Keselowski steps up Truck Series schedule in ’12
January 16, 2012
Brad Keselowski Racing will make its next transitional step in 2012 as the team owner will run a handful of Camping World Truck Series races — including the Daytona season opener — as a teammate to Penske Racing development driver Parker Kligerman.
In addition, Keselowski has hired veteran crew chief Doug Randolph to head Kligerman's program. Randolph last year worked on Rusty Wallace Racing's Nationwide Series program with Steve Wallace that finished 10th in the series but recently closed its doors.
Keselowski's races will be managed by Jeff Stankiewicz, who in 2011 led Kligerman's team to 11th in the Truck Series with four top-five and eight top-10 finishes in 25 starts.
"It's starting to come together," Keselowski said Saturday afternoon after his Preseason Thunder test ended at Daytona International Speedway. "I'm roughly planning to do six races, but I'd prefer not to drive it, to be quite honest.
"But for Parker's sake, I think it's important to get a good evaluation because this is a make or break year for Parker. We need a good evaluation of where our equipment's at throughout different periods of the year so we can understand whether or not he's making the most of our opportunity.
"Before you can say what the most of an opportunity is you have to define what the opportunity is. Are we giving him a good opportunity? Are we giving him an average opportunity? I don't have an answer to that and I think we'll have a much better indicator if we're able to achieve that."
To do that, Keselowski was compelled to shuffle his deck slightly, particularly when Randolph became available.
"I didn't feel like we were going to come into this year and be able to win a championship with the way it was done, or the way that we finished last year," Keselowski said. "I knew there needed to be a little mix-up, and I really like Jeff, I really like Parker and I wanted them both to be a part of the program.
"So I think we're able to structure it in a way that everybody was still in the program and we're able to bring in a fresh face that's able to bring some new energy in and hopefully everybody feels like it's a win-win."
Keselowski said one of his primary personal goals is still to win a Truck race and that Daytona's "absolutely a possibility. You just have to be smart and be there at the end."
To that end Keselowski said his team has built a brand new truck for Kligerman to race at Daytona and that Keselowski would race the Dodge that Kligerman used last fall at Talladega.
- By Dave Rodman, NASCAR.COM
