penske racing

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (November 5, 2013) – Penske Racing announced today that AutoZone will join the organization as an associate sponsor for the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.

AutoZone and Penske Racing will embark on an extensive business-to-business relationship as the company’s logo will be prominently featured on the C-post of the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Fusion driven by 2013 Chase driver Joey Logano beginning next season. AutoZone will also work with other Penske Racing partners to increase its presence in the racing community. In addition, the Memphis, Tenn.-based company will launch a marketing campaign focused around Penske Racing and Logano.

“We are very excited to welcome AutoZone to the Penske Racing family,” said Roger Penske. “We take great pride in the companies like AutoZone that invest in our organization. This partnership will help us continue to grow at Penske Racing and provide an opportunity for the rest of our partners to work with yet another great company in Auto Zone.”

AutoZone is the nation’s leading retailer and a leading distributor of automotive replacement parts and accessories with more than 5,000 stores in the US, Puerto Rico, and Mexico. Each store carries an extensive line for cars, sport utility vehicles, vans and light trucks, including new and remanufactured hard parts, maintenance items and accessories. Since opening its first store in Forrest City, Ark. on July 4, 1979, the company has joined the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: AZO) and earned a position in the Fortune 500.

AutoZone has an extensive history in motorsports, including various sponsorships in NASCAR, powerboat racing and regional racing series around the country. This marks the automotive company’s first sponsor relationship in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

“When you decide to enter into an agreement like this, you want to work with a company that everyone respects and that’s what Penske Racing is, especially in the motorsports world,” said Bill Rhodes, President and CEO of AutoZone. “We are all really excited to form this new partnership with Roger Penske and his first-class organization. Already from the beginning, they’ve made us feel very welcome. And to get to work with an up-and-coming driver and a car guy like Joey Logano is about as good as it gets.”

Logano, who is in his first season driving the No. 22 Ford Fusion for Penske Racing, has posted career-high numbers in 2013 with one win, two poles, 11 top-five and 17 top-10 finishes. He qualified for his first Chase for the Sprint Cup this season in his fifth full-time year competing in the series. Logano has also won three races in the NASCAR Nationwide Series in 2013, giving him a total of 21 wins in the series since 2008.

“It’s pretty cool to see a new company come into our sport and to get involved at the level that AutoZone is planning to do next season,” said the 23-year-old Logano, who won at Michigan International Speedway earlier this season. “To have a company come in and be really excited about working with you and your team, it really makes you feel good. Having Auto Zone on board starting next season is great for our sport and Penske Racing and it makes me want to go out there and win even more races for them.”

[Source: PenskeRacing.com]

 

Brad Keselowski, driving the No. 22 Hertz Ford Mustang, won the race held at Virginia 529 College Savings 250. It was Keselowski’s fifth victory of the season in Hertz colors and 11th win for Ford in 2013. This is the first year of the team’s partnership.

Keselowski started the race, which was held on the night of September 6, 2013, at the fourth position. He worked his way into the bottom line after giving up several spots during the initial laps. This is the preferred line on the Richmond International Raceway, known as the victory lane.

He made his first pit stop at lap 69, where Jeremy Bullins, the chief crew, adjusted the air pressure and track bar. Keselowski had earlier radioed Jeremy that the No. 22 Hertz Ford Mustang was tight in the center but loose on the exit and corner entry. By the time he made another pit stop at lap 135, he had worked his way into the top five cars.

Brian Scott was in the lead for most of the race in his No. 2 racer, but Keselowski eventually passed him at lap 240 during a late-race restart. He again held Scott at lap 245 and cruised to the win.

When Scott was asked about the race, he said Keselowski was involved in a questionable restart. However, Keselowski responded that the restart box was a zone, and they had gone right at the start without giving Scott a second to catch up.

Asked what it meant to win the 1,000th nationwide series race, Keselowski said he was still too close to the race to understand it well. He said the question could only be answered well with the benefit of hindsight.

