Ford In Perspective

by Chris Leone, Special To NASCAR commentary and driver pictures, 2012 NASCAR schedule, video, Bench Racing With Steve and Charlie

I do weekly Fantasy Pick'Em columns here at OPR, as well as the occasional opinion and analysis piece. I also provide the IZOD IndyCar Series coverage. For more on that, head to my site, OpenWheelAmerica.com. My Twitter handle is @christopherlion.

March 1, 2012 11:58 am UTC No Comments

Kurt Busch, driver of the #22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge, races during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway on June 26, 2011 in Sonoma, California. (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images for NASCAR)

SONOMA, CA - JUNE 26: Kurt Busch, driver of the #22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge, races during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway on June 26, 2011 in Sonoma, California. (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Penske Racing announced today that they will be making the switch from Dodge engines to Fords in 2013, ending a 10-year relationship with the brand that saw Penske-prepped Intrepids, Chargers, and Challengers take 42 combined Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series wins. Among the highlights of the relationship were Penske’s first Daytona 500 victory, eight Chase for the Sprint Cup berths, and the 2010 Nationwide Series championship. 2011 Chase contender Brad Keselowski will drive a Ford at the sport’s highest level for the first time, while new addition A.J. Allmendinger will drive for his fourth Ford-powered team since 2004, counting his three years in Champ Car.

This won’t be team owner Roger Penske’s first time with Ford in NASCAR, either. From 1994 to 2002, Penske fielded Thunderbirds and Tauruses for primary drivers Rusty Wallace, Jeremy Mayfield, and Ryan Newman. The relationship started off hot, as Wallace would win eight races in 1994 and 15 in his first three years as a blue oval driver. He would add eight more victories from 1997 to 2001, while Mayfield would add three more from 1998 to 2001 and Newman would take his first career victory in 2002.

Penske left Ford after the 2002 season to join Dodge, then only two years into its return to NASCAR and struggling to establish a solid footing in the sport. The brand would succeed at Daytona, sweeping the front row in 2001 and winning in 2002 with Ward Burton, and had a championship challenger in 2002 with Sterling Marlin. But all that promise didn’t lead to much; Marlin’s third place in 2001 points made him the only driver to crack the top 10 either year.

The switch would pay immediate dividends, as Newman would match Wallace’s feat by winning eight races with a new manufacturer in 2003. Wallace would add a win himself, and where Dodge had only scored 10 wins with 10 cars in 2001 and 2002, Penske had nearly doubled the brand’s win total in 2003 alone with two cars. Kurt Busch would join the team in 2006 and have a handful of good seasons with the team, Newman would add a Daytona 500 win in 2008, and Penske Racing would become far and away Dodge’s most prominent and important team as the 2000s went on.

Meanwhile, many of Dodge’s other teams would either leave the brand or fall off the map entirely. A series of sales and mergers turned former flagship teams Evernham Motorsports and Petty Enterprises into the same entity, which joined the Ford ranks in 2010. Chip Ganassi Racing would merge into Dale Earnhardt Inc. in 2009, switching to Chevrolet. Bill Davis Racing defaulted on its Dodge contract by running Toyotas in the Craftsman Truck Series, eventually joining them in Sprint Cup in 2007. Other teams, like Melling Racing, Ultra Motorsports, and A.J. Foyt’s NASCAR operation, simply folded.

Penske has worked with just about every major company in motorsports. In fact, he has a history of establishing long relationships with brands, then ending them for something better. It’s happened more than once in the past few years; the most notable instance came last year, when the team dumped a long association with Mobil 1 to resume a partnership with Pennzoil that had ended after 1990.

This move has huge implications for everybody involved, particularly the manufacturers. For Ford, it’s a signal that they’ve come all the way back after a handful of lean years. As recently as 2008, Ford only fielded eight full-time cars, lowest in the series. While five of those came from the perennial contender Roush Fenway Racing, Wood Brothers Racing would cut to a limited schedule for 2009 and beyond, and the two Yates Racing cars wouldn’t exist beyond 2009. But Richard Petty Motorsports and Front Row Motorsports (theoretically a continuation of Yates Racing) would add seven cars in 2010, while Roush would keep its fifth car alive through a transfer of owners’ points. That would give Ford 12 cars for 2010; adding the two Penske teams to this year’s Fords, the brand will have a powerful 14 car lineup in 2013.

The story is much more bleak for the lame-duck engine manufacturer. In 2008, Dodge had 13 full-time, fully funded, and competitive Sprint Cup teams. Five years later, Dodge will be left with only one: Robby Gordon Motorsports, whose participation in the series is limited at best. Unless they makes a serious play for an existing team to switch manufacturers, or gives a smaller operation a major boost, Dodge may be all but gone from stock car racing’s highest level next season.

Filed under: A J Allmendinger, Brad Kesolowski, Penske Racing, Rusty Wallace, Ryan Newman

Tagged with: A.J. Allmendinger, Brad Keselowski, Dodge, Ford, Jeremy Mayfield, Kurt Busch, Penske Racing, Rusty Wallace, Ryan Newman

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The Kez Wins One for the Captain

by Charlie Turner

November 6, 2010 7:32 pm UTC No Comments

Brad Keselowski showed maturity – yep he did – in closing out his first NASCAR series championship at Texas Motor Speedway.

In doing so, The Kez brought one of auto racings’ most accomplished team owners his first NASCAR championship too.

