Saturday, June 30, 2012

Kentucky Qualifying Report

Shell-Pennzoil Dodge driver AJ Allmendinger will start Saturday night’s Quaker State 400 from the 16th position. Dinger toured the bumpy 1.5-mile Kentucky Speedway in 30.160 seconds for an average speed of 179.045 mph in his qualifying effort here in today’s bizarre time trial session.

“I pretty much struggle around this place right now so it’s just trying to figure it out, really,” Allmendinger told Dodge PR Representative Jimmy White back in the garage area after qualifying had concluded. “(I am) just trying to get better, but really disappointed with that lap.”

Allmendinger had clocked in with the 11th-fastest lap in the first practice here today and was fourth in the day’s final practice session leading up to qualifying.

After teams had endured a sweltering afternoon with the temperature rising to 101 degrees with a 107-degree heat index, clouds moved in just as qualifying began. The wind began to pick up as a strong storm moved into the area. The session was halted after 21 drivers had made their attempts. The grandstands were cleared as the potential serious system moved through. Many large tents in the infield were overturned or completely destroyed.

When the storm had passed some 25 minutes later, dropping very little precipitation, the qualifying continued. The atmospheric temperature had dropped 20 degrees.

“It helped everybody that got to go after that,” Dinger said. “The track was a lot cooler. The biggest thing was the wind, trying to figure out how much to back the corners up. We just have to get better. It’s rough and it’s slick now. I just have a lot of work to do to try to figure it out. The car has been okay but it’s not fantastic. I think the 2 car (Keselowski) is really good. Brad is really good around here too so that helps a lot.”

Jimmie Johnson claimed the Coors Light Pole Award here this afternoon with a fast lap of 29.700 seconds (181.818 mph). It was his 26th career pole and a track record, after last year’s inaugural Cup race’s qualifying was rained out.

Kyle Busch, fastest in the first practice and the last driver to make his run, took the outside pole with a lap of 29.765 seconds (181.421 mph). Denny Hamlin was third with his lap of 29.810 seconds (181.147 mph), Kevin Harvick fourth with a 29.939 (-second/180.367-mph lap) and Ryan Newman fifth with a 29.944 (-second/180.337 mph lap).

Clint Bowyer, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Brad Keselowski (eighth with a lap of 29.966 seconds/180.204 mph in the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge), Jeff Gordon and Martin Truex Jr. rounded out today’s top-10 qualifiers.

“When you do all the practice and qualifying in the heat of the day and then race under the lights at night, it’s really tough all the way around,” said crew chief Todd Gordon. “But it’s the same for every team out there. Penske Racing has been really strong overall at this track and we may have to lean on our teammates a little here to help get our race package going.

“We’ll all get our heads together and figure it out,” Gordon added. “The big goal is to come out of here with another solid race and keep moving forward. I think we can do that here tomorrow night.”

Saturday night’s Quaker State 400 is a 267-lap, 400.5-mile battle around the 1.5-mile D-shaped Kentucky Speedway oval. The green flag is expected to fall just after 7:30 p.m. EDT. Race No. 17 of 36 points-paying events on the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule will feature live coverage by TNT-TV and PRN Radio.

Credit - Penske Racing PR

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Kentucky Race Preview

Shell-Pennzoil Dodge driver AJ Allmendinger enters this weekend’s Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway looking for a solid weekend on the 1.5 mile D-shaped tri-oval track. Saturday’s 400-mile, 267-lap battle will mark only the second visit by NASCAR’s premier series to the facility located some 35 miles south of Cincinnati.

“Kentucky is another one of the tough mile-and-a-half tracks,” offered Allmendinger, who started 17th on the Sonoma Raceway road course last Sunday and was relentless in coming through with a ninth-place finish. “The Sprint Cup Series had never raced there until last year, but I had tested on the track about three years before.

“We saw just how tough Kentucky Speedway can be last season during our inaugural race there,” Dinger continued. “With qualifying getting rained out last year, we started way back in 23rd. We fought a loose condition just about all race long and never could get a handle on it. We wound up finishing 28th. It certainly wasn’t what we were hoping to put into the record book for the first-ever Cup race there.

“Our Shell-Pennzoil Dodge Team has shown a lot of strength on the intermediate tracks this season,” Allmendinger offered. “We’ve had some fast race cars and have been able to qualify really well. But we’ve had all kinds of problems – like the fuel system issues and mechanical trouble – that have prevented us getting the good finishes.”

In the races on 1.5-mile tracks to date this season, Allmendinger and his Todd Gordon-led No. 22 Penske Racing unit have a 9.5 average start (including a Coors Light Pole Award at Kansas Speedway). The various issues that Dinger refers to have worked to produce a 29.3 average finish in those races.

“We’re just hoping to be able to go in there this weekend and have a solid performance that starts with practice and qualifying on Friday and continues on through Saturday’s race,” Dinger said. “It’s a Saturday night race and I really enjoy the night races.”

“I’m really looking forward to getting back to Kentucky Speedway this weekend,” offered crew chief Gordon. “It’s a tough old 1.5-mile track that has the bumps and a lot of character. With the low banking, the layout and the track surface like it is, it’s definitely not a ‘cookie-cutter’ track.

“Our Penske Racing Teams have had a very competitive history on that track and we’re hoping we can add to the record this weekend,” said Gordon. “Last year we showed some good strength all the way around at Kentucky Speedway. Over on the Nationwide Series side, we dominated with Brad in winning the Friday night race.

“The Sprint Cup Series guys had a really good night there on Saturday night, too,” Gordon said. “Both cars had really good speed and performed very well. The 2 car and the 22 car both finished in the top-10 on that Saturday night.”

A quick look at the record book certainly substantiates Gordon’s claim as to the Penske Racing Teams flexing some muscle at Kentucky Speedway last season. In the Friday Nationwide Series race, Brad Keselowski led three times for 132 of the 200 laps in taking his Discount Tire Dodge to Victory Lane. In Saturday’s Sprint Cup race, Keselowski led 79 laps and finished seventh in the Miller Lite Dodge, while teammate Kurt Busch led 41 laps and finished ninth in the Shell-Pennzoil Dodge. Penske cars led 45 percent (120 of 267) of the laps in the Cup race and 66 percent of the laps in the Nationwide race. Overall, the Penske cars led 54 percent of all the laps during last year’s NASCAR weekend at Kentucky.

“Penske Racing as a whole has been strong on the flat mile-and-a-half tracks and it will be a fun challenge there at Kentucky this weekend,” Gordon added. “After a solid top-10 run at Sonoma last weekend, we’re hoping we can get the consistency that we need going there and continue it on down the line.”

Allmendinger, Gordon and crew will be racing their “PRS-823” Shell-Pennzoil Dodge Charger this weekend at Kentucky. This car made its debut for the team in Kansas back in April. Dinger won the Coors Light Pole Award and led 44 laps before secondary linkage woes put him 10 laps down and relegated him to a 32nd-place finish. The “PRS-819” chassis will serve as the backup Shell-Pennzoil Dodge for this weekend. This was the car Dinger drove to a second-place finish in the April Martinsville race.

This weekend’s schedule at Kentucky Speedway for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series calls for Friday practice sessions from 11:30 a.m. till 12:30 p.m. and from 1:30 p.m. till 3:00 p.m. The 5:10 p.m. Friday qualifying session will establish the 43-car starting field for Saturday’s race. Saturday night’s Quaker State 400 is a 267-lap, 400.5-mile battle around the 1.5-mile D-shaped oval, with the green flag expected to fall just after 7:30 p.m. EDT. Race No. 17 of 36 points-paying events on the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule will feature live coverage by TNT-TV and PRN Radio.

Credit - Penske Racing PR

Monday, June 25, 2012

Sonoma Race Recap

Shell-Pennzoil Dodge driver AJ Allmendinger started 17th and finished ninth in today’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 on the 1.99-mile Sonoma Raceway road course. It was the best points-paying result for the Todd Gordon-led No. 22 Penske Racing crew since finishing second at Martinsville in April.

“It was a pretty good day for the Shell-Pennzoil Dodge team,” Allmendinger said back in the garage after the race. “I was happy with the way we drove. I didn’t make a lot of mistakes and cost us anything.

“The car was really amazing in some spots and then there were spots where it just didn’t react,” Dinger added. “The car was really good in Turns 9 and 10. After 10 I could just kill the field in the hairpin, but I couldn’t get off the hairpin worth a darn. We weren’t a race-winning car today. We had solid weekend. We knew what our weaknesses were coming into the weekend and it showed on race day. We got everything out of the car that we could.”

After starting 17th here today, Allmendinger began a patient charge toward the front. He had passed Penske Racing teammate Brad Keselowski for 12th on Lap 12 and had cleared Greg Biffle to move into the top-10 on Lap 16.