Explaining that it was a great honor to win such a distinguishing race, Keselowski appreciated every member of the No. 22 Hertz Ford Mustang team. He gave Jeremy more credit than himself for positioning them where they had a very fast car, particularly during the last few runs. He said that whether he was making passes or restarts, he was simply making executions as everything came together for the team.

 

The NASCAR Nationwide Series made its first appearance at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for the first time in the history this past weekend to hold the Nationwide Children’s Hospital 200. The new track quickly proved to be one of the most difficult racetracks on the Nationwide Series this season. While all of the series regulars and road course specialists competed at the Mid-Ohio track last Saturday, the race had an extremely surprising winner.

AJ Allmendinger spent almost the entire race at the lead, and he would have been able to coast to victory if it was not for a caution with only two laps remaining in the race. The seventh and final caution of the 92-lap race forced all of the contestants to bunch together before they ran the final two laps of the race. The caution may have put the final result of the race in doubt if Allmendinger did not have such a dominant car all day. As soon as the flag waved for the final two laps, Allemdinger was able to jump ahead of the pack to take the checkered flag with little pressure from Michael McDowell and Sam Hornish Jr. behind him. McDowell was second and Sam Hornish Jr. assumed the series points lead after finishing third. Max Papis and Brian Vickers rounded out the top five.

The race last Saturday at Mid-Ohio was only Allemdinger’s second race on the Nationwide Series due to the suspension. He was also able to win his previous race at the Road American race track in Wisconsin. If AJ Allmendinger is able to keep up the dominant performances in his next few races, then he may be able to earn back the full-time job that he lost due to the suspension.

 

[Source: usatoday.com]

THE RACE 

5-Hour Energy 200 at Dover International Speedway (1-mile speedway, Dover, Del.)
June 1, 2013

THE RESULTS

The No. 22 Hertz Ford Mustang
Start Position: 6
Finish Position: 1
Status: Running
Owner Points Position: 3

THE RACE REVIEW     

· Joey Logano qualified the No. 22 Hertz Ford Mustang in the sixth position for Saturday afternoon’s race at Dover International Speedway.

· Over the first 30 laps, Logano moved his way from sixth to third, fighting a car that was loose on corner entry and tight in the center.

· Following the second round of pit stops, Logano took the lead for the first time on lap 53 after a solid stop by the No. 22 Hertz team.  Logano led the next 29 laps.

· The race turned into a pit strategy event. Logano continued to run up front, but often fell behind other cars that were taking two tires when Logano and crew chief Jeremy Bullins called for four.

· The rest of the afternoon, Logano never ran worse than third.

· Logano came into the pits third on lap 163. A quick call by Bullins to take two tires got the No. 22 Ford out first.

· When the green flew, Logano was able to pull away from the field, leading the final 37 laps en route to his first NASCAR Nationwide Series victory of the season.

· The win, Logano’s 19th-career Nationwide Series triumph, was his third-straight at Dover. Logano won both races at the “Monster Mile” last season.

· The win was also Logano’s first at Penske Racing and first behind the wheel of a Ford Mustang. It was also Ford Racing’s 199th NASCAR Nationwide Series victory.

· With the win, Logano moved the No. 22 car within eight points of second-place in the NASCAR Nationwide Series Owner’s Point standings.

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING 

HOW DOES IT FEEL TO FINALLY WIN AGAIN?

“It feels great. I want to say I wish it wouldn’t have taken this long, but this is just our fourth race of the season and we’ve been able to finish in the top-five every race so far. But it’s pretty awesome to get another win here and to get my first win racing for Roger Penske. All you have to do it look at the list of drivers that have won driving for Roger and to know that your name is on that list now is pretty amazing. Then to have Hertz on board with us and win in their first race on the car is pretty awesome as well. It just doesn’t get much better than that. Three in a row at Dover is a pretty amazing accomplishment.”

HOW KEY WAS THAT LAST PIT STOP?

