Keselowski comes up just short on final restart at Pocono

Brad Keselowski, Penske Racing Dodge

Photo by: Michael C. Johnson

“It was a solid run. Right now where we’re at wins are what matters (smiles). I thought we had a shot at it. That last restart just didn’t get it done but that’s part of the deal. Good action all day just came up a little bit short.”

DID YOU NEED MORE LAPS ON THAT LAST RESTART? “You know it’s hard to say. I mean, I think our tires were cooled off and had a Dodge that was really fast on restarts so I was looking forward to it. We just never had a chance for it to play out.”

WHAT HAPPENED BETWEEN JIMMIE JOHNSON AND MATT KENSETH ON THE RESTART WHEN THEY GOT TOGETHER? “We just had such a long yellow that everybody’s tires turned into junk and you know they were the first ones to get to the corner with junk tires. I think that’s just the way that it played out and that’s the way it goes.”

WERE YOU CLOSE TO MAKING CONTACT WITH JOHNSON AND KENSETH? “Oh yeah, it was really close. Not close enough to wreck and not far enough away to come out with the lead. I was somewhere in the middle.”

HAVE YOU EVER SEEN IT RAIN SO HARD AFTER THE RACE? “Yeah I have (smiles). Interesting situation and it makes me respect the hell out of the people that came back. They’ve got a lot of guts.”

FROM WHERE YOU WERE SITTING IN THE CAR, COULD YOU TELL THAT THE RAIN WAS COMING? “Yeah you could definitely see it. We do what we can to get the race in for those that came out here. It’s unfortunate when we can’t get the full race in but we did the best we could today as a sport and got close.”

Sam Hornish Jr. (No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger R/T) Finished 19th

“We would have liked for it to have been better. I feel like we would have been better too if we’d have got to run the rest of the race. We were steadily working our way forward, passing some people, just need to get to the end, that’s all. Guys made good adjustments on the Shell/Pennzoil Dodge. Felt like we got better throughout the race and we needed some track position. We should have probably stayed out and did what the 2 (Keselowski) did but at that point we didn’t feel like we were good enough. Hats off to those guys to get themselves up there where they could actually race those guys.”

DID YOU NEED THE RACE TO GO BACK GREEN? “Yeah, I mean, as soon as it goes back green I feel like we’re going to start passing people. I think if it goes green there’s no doubt we’re going to pass three more guys that have to come down pit road to fix their damage or tires and then we’ve got the opportunity to pass a bunch more guys because we’re on fresh tires Our Dodge got better that last long run. We were running the same lap times as what Brad was, I believe. We’re working at it. We’re getting better. We need to qualify better and then we’ll race better, too.

“We definitely needed it to go back to green. We finished 16th and with some of them riding around on flats and a few others that were going to have to pit for fuel, we might could have been up there in the top 12 if there had been enough laps. We fought the car being free in, tight in center and free off for most of the race. All in all, I think we had a decent day. We're getting better in communicating and the changes are working to prove the car. I feel we are definitely headed in the right direction.”

Todd Gordon (Crew Chief, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger R/T)

“We put ourselves in a hole there qualifying. You didn’t know when the weather was going to come and tried to stay somewhere in sequence so that we weren’t in a bad position. Kind of plugged our way forward all day, a spot or two on a run, and just kept working. I really felt like that caution that came on lap 86 or 87, thought we’d have 10 minutes to go run 12 or 13 laps. We put tires on and thought we could slug our way up through there but that wreck down in Turn 1 kind of put an end to the day. Sixteenth is another step and we ‘ll continue to build off that.”

Travis Geisler (Director of Competition, Penske Racing)

“It was a solid event for both of our cars. We took kind of the standard approach with the 22 and ended up 16th which is another good day for those guys. And really solid considering everything that Sam did this weekend with running double-duty so proud of everybody on that Shell/Pennzoil Dodge. They keep digging in and making some good ground these last couple weeks on just having solid finishes.”

Source: SRT Motorsports