Allmendinger, Gordon and crew were the first to show that they adopted a three-pit-stop strategy when they hit pit road for the first time after 19 laps. Following a stop for four tires and fuel, they returned to the battle back in the 33rd position. But when the remainder of the field finally went through their pitting sequence on Lap 36, Dinger was up to third behind leader Martin Truex Jr. and Clint Bowyer.

Fresher tires prevailed and Dinger fell to seventh on Lap 43. The “Double-Deuce” team hit pit road again under the green on Lap 49 for four tires and fuel. By Lap 65 the second round of stops had cycled and Allmendinger was running in the 19th spot.

Only five laps later, Kevin Harvick slowed almost to a stop as he was running out of gas. Thinking there would be a yellow, Gordon told his driver to hit pit road again for four tires and fuel. The strategy lifted the Shell-Pennzoil Dodge Team back to the same situation as those teams planning on completing the race with only two pit stops. However, Dinger, Gordon and crew figured to be two laps shy of fuel in making the distance.

Allmendinger immediately went into the fuel-conserving mode, but caught the break the team needed on Lap 81 when Tom Drissi spun and stalled to bring out the first caution flag of the day. After hitting pit road under the yellow on Lap 83 for four tires, fuel and air pressure adjustments, Dinger was shown running in the 15th spot for the Lap 87 restart.

The Bay Area native launched another impressive run toward the front, getting around Kasey Kahne for 10th on Lap 92 and was running ninth on Lap 106 when an incident involving Kyle Busch, Paul Menard and Juan Pablo Montoya brought out the second caution flag of the race.

There were 22 cars running on the lead lap when the yellow flag flew and the cars running from 11th on back chose to hit road for fresh tires. The caution sent the race into overtime as the race would return to a green-white-checkered finish after the scheduled 110 laps.

Allmendinger did a splendid job in holding off the drivers running behind him with the fresh rubber. He was actually able to climb to seventh when he took the white flag and held on to finish ninth when the checkered flag waved.

Up front, it was Clint Bowyer taking a 0.829-second victory over Tony Stewart. Bowyer became the eighth different winner in the last eight races here today. Kurt Busch finished third, with Brian Vickers fourth and Jimmie Johnson fifth. Jeff Gordon, Biffle, pole-sitter Marcos Ambrose, Allmendinger and Joey Logano rounded out today’s top-10 finishers. Teammate Keselowski brought the Miller Lite Dodge home in the 12th finishing position.

“A solid day for us,” said crew chief Gordon. “Based off of practice we decided that we needed to go with a three-stop pit strategy. I felt like we saw a lot of drop-off in tires and we were questionable on fuel mileage. Once we got in the race we thought we might have been able to make it on two stops. Rear tires fall-off so much here.

“I shorted our last stop and with when the 29 (Kevin Harvick) was running out of fuel and I wanted to stay out in front of the caution. The caution with 20 to go was a good opportunity to reset the field and felt like we had decent race car from there. If the last caution doesn’t come maybe we gain another few spots. We were right on the cusp of having to pit and not pit at all. I didn’t want to restart 15th with new tires. It gets awful hectic here and I thought there were too many cars that we needed to pass to get back inside the top 10.”

After 16 races have been placed into the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup record book, Allmendinger stands 23rd in points. He trails 10th-place Keselowski by 125 points and is 76 points behind 15th-place Logano. Dinger trails 20th-place Jamie McMurray by 37 points.

The Sprint Cup Series tour now returns to intermediate track action this weekend as it heads to Kentucky Speedway. This weekend’s schedule calls for Friday practice sessions from 11:30 a.m. till 12:30 p.m. and from 1:30 p.m. till 3:00 p.m. The 5:10 p.m. Friday qualifying session will establish the 43-car starting field for Saturday’s race. Saturday night’s Quaker State 400 is a 267-lap, 400.5-mile battle around the 1.5-mile D-shaped oval, with the green flag expected to fall just after 7:30 p.m. EDT. Race No. 17 of 36 points-paying events on the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule will feature live coverage by TNT-TV and PRN Radio.

Credit - Penske Racing PR

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Sonoma Qualifying Report

Shell-Pennzoil Dodge driver AJ Allmendinger will start Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 from the 17th position after clocking in with a lap of 76.064 seconds (94.184 mph) in today’s qualifying session at Sonoma Raceway. Dinger was 11th-fastest in the practice leading up to qualifying and was hoping for more.

“I'm not sure what direction to go or what we're missing,” Allmendinger said. “What we learned from testing isn't translating as fully as we were expecting. The whole platform of the car just seems unsettled. I could tell from the start of the lap that we were off but I pushed to get as much as we could. Obviously, we expected to be higher up there, but we will go back and reevaluate what we need. I think we need to focus on the front end and if we can get that better I think it will carry through the car.”

Dinger, crew chief Todd Gordon and the No. 22 Penske Racing unit have two practice sessions remaining to get their Dodge Charger dialed in for Sunday’s race. Saturday’s schedule calls for practice from 9:30 a.m. till 10:15 a.m. (live on Speed-TV) and from 10:45 a.m. till 12 noon (live on Speed-TV).

Marcos Ambrose picked up the second Coors Light Pole Award of his career here this afternoon – and his second in-a-row after winning the pole last week at Michigan. Ambrose clocked in with a 75.203-second (95.262 mph) lap in smashing the old track qualifying record (75.950 seconds). The top 11 qualifiers broke the old record here today.

Jeff Gordon, fastest in practice and the final driver to make his run, qualified second with a lap of 75.357 seconds (95.067 mph). Jimmie Johnson was third (lap of 75.574 seconds/94.795 mph), Greg Biffle fourth (75.632/94.722) and Martin Truex Jr. fifth (75.661/94.686).

Clint Bowyer, Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth and Ryan Newman rounded out today’s top-10 qualifiers. Penske Racing teammate Brad Keselowski will start his No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge from the 13th spot after clocking in with a lap of 75.995 seconds (94.269 mph)

Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 (110 laps) on the 1.99-mile scenic Sonoma road course is scheduled to get the green just after 12:00 noon PDT. The race will feature live coverage by TNT-TV and PRN Radio.

Credit - Penske Racing PR

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Sonoma Race Preview

Shell-Pennzoil Dodge driver AJ Allmendinger is looking forward to this weekend’s annual NASCAR Sprint Cup Series visit to California’s Bay Area for Sunday’s Save Mart 350 in Sonoma. For Dinger, it’s a homecoming in more ways than one.

“I grew up in the San Jose Area and my family still lives there,” said Allmendinger, a Los Gatos native. “I came from racing on the road courses earlier in my career and it’s always fun to get back out for the race in Sonoma. My mom and dad, family members and friends will all be there. It’s a fun race weekend altogether.

“The area is beautiful and there’s just a ton of different stuff to do and see,” Dinger added. “The Sonoma track has always drawn a great local crowd, but it also brings in people from all over the country when NASCAR comes to town. Everyone should see the area at least once in their lifetime. It’s always good to be close to home again for a couple of days, too.”

Sunday’s battle will mark Allmendinger’s fifth career Sprint Cup start on the scenic 1.99-mile road course. He knows how demanding that the winding stretch of asphalt can be.

“As always, the key for Sonoma is keeping all four wheels on the track,” Dinger said. “You need your car set up to be able to make your move underneath entering Turn 11 because that is the major passing point on the track. The biggest thing is that you have to have forward drive off all the way through the ‘esses’ and that’s certainly what we’ll be hoping to have working for us this weekend there.”

Shell-Pennzoil Dodge crew chief Todd Gordon is also looking forward to getting out to the West Coast for the first of two road course races this season.

“I thought we had two really good road course tests leading up to this week’s Sonoma race,” Gordon said of the team’s May 15 test at Road Atlanta and May 29 test at Virginia International Raceway. “We had decent speed in both tests. I think the big thing is that we found places to work on to make our car better for AJ when we take to the track on Friday.

“We’ll certainly have a great book of notes to go off of from last year’s race,” Gordon said, alluding to the No. 22 Penske Racing Dodge’s dominant performance in the 2011 visit to the winding Sonoma Valley Wine Country road course. In that race, the 22 team led four times for 76 of the 110 laps in an impressive victory. “That should definitely give us a great baseline and starting point to work with.

“AJ and our entire team are really looking forward to hitting the road course this weekend,” said Gordon. “He is really good on the road courses and we are optimistic about having a competitive weekend out there. Unlike the last few weeks where we practiced on Friday, qualified on Saturday and raced on Sunday, we’re back to a normal routine this week. We welcome getting back to where we practice and qualify on Friday and have two practices on Saturday to really get our Shell-Pennzoil Dodge dialed in.