“It was everything. I didn’t really know we were going to do two tires until Jeremy (Bullins, crew chief) told me to go over the radio. But he knew what he was doing. He knew if we got out first and enough other guys had two tires, we had a shot. I don’t know if we had the best car here, but we had one of the two best cars for sure. But you have to take them how you get them. We put ourselves in position to win the race and that’s what we did. I’m really happy for Hertz, Penske and all of the guys on the team. Now we need to use the momentum and get our second next week.”

Team Penske came up just short in its pursuit of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach pole position Saturday, but if recent history is any indication, the team will be in prime position for a race victory when the green flag flies.

Teammates Will Power and Helio Castroneves both qualified for the Firestone Fast Six, with Power earning a third-place starting position and Castroneves securing a sixth-place starting spot. AJ Allmendinger had the ninth-fastest lap in his group during the first qualifying round and will start 14th on Sunday.

Power, the defending Long Beach race winner, was clocked at 67.3987 around the 11-turn, 1.968-mile circuit in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet. Power unfortunately was unable to record his planned fast lap as the checkered flag flew before he could start his third lap in the Firestone Fast Six.

“Yeah, it was good, obviously, to get to the Fast Six, and then just how qualifying is at the moment. We got caught out at the end there,” said Power, who managed to win the race from a 12th-place starting position in 2012 despite qualifying second when he and the other Chevrolet drivers took 10-grid spot penalties after changing out engines. “Tim (Cindric) came over the radio and said that you’re barely going to make one more lap. I thought he meant fuel, not time, but it was time. So I got to the start of my last lap, and it was checkered flag. But still, I’m happy with third.”

The current IZOD IndyCar Series championship leader, Castroneves turned a lap of 67.9698 in the No. 3 Auto Club of Southern California Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet. The three-time Indianapolis 500 winner has now qualified eighth or better in his last four races at Long Beach.
“We made some adjustments to the Auto Club Team Penske Chevrolet between the sessions today and improved quite a lot,” said Castroneves, who won the 2001 Grand Prix of Long Beach from the pole. “It’s a shame because I felt that I had a better car than sixth. I’m not complaining, being top six is great, but I just want to make sure we get everything we can out of the car because it is so competitive here.”

Allmendinger, in his second race driving the No. 2 Penske Automotive Dallara/Chevrolet, had a fast lap of 1:09.2001 in the first qualifying session.

“Tough day for the No. 2 Penske Automotive Chevrolet,” said Allmendinger, who competed at Long Beach three times previously and recorded a top-10 finish in 2005. “We thought we had the car in a pretty good place going into qualifying but unfortunately I wasn’t able to get out of it what I needed. I know that Will won the race last year from 12th so that gives us some hope that we can move up through the field tomorrow and hopefully be competitive.”

Power, who also won the Grand Prix of Long Beach in 2008, will start inside the second row and alongside Takuma Sato and behind polewinner Dario Franchitti.

“It’s definitely a good starting position,” said Power. “I look for a good, solid race again tomorrow in the Verizon car.”

Sunday’s 80-lap Grand Prix of Long Beach is scheduled to begin at 4:45 p.m. ET with NBC Sports Network coverage beginning at 4 p.m. ET.

[Source: PenskeRacing.com]

Team Penske today announced that Detroit-based Quicken Loans Inc., the nation’s largest online mortgage lender and third-largest mortgage lender in the country, will join the team’s IZOD IndyCar Series racing efforts as a sponsor beginning in 2013.

As part of the new multi-year agreement, Quicken Loans will be featured on the cockpit of both the No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet IndyCar driven by three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves and the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet machine driven by three-time series road course champion Will Power. This marks the return of Quicken Loans as a sponsor of Team Penske. During the 2003 season Quicken Loans was a sponsor of the team that saw Gil de Ferran earn the 13th of Team Penske’s record 15 Indianapolis 500 victories.

“We are very excited to have Quicken Loans back as a partner of Team Penske,” said Penske Racing President Tim Cindric. “Quicken Loans’ remarkable record of success and growth makes it a great company to be affiliated with and we look forward to building our relationship in the future.”