Keselowski followed his two closest Nationwide Series championship contenders – Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch – to the finish line at TMS. He locked up the NNWS for Roger Penske, and himself, by doing so.

Penske has more racing championships than Keselowski has enemies, but this was The Captain’s first in NASCAR.

Rusty Wallace couldn’t bring one home. Nor did Ryan Newman, Kurt Busch or IRL Champ Sam Hornish Jr.

Congratulations Brad. You done the Captain proud.

Photo credit: Glenn Bure – OnPitRow.com

Filed under: Brad Kesolowski, Carl Edwards, Kurt Busch, NASCAR, Nascar Legends, Nationwide Series, Penske Racing, Rusty Wallace, Ryan Newman, Sam Hornish Jr

Tagged with: NNWS, Roger Penske

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IndyCar Race Preview: Firestone 550k

by Chris Leone, Special To NASCAR commentary and driver pictures, 2012 NASCAR schedule, video, Bench Racing With Steve and Charlie

June 5, 2010 3:06 pm UTC No Comments

Ryan Briscoe and Dario Franchitti will make up the front row for tonight’s Firestone 550k at Texas Motor Speedway, and both drivers are looking to continue trends that would bring them to the winner’s circle.

Since joining Team Penske, Briscoe started and finished third in the 2008 race, and started and finished second in 2009. His pole suggests that he might be able to continue that trend this year. Franchitti, meanwhile, will look to be the third Indianapolis 500 winner in a row to also triumph at Texas.

Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing-owned cars will, unsurprisingly, make up the top five starters, with Will Power (Penske), Scott Dixon (Ganassi), and Helio Castroneves (Penske) starting 3-4-5. Shocking, however, will be Alex Lloyd‘s sixth-place start for Dale Coyne Racing; it comes on the heels of his fourth-place start at Indy, and Milka Duno‘s shocking sixth-place run in Texas practice. (She’ll start back in 17th, though.)

Lloyd is the highest qualifying rookie, with Takuma Sato next best in 11th. None of the other four rookies qualified inside the top 20 of the 26-car field.

Tomas Scheckter, replacing the injured Mike Conway in Dreyer & Reinbold Racing‘s No. 24 Dallara-Honda, qualified 18th. Scheckter led laps in last weekend’s 500, as did two of the other three DRR drivers, only to fall to 15th and a lap down when the checkers waved. Scheckter hasn’t been guaranteed the ride beyond this weekend, but a strong showing may keep him in the car; on three occasions he’s led more than half of the Texas race, meaning he could be a threat for victory. In fact, Scheckter’s most recent IndyCar win came at Texas in 2005, when he drove for Panther Racing.

With two oval races completed, the Ganassi cars of Franchitti and Dixon lead the oval points, followed by Castroneves, Dan Wheldon of Panther Racing, Tony Kanaan and Marco Andretti of Andretti Autosport, Power, Alex Tagliani of FAZZT Race Team, Briscoe, and Danica Patrick. Wheldon and Patrick are separated by only eight points, but from there the gap widens; Castroneves is 10 ahead of Wheldon with 69, Dixon is 22 ahead of Castroneves with 91, and Franchitti is 13 ahead of Dixon with 104, bolstered by a 64-point Indy 500.

Filed under: Chip Ganassi Racing, Indy Cars, Penske Racing, Texas Motor Speedway

Tagged with: Chip Ganassi Racing, Dario Franchitti, Firestone 550k, IZOD IndyCar Series, Ryan Briscoe, Team Penske, Texas Motor Speedway

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Penske Racing Assembling NASCAR’s Best Stable of Young Talent

by Charlie Turner

March 23, 2010 1:03 pm UTC 1 Comment

Did you see the post race interview with Brad Keselowski after the Penske Racing one-two finish at Bristol?

The Kez wasn’t happy. He had just been passed at the end of a dominant performance in the NASCAR Nationwide Series race. He said all the right things. But he did seem to be choking something back. I got the feeling that his inner Brad was saying something like – “If that had been Edwards or Hamlin, instead of Allgaier, and if the whole world weren’t watching me this week, there’s no flippin’ way…..”

It was Justin Allgaier though, who finally made good on the promise he has shown since signing with the Penske organization, off his 2008 ARCA Racing Series championship. It was the first of a bunch more NASCAR wins to come. And they won’t all be in the NASCAR Nationwide Series schedule either. Allgaier is coming to Sprint Cup, right behind Keselowski. And it won’t be long.

ESPN the Magazine’s Ryan McGee was a guest On Pit Row before the Bristol Motor Speedway weekend. The talk started to be about Keselowski. Shortly, it turned to Penske Racing in general. The great 2010 start of Kurt Busch. Keselowski’s speed. The tenuous hold that Sam Hornish may have on a ride that Allgaier covets. And then there is 19 year old Parker Kliggerman, 2009 ARCA Racing Series near-champ and Rookie of the Year.

There is a theory being floated that because they are the only Dodge team, Penske has an advantage of being the sole focus of Dodge’s more limited resources. Larry McReynolds and Rusty Wallace both suggested as much Sunday. If it’s true, Roger Penske probably anticipated that. He’s a smart guy, Roger. And he has always been a great driver-talent evaluator.

The future looks bright at Penske.

Photo credit: BethAnne Heisler – On Pit Row

Filed under: Brad Kesolowski, Bristol Motor Speedway, Kurt Busch, NASCAR, Nationwide Series, Penske Racing, Sam Hornish Jr

Tagged with: Justin Allgaier, Parker Kliggerman

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