In four career races on the Sonoma road course, Allmendinger has one top-10 finish, with an average start of 19.5 and an average finish of 17.5. He has only three unfinished laps (442 of 445=99.326 percent completion average). Add his stats from Watkins Glen International (four starts, one top-5 & two top-10s, with no uncompleted laps) and Dinger’s eight-race Cup road course career boasts one top-five finish and three top-10s. He has a 17.4 average start and 13.3 average finish on the road courses. He has a 99.628 percent lap completion average (804 of 807) on road courses entering this weekend.

In last year’s Sonoma battle, Allmendinger started seventh and finished 13th. He was able to charge up to fifth on the first lap, before getting loose and losing rear grip. Dinger still continued to be a fixture in the top-10 running order until contact from Brad Keselowski sent him spinning on Lap 65. He fell back as far as 23rd, but was able to mount an impressive charge back up to 13th when the laps ran out.

Allmendinger, Gordon and crew will be racing their “PRS-808” Shell-Pennzoil Dodge Charger at Sonoma this weekend. This is the chassis that was raced at Richmond in the April 28 Capital City 400. Dinger started fourth and finished 16th in that race. The car was lightning fast on short runs, but with only five cautions during the entire race there was little time to make adjustments. The “PRS-807” chassis will serve as the backup. It was in the transporter serving as the backup at Phoenix, Bristol and Martinsville, but has never seen any track time to date.

“We converted this car over to be our road course car and have a lot of faith in it being a strong piece for Sonoma,” Gordon offered. “We don’t have a large car inventory and some of that is intentional because we will be racing the new cars next season. It is to be determined whether we also race this car at Watkins Glen in August.”

This weekend’s Sonoma action gets under way on Friday with practice set from noon till 1:30 p.m. (live on Speed-TV). Qualifying for all 43 starting positions is set for Friday at 3:40 p.m. (live on Speed-TV & PRN Radio). Saturday’s schedule calls for practice from 9:30 a.m. till 10:15 a.m. (live on Speed-TV) and from 10:45 a.m. till 12 noon (live on Speed-TV). Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 (110 laps) on the 1.99-mile scenic road course is scheduled to get the green just after 12:00 noon PDT. The race will feature live coverage by TNT-TV and PRN Radio.

Credit - Penske Racing PR

Sonoma Notes of Interest

--AJ Allmendinger and his Todd Gordon-led Penske Racing No. 22 Team will be racing their “PRS-808” Shell-Pennzoil Dodge Charger at Sonoma this weekend. This is the chassis that was raced at Richmond in the April 28 Capital City 400. Dinger started fourth and finished 16th in that race. The car was lightning fast on short runs, but with only five cautions during the entire race there was little time to make adjustments. The “PRS-807” chassis will serve as the backup. It was in the transporter serving as the backup at Phoenix, Bristol and Martinsville, but has never seen any track time to date. “We converted this car over to be our road course car and have a lot of faith in it being a strong piece for Sonoma,” crew chief Gordon offered. “We don’t have a large car inventory and some of that is intentional because we will be racing the new cars next season. It is to be determined whether we also race this car at Watkins Glen in August.”

--This weekend’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at the Sonoma, Calif., road course is a homecoming for Shell-Pennzoil Dodge driver AJ Allmendinger. “I grew up in the San Jose Area and my family still lives there,” said Allmendinger, a Los Gatos native. “I came from racing on the road courses earlier in my career and it’s always fun to get back out for the race in Sonoma. My mom and dad, family members and friends will all be there. It’s a fun race weekend altogether. The area is beautiful and there’s just a ton of different stuff to do and see. The Sonoma track has always drawn a great local crowd, but it also brings in people from all over the country when NASCAR comes to town. Everyone should see the area at least once in their lifetime. It’s always good to be close to home again for a couple of days, too.”

--Sunday’s Sonoma battle will mark Shell-Pennzoil Dodge driver AJ Allmendinger’s fifth career Sprint Cup start on the scenic 1.99-mile road course. He knows how demanding that the winding stretch of asphalt can be. “As always, the key for Sonoma is keeping all four wheels on the track,” Dinger said. “You need your car set up to be able to make your move underneath entering Turn 11 because that is the major passing point on the track. The biggest thing is that you have to have forward drive off all the way through the ‘esses’ and that’s certainly what we’ll be hoping to have working for us this weekend there.”

--Shell-Pennzoil Dodge crew chief Todd Gordon is also looking forward to getting out to the West Coast for the first of two road course races this season. “I thought we had two really good road course tests leading up to this week’s Sonoma race,” Gordon said of the team’s May 15 test at Road Atlanta and May 29 test at Virginia International Raceway. “We had decent speed in both tests. I think the big thing is that we found places to work on to make our car better for AJ when we take to the track on Friday. We’ll certainly have a great book of notes to go off of from last year’s race,” Gordon said, alluding to the No. 22 Penske Racing Dodge’s dominant performance in the 2011 visit to the winding Sonoma Valley Wine Country road course. In that race, the 22 team led four times for 76 of the 110 laps in an impressive victory. “That should definitely give us a great baseline and starting point to work with.”

--It’s a 42-hour drive from the Penske Racing Shop in Mooresville, N.C., to the next stop on the circuit, the 1.99-mile road course in Sonoma, Calif. The Shell-Penske Dodge No. 22 “trucking crew” have the trip well planned out. Backup truck driver George Larabee flew to up to Michigan on the team Sunday morning and drove the transporter back to Mooresville Sunday night. Full-time drivers Greg Sorber and J. R. Weller flew back on the team plane after the race. Both got a good night’s sleep on Sunday night. Sorber went in earlier on Monday to get the truck loaded. Depending on how the loading process went, the plan was to leave either late Monday night or first thing Tuesday with Weller behind the wheel. They are scheduled to be in Sacramento, Calif., by 2:00 p.m. on Thursday. The Shell-Pennzoil transporter will be one of some 50 haulers participating in a parade over the Tower Bridge and around the State Capitol to greet the Northern California race fans en route to Sonoma. While in Sonoma, Sorber and Weller both get plenty of down time and rest before heading back to North Carolina after Sunday’s race. With this trip being the longest haul of the season, the next two races on the schedule require only one driver per trip. Weller is scheduled to drive the transporter to Kentucky, while Sorber will be behind the wheel for the Daytona race trip.

--In four career races on the Sonoma road course, Allmendinger has one top-10 finish, with an average start of 19.5 and an average finish of 17.5. He has only three unfinished laps (442 of 445=99.326 percent completion average). Add his stats from Watkins Glen International (four starts, one top-5 & two top-10s, with no uncompleted laps) and Dinger’s eight-race Cup road course career boasts one top-five finish and three top-10s. He has a 17.4 average start and 13.3 average finish on the road courses. He has a 99.628 percent lap completion average (804 of 807) on road courses entering this weekend.

--In last year’s edition of the Toyota/Save Mart 350, AJ Allmendinger started seventh and finished 13th. He was able to charge up to fifth on the first lap, before getting loose and losing rear grip. Dinger still continued to be a fixture in the top-10 running order until contact from Brad Keselowski sent him spinning on Lap 65. He fell back as far as 23rd, but was able to mount an impressive charge back up to 13th when the laps ran out. “It was crazy just like always.” Dinger said. “Everybody was running into each other. From mid-race on, we were kind of loose. It could have been a lot worse and 13th isn’t great, but it could have been a lot worse with 20 laps to go.”

Credit - Penske Racing PR

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Michigan Race Recap

Shell-Pennzoil Dodge driver AJ Allmendinger bounced back from a pit road incident on Lap 80 to finish 19th in today’s Quicken Loans 400 here at Michigan International Speedway. The effort that saw him come from two laps down allowed Allmendinger to gain a spot in the NASCAR Sprint Cup points after 15 races have been put in the 2012 record books.

“We just had a tough day,” Allmendinger said. “I’m driving my butt off and there always seems to be a glimmer of hope during the race and we just can’t capitalize on it. We were really strong in the Shell-Pennzoil Dodge on the first run but never could take advantage of good track position. We’re running on such a razors edge that it’s tough to describe what’s going on with the car. One run we get loose, the next we’re tight. It’s confusing as heck to describe.”

Allmendinger started 20th in today’s weather-delayed (scheduled for 1:17 p.m. green flag, but did not start until 3:04 p.m.) 200-lap, 400-mile battle on the freshly repaved 2.0-mile MIS oval. He charged all the way up to ninth when a competition yellow brought out the fourth caution flag of the race on Lap 50. Dinger fell to 14th for the Lap 55 restart after taking on a second can of fuel during a two-tire pit stop.

