What’s up guys!
This has to be one of the best weeks I’ve had all year long. There are so many positive things surrounding both of my teams at Penske Racing.
As we head into this weekend’s race at Texas Motor Speedway, we can put a nice feather in our cap if we can wrap up the Nationwide Series championship. It’s hard to believe that after all the hard work that a lot of people put into this season, this is the week that we could celebrate as champions. A 21st-place finish is all we need to make it happen.
But if you know anything about our team, you know that we are going there with one thing in mind – winning the race.
Just as important to me is the fact that we are really starting to turn a corner with the No. 12 Penske Dodge Charger in the Cup series. Back-to-back top-10 finishes at Martinsville Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway have put us in position to finish the season on a strong note. We’ve known all year long that we could run up front. To be quite honest, we should have been picking up top-10 finishes before now, but bad racing luck played a part in that. No one on the team ever gave up and now we are starting to see the fruits of that labor.
To be this close to winning the Nationwide Series championship, though, is something that I can’t put into words.
Roger Penske, with all he has accomplished in racing, has never won a NASCAR championship. It’s the only thing missing from his trophy case. My family has been in racing for years. My dad, Bob, was a champion driver in the ARCA Re/Max Series, but we’ve never won a NASCAR championship. A lot of people made sacrifices for me to get where I am today and knowing that they will get as much satisfaction out of this championship as me is what will make it very special.
It's been a busy week for me. I made a trip to Las Vegas to make an appearance at the annual SEMA show in Las Vegas. Kurt Busch and I went out to represent Discount Tire at an event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. We raced Dodge Challengers against Dai Yoshihara and Bryan Sellers, two Formula Drift racers. We split the two races, with each team winning once. It was just good, clean fun.
As I said, this has been a great week. I always look forward to going to Texas – usually to see what Eddie Gossage comes up with next – but this time it will be extra special. I’m sure I’ll grab a good steak somewhere down there.
I almost forgot, Penske Racing’s Parker Kligerman will be running my No. 29 Brad Keselowski Racing Ram truck on Friday night at Texas. That kid has a lot of talent and I can’t wait to see what he can do in my team’s equipment.
This week just keeps getting better and better.
See you in Victory Lane!