Quicken Loans has also been announced as the presenting sponsor of the IndyCar doubleheader race weekend at the Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix. The Chevrolet Indy Dual in Detroit presented by Quicken Loans will feature the first IZOD IndyCar Series races held on back-to-back days next season – June 1-2, 2013 at Detroit’s redesigned Raceway at Belle Isle Park street circuit.

“As a Detroit-based company, we are looking forward to partnering with Roger Penske, who has a tremendous legacy in our hometown, as well as his amazing race team,” said Jay Farner, President and Chief Marketing Officer for Quicken Loans. “Through this sponsorship we are aligning ourselves with great drivers and great people, and in the case of the Belle Isle Grand Prix, doing great things for the city of Detroit.”

About Quicken Loans Inc.
Detroit-based Quicken Loans Inc. is the nation’s largest online home lender and the country’s third largest retail home mortgage lender. The company closed a record $70 billion of volume across all 50 states in 2012. Quicken Loans generates loan production from web centers located in Detroit, Cleveland and Scottsdale, Arizona. The company also operates a centralized loan processing facility in Detroit, as well as its San Diego-based One Reverse Mortgage unit. Quicken Loans ranked #1 in customer satisfaction among all home mortgage lenders in the United States by J.D. Power and Associates in 2010, 2011 and 2012.

Quicken Loans has ranked among the top-30 companies on FORTUNE Magazine’s annual “100 Best Companies to Work For” list for 10 consecutive years. It ranked in the top-15 of Computerworld magazine’s “100 Best Places to Work In Technology” for eight years in a row, ranking in the top-5 in 2012. The company recently moved its headquarters and more than 7,000 of its 8,000-plus team members to downtown Detroit. For more information about Quicken Loans, please visit quickenloans.com, on Twitter at @QLnews, and on Facebook at facebook.com/QuickenLoans.

About Penske Racing
Penske Racing is one of the most successful teams in the history of professional sports. Competing in a variety of disciplines, cars owned and prepared by Penske Racing have produced 365 major race wins, 423 pole positions and 24 National Championships, including the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series title. The team has also earned a record 15 Indianapolis 500 victories in its storied history. For more information about Penske Racing, please visit www.penskeracing.com.

[Source: PenskeRacing.com]

From the start of his career as an Ohio teen-ager selling old used cars he’d fixed, Roger Penske has built a successful empire in racing and auto dealing unique in American history. Once the SCCA’s Driver of the Year in 1961, Penske’s racing team has won 23 national championships, 12 Indy Car titles, 15 wins at the Indianapolis 500 and last year, its first championship in NASCAR Sprint Cup racing. On the track, the team calls him “The Captain”; in the 340 Penske Automotive dealerships and offices known for Disney-like order and cleanliness, there’s usually his motto: “Effort Equals Results.” Here’s a rare video of Penske behind the wheel, racing in the 1962 Grand Prix Riverside. Look for him in the #6 car, finishing where you’d expect him to:

After earning his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship in the Penske Racing Dodge, Brad Keselowski was touring the Charlotte Motor Speedway 1.5 mile oval behind the wheel of the 2013 Ford Fusion.

Roger Penske made the switch at the end of the 2012 season. The champion was in the No. 2 Miller Lite Fusion this morning. “It’s hard to get a great read on the whole manufacturer change because, obviously, it’s a different car, but I think all the signs are there that we have the potential to be just as strong, if not stronger, than we were last year, which is very, very encouraging,” said Keselowski during the break.

The choice to attend the NASCAR two-day open test was up to the teams. Penske took advantage of the opportunity for both Keselowski and new driver Joey Logano. It is not only their first opportunity to run the Ford brand, but mainly testing the 2013 “Gen 6” version Fusion.

Keselowski added before the afternoon session, “It’s been a lot of fun having the first day today working with Joey, which I think has been probably more of an adjusting process than the actual car itself, and a good adjusting process. I’m curious to see over time how we can work together and push each other to be the best we can be, so I’ve had a lot of fun with that so far. We’ve got a lot of work to do. We’re only a half-a-day into two really important days, not only for Penske Racing but for the sport itself and, hopefully, we can continue to show progress.”

(Source: Motorspot.com)