Dinger had fallen to 15th when a round of green-flag pit stops was the order. He pitted on Lap 80 and sustained significant damage to the right-rear quarter-panel area of his Dodge after getting major contact from Kyle Busch’s Toyota.

The fifth caution of the race flew on the very next lap for debris. In just a matter of two laps, Dinger had fallen to 34th in the running order and was running a lap down. The team patched up their Dodge with several visits to pit road and had moved back up through the pack when another round of green-flag stops began on Lap 115.

Allmendinger hit pit road on Lap 119 for four tires and fuel (and wedge & air pressure adjustments) and was exiting the pits when Kurt Busch spun for the second time of the race to bring out the sixth caution flag of the race.

Now running two laps down, crew chief Todd Gordon called for Allmendinger to stay out and take the wave-around, moving the 22 car from two laps down to only one lap down. Dinger was 32nd on the Lap 125 restart and caught the break the team needed when Joey Logano went for a wild ride on Lap 126. Scoring the “lucky dog” free pass back onto the lead lap, Dinger was up to 25th for the Lap 140 restart.

The Shell-Pennzoil Dodge Team could not capitalize on the lucky break, however, as they struggled with a loose race car. After their final visit to pit road on Lap 167 for right-side tires and track bar and air pressure adjustments, Dinger was 21st when the pit stops cycled around.

In spite of fighting the handling woes, Allmendinger, Gordon and crew were still able to soldier on to a 19th-place finish.

“It’s a tough day but we’ll just go on next week to Sonoma and road race ‘em because that’s what we do,” Gordon offered. “This one is over; you can’t do anything about it. We’ll look at notes, look at the chassis setups and go back and talk to all the different departments at the shop about how we can get a little smarter.”

Much to a huge amount of the fans’ delight, Dale Earnhardt Jr. ended a four-year victory drought here this afternoon, taking his first victory in 143 races (dating back to the June 2008 race here at MIS). He crossed the finish line 5.393 seconds ahead of runner-up Tony Stewart.

Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle and Jimmie Johnson rounded out the top-five finishers here today. Jeff Gordon, Clint Bowyer, Juan Pablo Montoya, Marcos Ambrose and Kevin Harvick completed the top-10 finishers.

Penske Racing teammate Brad Keselowski drove his Miller Lite Dodge from a 25th-place start to a 13th-place finish here today.

With 15 races completed for the 2012 season, Allmendinger is 24th in the Sprint Cup points. With 330 points, he is now 128 points behind 10th-place Keselowski, 77 behind 15th-place Joey Logano and 45 behind 20th-place Jeff Gordon.

The Sprint Cup tour now heads out to California for the first of two road course races of the season. This weekend’s Infineon Raceway action gets under way on Friday with practice set from noon till 1:30 p.m. (live on Speed-TV). Qualifying for all 43 starting positions is set for Friday at 3:40 p.m. (live on Speed-TV & PRN Radio). Saturday’s schedule calls for practice from 9:30 a.m. till 10:15 a.m. (live on Speed-TV) and from 10:45 a.m. till 12 noon (live on Speed-TV). Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 (110 laps) on the 1.99-mile scenic road course is scheduled to get the green just after 12:00 noon PDT. The race will feature live coverage by TNT-TV and PRN Radio.

Credit - Penske Racing PR

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Michigan Qualifying Report

Shell-Pennzoil Dodge driver AJ Allmendinger will start 20th in Sunday’s Quicken Loans 400 here at Michigan International Speedway after clocking in with a lap of 36.010 seconds (199.944 mph).

“That was slower and I don’t know why,” Allmendinger said. “I guess I’ll just go with the answer that I don’t know (smile). It felt okay, I guess I maybe used a little too much brake, I guess, I don’t know. I thought it was going to be faster than yesterday."

“We’ve been fighting both (loose and tight),” Dinger added. “We just don’t have enough speed in the car. We’ve got to keep working on the balance. We’ve fought tight and loose in general. We’ll see what happens with the new tire.”

After several teams were blistering tires in yesterday’s two practice sessions here on the freshly-repaved surface, Goodyear decided to bring in a different left-side tire for Sunday’s race. It is the same tire that was raced at Charlotte back in 2007. NASCAR added another practice session for the Sprint Cup cars after today’s Nationwide Series race concludes.

“We’ll see what the tire feels like and see what it does to this racetrack,” AJ said. “Obviously there’s a blistering problem so they did the right thing ‘cause it’s scary as hell out there as it is anyway (smile). It’s good that they fixed it. We’ll just see what we’ve got and just keep working on the balance. That’s all you can do. We know we don’t have the speed that we need right now but we’ll just keep trying to make the balance best as possible.”

Marcos Ambrose claimed the Coors Light Pole Award here today with a fast lap of 35.426 seconds (203.241 mph). That obliterated the old track record of 37.069 seconds (194.232 mph) and was the 11th-fastest pole qualifying lap in NASCAR history. The top-19 qualifiers all cracked the 200 mph mark and the top-38 drivers broke the old track record. The most recent 200 mph qualifying lap came way back in 1987 at Talladega.

Kevin Harvick starts second here Sunday after clocking in with a 35.637-second (202.037 mph) lap. Greg Biffle (35.676 seconds/201.816 mph) starts third, with Kasey Kahne (35.692 seconds/201.720 mph) fourth and Ryan Newman (35.737 seconds/201.472 mph) fifth. Matt Kenseth, Trevor Bayne, Tony Stewart, Joey Logano and Jimmie Johnson round out Sunday’s top-10 starters.

Penske Racing teammate Brad Keselowski starts his Miller Lite Dodge from the 25th spot after turning in a lap of 36.277 seconds (198.473 mph) here today.

Sunday’s Quicken Loans 400 (200 laps, 400 miles) on the 2.0-mile track is scheduled to get the green flag just after 1:00 p.m. EDT. Race No. 15 of 36 points-paying events on the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule will feature live coverage by TNT-TV and MRN Radio.

Credit - Penske Racing PR

Friday, June 15, 2012

Penske Crew Chief Transcript from MIS Testing

Todd Gordon (Crew Chief, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger R/T)
HOW WAS THE TEST HERE YESTERDAY? “We were tight all day and never found anything that made an impact on it mechanically. We’re kind of reassessing our package for today, just trying to look at what didn’t work and let that lead us in the direction of where we need to work to be better. I feel like we have a couple of ideas there of things we could help ourselves with so we’ll see where practice goes today. This racetrack is crazy-fast. There were seven cars in final practice that were over 200 mile an hour lap average which is a lot of time on throttle and not a lot of time off of throttle. You’re racing an aero race and it’ll be interesting to see what happens. You can definitely see the effect of getting the draft down the straightaways but I think you’re also going to run into that bubble where since you’re racing on aero you’re kind of stuck when you roll up behind somebody. We’ll see if the racetrack opens up into multiple grooves.”

DO YOU THINK THE GROOVE WILL WIDEN OUT? “We may see the top come. It seems like the cars are all in the middle right now and you may see the top come in. It’ll be interesting. Yeah, I think at some point you’ll see a couple of grooves around here.”

DO THE NOTES YOU HAD BEFORE HERE WITH THE OLD PAVEMENT STILL APPLY? “I think the speed, the grip level, the tire change is accommodating a resurface makes this a new venture again. I don’t know that there is a lot of what you could take out of previous year’s notes to help this package along, much kind of what we saw at Pocono last week. When you resurface a place, put grip back in it, you take all the bumps back out of it. A lot of things you do mechanically to try to help yourselves through those situations, they’re no longer needed.”

HAVE YOU NOTICED ANYTHING ABOUT THE TIRE WEAR OR TIRE TEMPERATURE? “I don’t think that we’ve seen as much of a sticker tire to scuff tire swing in balance but part of that may be our balance was off, that we weren’t close enough to see that swing. I feel like there’s more consistency here. Obviously as we’ve repeated runs on tires they’ve gotten faster. I noticed in first practice when you finally got to the point that guys had to put stickers back on there was about a second that they slowed up. It’s like you get faster and faster as the tires go on. The left-side tire wear is very minimal and right-side wear is normal.”

WHAT KIND OF STRATEGY CAN YOU DO TO GAIN TRACK POSITION? “I think two is an option, given left-side wear. We’ll have to see what happens with how balance goes in the race car but I think two is an option. I don’t know that none will be an option. It may be but you’re doing 200 and some miles an hour into a corner. Probably making sure the right-front tire is nice and safe is a good idea for a while (smiles).”

THIS TRACK IS KNOWN TO BE DEMANDING ON ENGINES. “That’s only exponently worse now. There’s guys driving into the corner and turning into the corner wide-open. There’s a very small window of off-throttle time if your balance is good. It’s a 400-mile race which helps but your time on throttle is long. Engine department has already made comments about it that they’re cycle time of how long you’re actually wide-open throttle is longer than any of these higher speed places that we go to.”


