Keselowski, Dodge drivers on Darlington race

Brad Keselowski, Penske Racing Dodge

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

Brad Keselowski (No. 22 Snap-on Dodge Challenger) Finished 3rd

“Well, you know this is a short race here at Darlington so you know at the end you’ve got to really fight hard. You don’t have a lot of laps to get it done earlier than that. I'm proud of our effort with the Snap-on Discount Tire Dodge to get a solid finish out of it. We want to win these races so we’re going to keep pushing but this is still my best finish at Darlington and that’s progress and thankful for the hard work by everybody on my team.”

HOW MUCH DID THE TRACK CHANGE DURING THE RACE? “The track conditions just kept changing. Every time there was a wreck or somebody blew up, a lot of oil dry got put down and that makes the racing very difficult in those lanes but it makes it fun, too.”

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THAT LAST RESTART? "We've had some really good runs with both the Discount Tire and Snap-On Dodge Challenger. We just needed a little bit more to close it out. A good way to finish the day. This is a tough race and you can see that on all those last restarts at the end of the race with how much action there was. This is the best finish that I've had in a Nationwide car here so that's a great start. I'm feeling pumped up for tomorrow's race with the Cup car.”

IT LOOKED LIKE YOU WORKED YOUR WAY SLOWLY TO THE FRONT. “You know, this is one of the shortest races of the year, the Darlington Nationwide race but it’s also a lot of fun. It’s a quick sprint at a very challenging track and there’s always a lot of action, that’s for sure. Getting through lapped traffic and restarts at the end are pretty crazy but it’s good racing. Trying to keep up through the restarts is really critical and not easy. Needed a little bit more speed to run with the two Gibbs cars but we’ll keep working on it.”

Sam Hornish Jr. (No. 12 Alliance Truck Parts Dodge Challenger) Finished 4th

IT SEEMED LIKE THE MORE THE RACE RAN THE BETTER YOUR DODGE PERFORMED. “Well, I did pretty good for the most part of not scuffing the wall. I went and hit it on the last lap just to see if I could try to get a run on the outside of Brad and gave ‘er a little too much. All in all I’m pretty happy with our night. We need a little bit more track position there at the end is the big thing. The Alliance Truck Parts Dodge was good on the long run and of course we got a bunch of little short ones there at the end but I was pretty happy with it, especially with about 15 to go, that first restart. I thought we were going to be able to run down the 3 (Austin Dillon) and the 22 for sure and get around them. It was one of those deals, man; got the yellow at the wrong time. But all in all real happy with the work that the guys did and the pit stops that they gave us.”

WHEN YOU ARE FACED WITH A GREEN-WHITE-CHECKERED FINISH AT DARLINGTON IS THERE ANY STRATEGY? “I mean, there’s some strategy. You hope that you’re in the right line, try to push the guy ahead of you. I got up there and was pushing Brad and I thought that we might actually have a little bit more to get around Denny (Hamlin). If I would have maybe moved up and tried to go the high side I might have got around Brad but I might not have. We’ll take what we can get. It was a good points day. We beat everybody that we’re racing for points. I would have liked to have beaten everybody, but little victories I guess.”

YOU HAD A GOOD RUN TONIGHT. “I was real happy with the Alliance Truck Parts Dodge. I went and scuffed the wall there the last lap just for good measure but all in all real happy with the work that the guys did in the pits. We had a good car on long runs and we had a whole bunch of short runs there at the end. It was just really nice to be up there running against Brad and Joey, Denny and a bunch of those guys. I feel like we had a pretty good day.”

HOW DID YOU GET THROUGH THE ELLIOTT SADLER WRECK? “The 3 (Dillon) spun his tires enough that I was just waiting until I got to the start finish line to pull down and try to go underneath him, so I was already heading in that direction and it was just a bonus that I didn’t end up getting in the wreck by doing that. I was more lucky that I got a good restart and I was trying to get around the 3 than anything else.”

IT WAS (THAT) CLOSE AT THE LINE TO BEAT DILLON FOR FOURTH-PLACE TONIGHT. DID YOU KNOW THAT YOU HAD HIM BEAT? "I thought that he beat me, but I'll take it. Our Alliance Truck Parts Dodge Challenger was really loose for most of the race. Chad Walter (crew chief) did a great job all night making some good calls getting the car tightened up as the night went on. We had a better long run car than a short run car, so those yellows at towards the end didn't help us out that much. All and all I'm really happy with the finish. I'm really proud to be out here."

MEDIA CENTER INTERVIEWS

Keselowski

COMMENT ON YOUR RUN TONIGHT HERE AT DARLINGTON. “Yeah, it was an okay night but I don’t think we were as strong as the 18 (Hamlin) and the 54 (Kurt Busch) and maybe the 2 (Sadler). I just kind of used the last two restarts to move our lane and get somewhere and get a top three. We were solid, just need a little more speed to be able to run and contend for a win and we’re working on that but happy to get a solid finish. This is my best finish here. It seems like every time I come here something happens at the end and we don’t close it out but glad to close it out here today with a solid run but obviously would like to be in contention for the win. We’ll keep working on it. We’ve had several races this year with our team where I felt like we had a shot at winning but didn’t put it all together at the end and we’ve had races like today where we really weren’t that strong and did a really great job putting it all together all at the end. When we put those two together we can win some races so I’m optimistic about that and happy with tonight’s finish.”

Hornish Jr.

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT WHAT YOU SAW OUT THERE TONIGHT? “We fought a really loose race car for most of the night, about 75 percent of the race and made some good adjustments on it. Finally felt like we were going to be able move forward and then we got whole bunch of yellows at the end when we felt like we had a good long run car. I'm just happy we got out of here with a top five; beat all the guys we were racing for points. Didn’t probably beat ‘em by as much as we’d have liked to have but all in all we’ll take what we can get and go on to the next race. I always like coming to Darlington and this is first time I think I’ve finished on the lead lap at Darlington except maybe the other Nationwide race that I ran. It’s a fun racetrack, a lot of fun to come out here and just happy that it’s over and didn’t tear up our car too bad.”