NASCAR Cup Series

Penske team confident issues behind it

Published Mar. 16, 2012 1:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

For some race teams, removing the gremlins from the new electronic fuel systems is still a challenge.

And for Penske Racing last weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the catastrophic failure of three different fuel pumps bounced AJ Allmendinger and Brad Keselowski from top-30 finishes.

Allmendinger led Lap 177, then he felt the power leave his No. 22 Pennzoil Dodge less than 20 laps later.

Allmendinger experienced not one fuel pump failure with his EFI system, but two with the lift pumps. Although the team quickly diagnosed the first issue and scurried to change specific parts, Allmendinger’s car experienced a fuel pick-up problem a second time and the entire system had to be replaced. Consequently, Allmendinger finished 37th.

His Penske teammate, Brad Keselowski, also led a lap and was running second on a restart on Lap 251 of the 267 when his car completely stalled entering Turn 1. The team discovered the main fuel pump failed on the No. 22 Miller Lite Dodge. After repairs, Keselowski finished 32nd.

Penske Racing wasted no time addressing the problems. The defective parts were carried back to the North Carolina-based team shop Sunday night. On Wednesday, Penske performed a complete durability test on the engine system at Nashville Superspeedway.

“We saw where the problems were and where we were different,” said Todd Gordon, crew chief for the No. 22 Dodge and Allmendinger. “I feel good about (it). Until you get back in a race situation, you can’t be 100 percent confident, but I think we made real good strides in understanding what caused our problems and how to alleviate the situation.

“Everyone put a good effort into identifying all the pieces that could have contributed to the problem and I think we have a good package now.”

With the No. 22 team sitting 30th in the points standings, Gordon will have to rally the troops over the next 23 races if Allmendinger has any hopes of finally breaking into the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

“The worst race car we have – if we finish a race – finishes 12th to 15th,” Gordon said. “That’s the thing that AJ and I have talked about. We’ve had speed. We’ve had good race cars. He’s had a lot of promise. It’s just situational.

“We get caught up in a pit-road accident at Daytona – not of his making. We were a little off at Phoenix, then got hit in the back and had the decklid knocked off but recovered decently there, also not of his making. Then there was last week.

“There’s the ebb and flow of racing. When you get on a good streak, you can’t explain why. And when you get on a bad streak, sometimes you can’t either. You have to focus forward on the good things. We’re not struggling with our race cars. We’re communicating better each week. We have speed in our race cars. We just have to get over the bad luck.”