Travis Geisler (Director of Competition, Penske Racing)
FROM AN ENGINEERING STANDPOINT, WAS THERE ANYTHING FROM THE TEST YESTERDAY THAT REALLY STOOD OUT TO YOU? “We struggled for speed yesterday, we really did. I think both cars were not where we needed to be and we all worked on it really hard all day and I don’t feel like we made enough gains on it for sure. I went through last night and spent a bunch more time on it, just trying to figure out where we’re missing it. There’s certainly some things that are different here than any of us have really done lately. I don’t think anybody has gone 215 into a corner in a while. Certainly the amount of mid-corner speed we’re carrying now is pretty impressive.

"I think all of us are maybe a tick surprised that we’re going this fast and it’s going on this way (smiles) but I don’t think there’s no safety issue in my opinion. The margin is a very small increase over where we’ve been but everybody has always had this glass ceiling idea of 200 miles per hour being kind of the cutoff and obviously we’ve kind of blown through that. I think that’s maybe looking at the data the biggest thing that sticks out at you is where you are mile-and-hour wise and where you are sustained rpm wise. And I think it’s certainly going to be an engine company test this weekend. Michigan always has been but I think this one is probably going to be one of the biggest ones that we’ve had in a long time, especially with all the changes going into this season. This will be the first real EFI (Electronic Fuel Injection) test at a track that’s this hard on it. There’s certainly been places that have been hard on engines but the speed we’re seeing and sustained rpm it’s on up there on the stress factor I’d say for the engine guys right now. We saw the 78 (Regan Smith) had an engine issue yesterday. I’m not sure that’s related or not but certainly something that kind of perks your ears up.”

IF YOUR DODGE IS HANDLING WELL HERE, A DRIVER ISN’T OUT OF THE THROTTLE FOR LONG. “I would say you’re probably close to 75-80 percent wide-open throttle so you’re not out of it for very long (smiles). That’s a lot of rpm and that’s definitely hard on the engine. It’s hard on everything. I mean, anytime you run that hard it definitely stresses a lot of your components. I’ve been thinking through everything, even from a balancing standpoint, even vibrations are a whole lot worse at that speed so when you look at all your brake components and hubs and pieces that make up all the moving parts of this, driveshafts, you’ve got to really be diligent to make sure you’ve got all the best stuff you can.”

DOES THAT MEAN THAT HANDLING IS A PREMIUM NOW HERE? “I think handling is a premium everywhere we go, no matter what. That’s the biggest thing we have. It’s more important that horsepower, it’s more important than anything because if you can’t handle you can’t use the horsepower that you have so a couple more wouldn’t help you anyway. Certainly here I think the biggest impact is the moments that you’re out of the throttle for however long they are, whether the car is turning good or not; you feel that impact the rest of the straightaway because you’re wide-open so long you figure everybody is relatively close once you’re wide-open. It’s that little bit of time when you’re not wide-open that really separates where you are and it impacts your straightaway speed so much if you’re too tight in the middle and you’re scrubbing off speed.

“I think the other side of things here is tire heat. I think we saw some blisters yesterday, primarily on left-sides which is kind of a concern because there’s not a lot you can do about it. I think the biggest issue there is the tire just not wearing. When you look at 20-lap runs there’s no tire wear on the left-sides. All they can do is build heat at that point because they can’t dissipate heat and you seeing left-fronts, left-rears, left-rears blistered in the middle, left-fronts blistered in the middle. You can’t adjust camber or what you’re doing to really affect your position there. I think you’re just going to have to be really careful and I think that if your car is well balanced you’ll take care of your tires and you’ll survive it. But if you’re off, you’re going to see where that margin sticks out and you’re not going to make it through a full run that way. I think there’s a lot of things right now bouncing around and the more time you give us at track the more things we worry about (laughs).”

DO THE SETUPS AND NOTES FROM PREVIOUS RACES HERE STILL APPLY? “There’s a lot of mix and match. There are some things that are inherent about this racetrack that are the same. It’s still ultra-fast, lots of grooves of racing; you’ve got a lot of room to move around. Turn 2 still gets flat and gets tight compared to Turn 4, just the way the track is laid out. Some of those things certainly still apply. Definitely the smooth pavement changes your shocks and your bump rubbers and your springs a little bit and you’ve got kind of tweak on that. There’s kind of an evolution there that has to occur.”

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Michigan Race Preview

Shell-Pennzoil Dodge driver AJ Allmendinger enters this weekend’s Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan International Speedway knowing what the major news topic will be. He expects the adjective “fast” to get monumental use from the beginning of Thursday’s 8:00 a.m. test session on throughout Sunday’s 400-mile race.

“Michigan has always been a basic, really fast two-mile oval and with the new repaving it will be much faster,” said Allmendinger, who will be making his 10th career start at MIS in Sunday’s battle. “Just how much greater the speeds we will run? That’s the big question heading there and everyone is curious to find out.

“The qualifying record will fall at Michigan on Saturday; that’s pretty much a given,” Dinger added. “Based on what we saw at Pocono last week, it will be really interesting to see how much the old record is beaten by and how many drivers can do it. Of course everyone will be talking about the high speeds we are taking into the corner.”

The current track record at MIS is 194.232 mph (37.069 seconds), set by Ryan Newman in qualifying for the June 2005 race. Kurt Busch drove the Shell-Pennzoil Dodge to the Coors Light Pole in last June’s race with a one-lap speed of 188.699 mph (38.156 seconds).

Last weekend at Pocono Raceway, the NASCAR premier series also attacked a brand new racing surface. Joey Logano established the new track qualifying record there of 179.598 mph (50.112 seconds). That obliterated the old record of 172.533 mph (52.164 seconds) that dated back to 2004. The top-36 qualifiers broke the old track record in last Saturday’s session.

Matt Kenseth, the 2003 Sprint Cup Champion, was among the five drivers participating in the April tire testing at MIS for Goodyear. When pressed for his reaction on the speeds the cars were running, he responded, “Probably, I would say fast to too fast.”

So how fast is “too fast?”

“I don’t know…I’m not driving,” Shell-Pennzoil Dodge crew chief Todd Gordon answered with a chuckle. “But seriously, as far as what I am hearing for the top speeds into the corner at Michigan…215 (mph)…some swore they saw 219 (mph) during the tire test there.

“Our team did not participate in the tire test, but our teammates did,” Gordon said of Brad Keselowski and his Paul Wolfe-led Miller Lite Dodge Team (the Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch and Juan Pablo Montoya teams also participated). “We’ve discussed it a lot with them and the consensus is it’s going to be really fast. I read where Montoya said he had hit 238 at Michigan during his open-wheel days and that at times during the test, his stock car felt faster.”

Gordon certainly wasn’t too shocked by the high speeds seen during the tire test and expected to be seen again this week on the newly repaved 2.0-mile moderate-banked D-shaped race track.

“With the new surface, it’s to be expected,” said Gordon. “After all, I saw 209 (mph) at Pocono going into Turn 1. That’s coming off the longest straightaway we have and going into a tight low-banked turn. I don’t know if that might be even more demanding than taking the higher speeds into the turns at Michigan. The bottom line is that NASCAR officials have had no comment about the expected high speeds or any plans to slow the cars down.

“The faster speeds are a foregone conclusion,” Gordon added. “What impact that has on the racing there is yet to be seen. Every time we race at Michigan, you have to consider that fuel mileage may likely figure into the equation.”

Unlike at Pocono last week where the team’s plan going in was to test one car (the “PRS-814”) and race another (the “PRS-819” – and changed late Thursday afternoon to actually race the test car – the plan is different for Michigan.

“We’re preparing to utilize the ‘821’ there in Thursday’s testing and use it for the remainder of the weekend,” Gordon said.

In nine career Sprint Cup starts at Michigan, Allmendinger is still looking for his first career top-10 there. He has been running at the finish in all nine of the races and finished on the lead lap six times. He has completed 96.7 percent of possible laps (1,746 of 1,806). Overall, Dinger has a 25.7 average start and 21.2 average finish at Michigan.

As crew chief Gordon pointed out, Allmendinger and crew are scheduled to be racing their “PRS-821” Shell-Pennzoil Dodge Charger in this weekend’s Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan. This chassis has been raced only once; during the April Samsung Mobile 500 weekend at Texas Motor speedway. Dinger started 12th and finished 15th in that battle on the 1.5-mile Fort Worth oval.

