Marty Smith of ESPN reports that he was told by Penske Racing that Brad Keselowski [JR Motorsports in the NNS] was never offered the #12 Dodge [ride] Jonathan Gibson, vice president at Penske, tells [Smith] they’ve spoken with a lot of drivers, but made just one offer — and that’s to the individual they plan to sign. All signs point to that person being David Stremme, but Gibson would not confirm Stremme as the team’s leading candidate.(ESPN.com)(8-28-2008) UPDATE: Brad Keselowski said he visited Penske Racing last week but did not have an offer on the table to drive the Sprint Cup #12 car next season. “I just went down and said, ‘Hi,’ and checked everything out, looked at their beautiful building,” Keselowski said Friday at Auto Club Speedway. “I only live like a mile from the place. I heard it’s a cool shop, and I had to check it out.” Keselowski said the Penske officials asked him what his contract situation was, and Keselowski said he was committed to JR Motorsports. Penske Racing is looking for a replacement for Ryan Newman. Penske test driver David Stremme is considered one of the candidates for that ride. “I basically told them flat out that I have a contract to drive for JR Motorsports, and I’m committed to it,” Keselowski said. “The biggest thing is I’ve got a good ride. We won last week, so it has to be pretty good. We’re winning races and we’re happy, so why [mess] with that?(SceneDaily.com)(8-30-2008) UPDATE: David Stremme doesn’t seem worried at all about talk that other people have possibly spoken to Penske Racing about driving the #12 Sprint Cup car next year. Stremme, who signed earlier this year as a test driver for Penske to go along with his Nationwide Series driving duties for Rusty Wallace Racing, has been considered the primary candidate for the job the last few weeks. Stremme said that he might be able to talk about his future next week. “I don’t have anything [to say],” a terse but polite Stremme said Saturday at Auto Club (Calif.) Speedway. “We’ll see [what happens].” When asked if he was worried about the talk that Penske’s people talked with Brad Keselowski (Keselowski says he was never offered the ride), Stremme said he wasn’t. “Talk to them at Penske, they probably know what’s going on,” Stremme said.(SceneDaily.com)(9-1-2008)
