Phoenix Racing plans to field car for Brad Keselowski in all-star race
RICHMOND, Va. – Phoenix Racing plans to field a car for Brad Keselowski in the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race in two weeks, crew chief Marc Reno said Saturday at Richmond International Raceway.
Keselowski became eligible for the main event when he won the Aaron’s 499 last week at Talladega Superspeedway. Although he won in a Phoenix Racing car, Keselowski indicated Friday that he wasn’t sure who would enter a car for him in the all-star event.
But Hendrick Motorsports Vice President Doug Duchardt said Saturday that Hendrick would not field a fifth car in the event for Keselowski. NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp said that the team could have a fifth car since it was a non-points event and it would not count against Keselowski’s seven races for the team as a development driver.
Phoenix Racing had hoped to buy a car from Hendrick Motorsports for the race, but the re-certification process would take too long, Reno said. Instead, Phoenix will use the car that it had planned to use for Keselowski at Richmond. Keselowski’s Nationwide team wanted him to concentrate on that series because it was a one-day show Friday, so Mike Bliss competed in the Cup event Saturday.
Anytime a car is certified by one team and then loaned to or bought by another team, it must be re-certified at NASCAR’s research and development center in Concord, N.C., and meeting those stringent specifications to be certified makes it difficult to turn around a car quickly, Reno said. That prevented Phoenix from getting a car from Hendrick.
“We’re going to send the car up to [Hendrick] on Tuesday and they’re going to look it over and help us make sure it’s right,” Reno said. “That’s about the best we can do. If they didn’t have this certification thing going on, we could have gotten a car, ran it and gave it back to them, but you can’t do that anymore [quickly].
“They’re going to run Darlington and Dover with Brad, so they need the car back.”
Reno said the team does not plan to participate in the crew competition.