This weekend’s Michigan International Speedway action gets under way on Thursday with testing sessions from 8:00 a.m. till 11:00 a.m. and from 1:00 p.m. till 4:00 p.m. Friday’s schedule calls for practices from 12:30 p.m. till 1:50 p.m. (live on Speed-TV) and from 3:30 p.m. till 4:50 p.m. (live on Speed-TV). Qualifying for all 43 starting positions is set for Saturday at 1:10 p.m. (live on Speed-TV). Sunday’s Quicken Loans 400 (200 laps, 400 miles) on the 2.0-mile track is scheduled to get the green flag just after 1:00 p.m. EDT. Race No. 15 of 36 points-paying events on the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule will feature live coverage by TNT-TV and MRN Radio.
Credit - Penske Racing PR

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Pocono Race Recap

Shell-Pennzoil Dodge driver AJ Allmendinger started 19th and finished 31st in today’s Pocono 400 Presented by #NASCAR after a hard crash in the “Tunnel Turn” ended his day. Allmendinger had endured getting innocently caught up in a first lap incident and had overcome two speeding penalties before the Lap 64 crash relegated him to the garage for good.

“I’m just a little sore, had the wind knocked out of me,” Dinger said after getting checked out in the infield medical center. “It’s kind of one of those, it seems like it took forever to get there. That was pretty hard, that might be one of the hardest hits I’ve had. Everybody at NASCAR, everybody at Penske, they do a good job with safety so I’m okay. I’ll be a little sore tomorrow but I’ll be fine.

“I’m not sure what happened,” Dinger said. “I think we blew a right-front. After we got in that accident at the start of the race, I think we had something knocked off just a little bit in the right-front. The toe was out just a little bit and the car was really tight. Unfortunately, it’s one of those I said ‘we need to pit soon, I think the right-front is going away’ and it went away.

“It’s slick out there,” Dinger said when asked about the track conditions. “It’s slicker than its been for five days here. You could see that the track is really dirty and guys on the start being a little crazy. It’s hard to pass. You get aero-tight behind guys and you start getting desperate. You get a late-race yellow; it’ll be fun to watch.”

Today’s race produced the “Double-Deuce” team’s first DNF of the season, but it accounted for the sixth finish of 30th or worse in the first 14 races of the 2012 Sprint Cup schedule.

“No, there are no words to explain it,” Dinger said of his team’s incredible run of bad luck. “In my worst nightmare, I didn’t think the season would go this bad. You’ve got two options: you quit or you keep working harder. I’ve been six years in this. I’ve experienced bad stuff before in NASCAR, so I ain’t going to quit. We’ll just keep working harder. We’ve got to figure out how to turn it around. It’s tough. I definitely don’t want to be in this position, nobody does. Everybody does better on this race team but nobody is a quitter, so we’ll just keep working hard.”

Allmendinger started 19th on the grid here this afternoon. Coming through Turn 3 on the first lap, Landon Cassil and Martin Truex Jr. collided and both cars spun wildly. Almendinger tried an evasive move to the low side of the track but couldn’t avoid contact.

Although the damage appeared to be mostly cosmetic, the car’s front “toe” was knocked out of kilter. While the team worked on repairing the damage on separate pit stops, NASCAR officials slapped them with a speeding penalty. Adding insult to injury, the team was assessed a stop-and-go penalty during their pass-through punishment on Lap 7.

Dinger was already a lap down only nine laps into the race, but when J.J. Yeley smacked the Turn 3 wall on Lap 13, the 22 team received the “lucky dog” free pass back onto the lead lap.

AJ was shown in the 37th position for the Lap 20 restart. He climbed as high in the running order as 17th before the incident in the Tunnel Turn ended his day.

Joey Logano became the first Coors Light Pole Award winner to go on and win the race this afternoon at Pocono. Logano passed Mark Martin for the lead with four laps to go and held him off for a 0.997-second victory, the second win of his career.

Tony Stewart finished third, with Jimmie Johnson fourth and Denny Hamlin fifth. Clint Bowyer, Matt Kenseth, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Paul Menard and Jamie McMurray rounded out the top-10 finishers here this afternoon.

Penske Racing teammate Brad Keselowski overcame speeding penalties, ignition problems and brake issues to come home 18th.

After 14 races have been placed into the 2012 record book, Allmendinger stands 25th in the Sprint Cup point standings with 305 points. He trails 10th-place Keselowski (moves up with 426 points) by 121 points. He is 93 points behind 15th-place Logano and trails 20th-place Aric Almirola by 40 points.

The Cup Series now heads to the repaved high-speed 2.0-mile Michigan International Speedway for the next event along the tour. The MIS action gets under way on Thursday with testing sessions from 8:00 a.m. till 11:00 a.m. and from 1:00 p.m. till 4:00 p.m. Friday’s schedule calls for practices from 12:30 p.m. till 1:50 p.m. (live on Speed-TV) and from 3:30 p.m. till 4:50 p.m. (live on Speed-TV). Qualifying for all 43 starting positions is set for Saturday at 1:10 p.m. (live on Speed-TV). Sunday’s Quicken Loans 400 (200 laps, 400 miles) on the 2.0-mile track is scheduled to get the green flag just after 1:00 p.m. EDT. Race No. 15 of 36 points-paying events on the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule will feature live coverage by TNT-TV and MRN Radio.
Credit - Penske Racing PR

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Pocono Qualifying Report

Shell-Pennzoil Dodge driver AJ Allmendinger will start 19th in Sunday’s Pocono 400 here at Pocono Raceway after clocking in with a lap of 50.904 seconds (176.803 mph) in today’s qualifying session. Sunday’s battle will be the first on a new coat of asphalt and Dinger is looking for a strong run.

“We’ve had a pretty strong week so far here at Pocono and hope to have a great Sunday race day to cap it off,” said crew chief Todd Gordon. “With the track conditions like they were at the beginning of qualifying, it confirmed my line of thinking that qualifying where we did (40th of 44 cars) wasn’t a big disadvantage.

“The track has always been a big challenge and will be tomorrow,” said Gordon. “Some things don’t change here and the importance of getting off the turns is still so key. We were just too loose everywhere in our qualifying lap. We picked pit stall 27 and I really don’t know who’s in front or behind us. The pit road situation here never really matters because pit road is so long and wide.

“We’re hoping for a consistent day and hope to move forward from start to finish here tomorrow,” said Gordon.

Joey Logano won the Coors Light Pole Award here today with a fast lap of 50.112 seconds (179.598 mph). Logano, who clocked in with the fastest lap in yesterday’s final practice session, went out 18th in today’s qualifying order and had to watch 26 other drivers attempt to knock him off the pole.

Carl Edwards qualified second with a lap of 50.317 seconds (178.866 mph). Paul Menard was third (50.397 seconds/178.582 mph), Kyle Busch (50.399/178.575) fourth and Denny Hamlin (50.408/178.543) fifth. Mark Martin will start sixth, with Regan Smith seventh, Dale Earnhardt Jr. eighth, Marcos Ambrose ninth and Kasey Kahne 10th.

Penske Racing teammate Brad Keselowski will start his Miller Lite Dodge from the 31st position after turning in a lap of 51.464 seconds (174.880 mph) here in today’s lengthy qualifying session.

The top 36 starters for the Pocono 400 broke the old track record of 52.164 seconds (172.533 mph), set by Kasey Kahne in 2004.

Sunday’s Pocono 400 (160 laps, 400 miles) is scheduled to get the green flag at approximately 1:00 p.m. EDT. Race No. 15 of the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule will feature live coverage by TNT-TV and MRN Radio.
Credit - Penske Racing PR

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Pocono Media Transcript

YOU WERE THE FASTEST IN TODAY’S MORNING SESSION HERE AT POCONO. HOW DOES THIS NEW REPAVE LOOK TO YOU AND HOW DID THINGS GO FOR YOUR THIS MORNING? “There’s definitely a lot of grip on the racetrack. You can see it by the lap times. You know, the biggest thing is there’s a huge balance difference between going out there on brand new tires and having full fuel in the car and then running eight or 10 laps and going back out there after the tires cool down. The tires just pick up a lot of speed, so I think that’s where you keep seeing the fast laps keep popping up. Guys go out there, they run a couple of laps and then go make a change, let the tires cool back down and go back out there and the times just keep picking up. And then once you go back out there on new tires, you lose a lot of time. What we’re trying to focus on is figuring out what we’re going to do with the balance of the race car when we put new tires on. That’s going to be the tricky part of it because it’s a lot different feel. It’s pretty amazing. The tires feel really hard when you put ‘em on and real slick. Then, you take ‘em off and let ‘em cool back down and they feel amazing. Obviously, in a race, you don’t get that luxury most of the time. I think it’s between that and figuring out how long the tires last; if we’re going to do two tires, no tires, strategy like that. I think we’re just going through that with changes and trying to learn the car. But the track’s in great shape. The biggest thing is just trying to get it to widen out. You know, when you are out there running by yourself, basically, everybody is going to run nearly the same lines so there’s really only one groove on the racetrack. I think it’s kind of like Phoenix. You’re not going to really know if there’s going to be a second groove until the ARCA cars get out there and kind of widen it out and until we really have to restart double-file.”

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED SINCE YOU WERE HERE FOR THE TIRE TEST? HOW HAS THE TRACK CHANGED? “The track was actually really similar when we came back and started yesterday. When we were here at the tire test, there was only five or six of us right around there, seven of us maybe, and it was really cold. Not a lot of rubber was getting put down on the racetrack. With 40 cars out there, there’s a lot of rubber getting put down on the racetrack. I think more than anything you’re just learning how the racetrack changes and what your car does with that rubber on the track. The track keeps picking up but I think right now this is the fastest you’ll see the track all weekend. There’s a lot of cloud cover. For the race, it looks like it’s going to be a little bit warmer. The track always slows down on race days. I think it’s really just trying to figure out what balance your car needs with all the rubber that gets laid down.”

HAVE YOU HAD ANY RUNS LONG ENOUGH TO GET ANY IDEA WHAT THE TIRES ARE GOING TO DO FOR A FULL FUEL RUN? “We’ve done a couple 10-, 12-lap runs. We haven’t had a full extent of a full run. Like I said, it’s kind of tough because the tire never really, at least in those 10 laps, comes in the way if you let it cool back down and go back out there. You know, I feel like it’s going to be a fine line between getting your car free enough that it keeps turning but not too free where it chatters the right-rear and that’s where all the speed comes from. I think the lap times are going to be really close. All the cars are going to be really close as always, so the biggest thing is being one-groove right now. If you can just get good drive off and make sure your car keeps turning where maybe you get a little air up to your fender up off the corner, you can get under a guy. That’s really what we’re trying to focus on. It’s a combination between that and just going through changes on your racecar that you don’t get to do on a normal weekend. You’ve got a day and half to try to learn. Todd Gordon (crew chief) and I, we’re still learning that. We’re tuning for Pocono, trying to pick up speed and figure out where your car is going. We’re also trying stuff just to see what it does and get a feel for what I need. I feel like over the last few weeks we’ve had good runs, we’ve had bad runs. We’re just trying to narrow that box on what we need.”

WOULD RUNNING SCUFF TIRES MIGHT BE AN OPTION? “Yeah, but I mean, you’re not really going to have a ton of scuffs. In practice, with five sets, you pretty much use those tires up completely. You’ll have your qualifiers and that’s probably about it. I really think it comes down to what your car does on new tires. Then, maybe how it’s wearing the tires and if you want to do two tires, no tires, etc.”

THIS IS THE FIRST OF TWO RACES ON TRACKS THAT HAVE BEEN REPAVED. THEN YOU HAVE A ROAD COURSE AND BACK TO DAYTONA. THERE IS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR UNPREDICTABLE SCANARIOS TO DEVELOP. IS THIS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR GUYS LIKE YOU TO MAKE SOMETHING HAPPEN AND CHARGE TO THE FRONT? “Yeah, I mean, every weekend we have those opportunities. But yeah, it’ll be a little bit different. I think it always comes down and you see the same suspects come to the front. Our car has been really good. It was really good at the tire test. It’s been really good here and more than anything, we’ve just got to get back to having consistent runs. We’ve had a lot of failures this year. We’ve had, I think, five failures during a race this year, stuff like that and with the format the way it is, yeah, you can go out there win a couple races, get inside the top 20 and you’ve got a chance at the Chase, but I’m not even going to look at that right now. I just look week-to week trying to run better. If you run better, you put yourself in that position. Then you have a chance to win races and in the end, the points kind of take care of themselves. I look at a place like this and we’ve had a fast race car. Michigan is an unknown, haven’t seen it yet. Brad (Keselowski, teammate) was there doing the test but it’ll be different when we go back. I feel like the road course program at Penske is really good, so I look forward to Sonoma. More than anything, it’s just week by week. I don’t even look at the points right now. I know that we’ve got to keep running better and if we can start running better, you start finishing in the top 10. If you do that, you just keep putting yourself in position to win races. The points, they fix themselves. It’s just a week-to-week thing right now.”

WHAT DO YOU EXPECT THE RESTARTS TO BE LIKE HERE GOING INTO TURN 1? “I think that’s a question of how much it widens out. At Phoenix last year, we all thought the same thing when it got repaved, that starting on the outside was going to be brutal; you’re just going to be hung out to dry and by the end of the race, you could kind of argue that being on the outside of every row was actually a little bit better because you get a run off the corner. It’s kind of hard to tell right now with the way the tires feel when you go out there on brand new tires. It feels like you get in one and it’s going to be a little hairy. A lot of cars are going to be moving around because the cars just feel like they’re on top of the racetrack. When you put on new tires, it feels a little bit hard. I think that’s really where the challenge is going to come from. The track will eventually widen out because we’ll have to start the race double-file, restart the race double-file. You have an ARCA race that’ll have to start double-file so the track itself will widen out. It’s just not going to do it until people start racing because everybody is going to be in that same line (in practice).”

DO YOU THINK THE CARS WILL FAN OUT WIDE WHEN THEY HIT THE FRONTSTRETCH? IS THERE ENOUGH GRIP OR ROOM TO DO THAT NOW? “There’s so much grip off the corner right now that everybody is in the throttle so early, so I think if you get somebody that gets checked-up, gets loose, gets up against the wall and everybody has to check up, then everybody’s going to fan out. It used to be, over the last couple of years, you had the inside that everybody kind of dove down to because the outside, everybody was up on that patch. Well, the last couple of years that patch didn’t have as much grip, so it almost kind of evened out and you kind of almost have like two lanes that would kind of merge back together and there’d be a speed difference. That’s where the four-wide would come from. But you’re not going to see it like that. You’re only going to see it if somebody gets checked-up and everybody kind of fans out to get around each other.”

IF YOU’RE RUNNING SUB 52-SECOND LAPS, HOW FAST DO YOU FIGURE YOU’RE GOING INTO TURN 1? “I think it’s 211. The speed is easy down the straightaway. The problem is that you’ve got to turn at the end of it.”

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Pocono Race Preview

Shell-Pennzoil Dodge driver AJ Allmendinger and his Todd Gordon-led No. 22 Penske Racing Team were among the five crews participating in the April Goodyear Tire testing at Pocono Raceway. They were certainly pleased with what they saw, but agree that NASCAR adding two days of testing prior to this weekend’s race was a good idea.

“The new racing surface is as smooth as glass and they did a great job in repaving the track,” Allmendinger said of the 2.5-mile track’s new asphalt, the first repaving of the unique triangular layout since the fall of 1995. “What’s so cool is that they kept the distinctive character of the track, but were able to eliminate all the bumps.

“The speeds are certain to rise and it’ll be really interesting to see how it will race when we get all the cars out there and get after it,” Dinger added. “We welcomed the opportunity to participate in the tire test, but the conditions will be a lot different this week at Pocono than they were when we were there in April.”

The Shell-Pennzoil Dodge, along with the teams of Jamie McMurray, Kasey Kahne, Joey Logano and Aric Almirola worked with Goodyear during the April 24-25 testing to come up with the tires that will be utilized during this weekend’s Pocono 400. The testing resulted in Goodyear choosing to bring the same right-side tires that were raced at Phoenix back in March to Pocono. The left-side tires will be new to the circuit and will make their debut this week.

NASCAR officials have scheduled almost 10 hours of additional track time spread out over Wednesday and Thursday prior to Friday’s two practice sessions.

“We were very pleased with how the April tire testing went,” said crew chief Gordon. “For our Shell-Pennzoil Dodge Team, it was great to get the track time on the new surface. They did a really nice job with the repaving. The racing surface is about as smooth as they could make it, but we did notice that the long Pocono pit road maintained the undulation that it’s always had.

“The trip to Pocono for the test was the first time I had ever been there, so it allowed me to get a good read on how everything is laid out,” Gordon said. “We welcome the additional testing on Wednesday and Thursday and hope it’ll offer answers to questions we have.

“You have to take into consideration all the changes there have been since we were there testing in April. It had been snowing when we started the test, so you know that the weather will be totally different this week. Plus, we have a different aero package now than we had at the time of the test.”

NASCAR officials issued a technical bulletin on May 15 (Tuesday before Charlotte All-Star Race weekend) that listed several rules changes that went into effect immediately. The major change involved shortening the side skirts – the lower body area between the wheels. The change offered some safety value in that additional air running underneath the car would raise the speeds in which a car will lift and get airborne. A consequence of the change was the loss of downforce.

“From what we’ve seen so far, this new package has taken stability out,” Gordon said. “NASCAR sees how aero-dependent these cars are and I think they will likely continue to tweak on the package we are racing.

“The left-side tires are going to be harder than what we were testing,” said Gordon. “When you look at all of those changes collectively, it’s easy to see how valuable that the track time on Wednesday and Thursday will be.”

Gordon was hesitant to predict how the new track surface would impact the competition fans will see at Pocono this weekend.

“We will learn a lot more about that as we get on into the weekend,” said Gordon. “If the weather cooperates, that’s a lot of track time we’ll have on the new surface. Plus the ARCA guys will be logging a lot of laps and running a race on Saturday before our Cup race on Sunday. But in giving a little insight as to what I expect, I will be surprised to see a second groove open up there this time around. “

In nine career Sprint Cup starts at Pocono, Allmendinger is still looking for his first career win and top-five finish there, but he does have one top-10 finish to date. He has been running at the finish in all nine of the races and finished on the lead lap six times. Most impressive is that he has completed 99.8 percent of possible laps (1,706 of 1,710) with only four uncompleted laps. Overall, Dinger has a 22.8 average start and 21.7 average finish at Pocono.

Allmendinger, Gordon and crew are scheduled to be racing their “PRS-819” Shell-Pennzoil Dodge Charger in this weekend’s Pocono 400. This chassis has been raced only once; in the April 1 Goody’s 500 at Martinsville, where Dinger started 27th and finished second. The team will use their “PRS-814” Dodge Charger in the Wednesday and Thursday test days. That car will also serve as the backup Dodge Charger.

This week’s Pocono Raceway action gets under way with open testing set for Wednesday from 12:00 noon till 4:00 p.m. and on Thursday from 9:00 a.m. till 12:00 noon and 1:00 p.m. till 3:30 p.m. Friday’s practices are set from 12:30 p.m. till 1:55 p.m. and from 3:30 p.m. till 5:00 p.m. Qualifying for all 43 starting positions is set for Saturday at 11:10 a.m. (live on Speed-TV & MRN Radio). Sunday’s Pocono 400 (160 laps, 400 miles) is scheduled to get the green flag at approximately 1:00 p.m. EDT. Race No. 15 of the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule will feature live coverage by TNT-TV and MRN Radio.

Credit - Penske Racing PR

Monday, June 4, 2012

Dover Race Report

Shell-Pennzoil Dodge driver AJ Allmendinger started 23rd and finished 16th in today’s FedEx 400 here at Dover International Speedway. Although Dinger and his Todd Gordon-led No. 22 Penske Racing Team wanted more, they were able to take some positives out of today’s result. They finished on the lead lap and advanced in the points.

“Wish we could have pulled out a top 15, but we just struggled all weekend,” Allmendinger said. “The guys made some big changes Saturday after qualifying for the start of the race and for those first few laps before the red flag it felt decent but pretty quick into that next run we got tight and the car just felt on top of the track.

“From there we just spent the rest of the race chasing the balance,” Dinger added. “We just couldn't get both ends of the car working at the same time, kept going from one extreme to the other and didn't feel like the right rear was ever really in it. It's frustrating for me, for my guys, everyone. I was looking forward to this weekend since this has been a pretty good track for me in the past and we had a good tire test here so just really disappointed we couldn't bring home a better finish for the Shell-Pennzoil Dodge.”

Unlike in many of the 13 races so far this season, Allmendinger, Gordon and crew faced only handling issues and did not get hit by major problems. Today’s finish marked the fifth race that they completed all possible laps and was the first time they finished in the lead lap since the May 5 Talladega race. Crew chief Gordon believes his team is on the rebound.

“A tough day for us,” Gordon said. “I think this race track has a lot of swings in it as it rubbers up and comes back. So many teams struggled with their race cars today. I always try to look on the positive side and it was good to finish in the lead lap and move forward in the points. We have some strong tracks coming up, I believe, and I think we can continue to make progress.”

Allmendinger started 23rd here today and was fortunate to be running in front of the pack of cars involved in a Lap 9 multi-car crash coming out of Turn 2. Some 13 cars were involved, including defending NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champ Tony Stewart.

Dinger’s handling woes started out on the tight side, then moved back and forth to loose and tight again. The wedge, track bar and air pressure adjustments seemed to offer only temporary relief. Even removing a spring rubber late in the race offered little long-term help.

Jimmie Johnson got around AJ to put him a lap down on Lap 107, but David Reutimann’s blown engine four laps later allowed the 22 team to get the “lucky dog” free pass back onto the lead lap. Two other occasions during the race saw Dinger running only a few seconds in front of the leader when the team got cautions they needed to stay in the lead lap.

The final caution of the race came out on Lap 364 for Jeff Burton’s blown engine. During this yellow, the team went with fresh tires, the wedge adjustment and the spring rubber taken out.

Allmendinger lined up 18th for the restart and was able to advance to 16th when the laps ran out.

Up front, it was a dominant Jimmie Johnson taking a 2.550-second victory over Kevin Harvick. It was Johnson’s 57th career win and seventh Dover win in 21 starts. Matt Kenseth finished third, with Dale Earnhardt fourth and Clint Bowyer fifth. Aric Almirola, Martin Truex Jr., Joey Logano, Kasey Kahne and Marcos Ambrose rounded out the top-10 finishers. Penske Racing teammate Brad Keselowski brought the Miller Lite Dodge home in the 12th finishing position.

After 13 races have been placed in the 2012 NASCAR record book, Allmendinger is 23rd in the point standings with 292 points.. He trails 10th-place Clint Bowyer by 113 points and is 72 points behind 15th-place Paul Menard. AJ trails 20th-place Juan Pablo Montoya by 20 points.

The Sprint Cup tour now heads to the newly repaved “Tricky Triangle” Pocono Raceway for next weekend’s Pocono 400. This week’s Pocono Raceway action gets under way with open testing set for Wednesday from 12:00 noon till 4:00 p.m. and on Thursday from 9:00 a.m. till 12:00 noon and 1:00 p.m. till 3:30 p.m. Friday’s practices are set from 12:30 p.m. till 1:55 p.m. and from 3:30 p.m. till 5:00 p.m. Qualifying for all 43 starting positions is set for Saturday at 11:10 a.m. (live on Speed-TV & MRN Radio). Sunday’s Pocono 400 (160 laps, 400 miles) is scheduled to get the green flag at approximately 1:00 p.m. EDT. Race No. 14 of the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule will feature live coverage by TNT-TV and MRN Radio.

Credit - Penske Racing PR

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Dover Qualifying Report

Shell-Pennzoil Dodge driver AJ Allmendinger will start Sunday’s FedEx 400 from the 23rd position after clocking in with a qualifying lap of 22.983 seconds (156.638 mph). Going out 14th in the qualifying order did not prove beneficial as many expected.

"Not at all what we wanted, but we'll have to take it,” Allmendinger said of his qualifying effort. “We didn't spend any time in qualifying trim yesterday in practice, so we were flying a bit blind today. This place is fast and aero sensitive. Add the fact the rain washed away all of the rubber and we were really behind for qualifying in our Shell/Pennzoil Dodge. The car has been a handful all weekend. It feels completely different from what it was when I came here for the tire test. We hoped to roll off better coming into this weekend, unfortunately."

Mark Martin, the final of 45 drivers to go against the clock, claimed the Coors Light Pole Award here this afternoon with a fast lap of 22.742 seconds (158.297 mph). Jimmie Johnson will start on the outside of the front row after turning in a lap of 22.747 seconds (158.263 mph). Ryan Newman sill start third (lap of 22.751 seconds/158.235 mph), Clint Bowyer fourth (22.778 seconds/158.147 mph) and Matt Kenseth fifth (22.787 seconds/157.985 mph).

Kevin Harvick, Greg Biffle, Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top-10 qualifiers. Penske Racing teammate Brad Keselowski will start the Miller Lite Dodge from the 16th spot after turning in a 22.880-second (157.343 mph) qualifying lap.

“It really didn’t matter where you went out in the order today,” said crew chief Todd Gordon. “We thought going out early might be a break. The rain last night washed all the rubber off, so the track conditions were different than when we practiced yesterday. The cloud cover increased so that it may have been even better conditions later in the session.

“This is a 400-lap race and we hope to be as adjustable as we need to be,” said Gordon. “With the incredibly bad luck we had last week at Charlotte in the 600, we’re looking to rebound with a strong run here tomorrow.”

Sunday’s FedEx 400 Benefiting Autism Speaks (400 laps, 400 miles) on the “Monster Mile” is scheduled to get the green flag at approximately 1:00 p.m. EDT. Race No. 13 of the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule will feature live coverage by FOX-TV and MRN Radio.
Credit - Penske Racing PR