With a sustained push from his brother, #92-Brian Keselowski finished fifth in Thursday’s second Gatorade Duel 150 qualifying event and raced his way into Sunday’s Daytona 500. Since then, his phone hasn’t stopped ringing. Ray Evernham called with an offer to pick up Keselowski’s tire bill for the weekenda cool $10,000 or so. Keselowski is driving a 2006 Dodge Charger that Evernham built years ago, and he came to the track this weekend with one set of tires. Penske Racing, which fields Sprint Cup cars for Keselowski’s younger brother, Brad Keselowski, offered to supply a stronger engine for the #92 Dodge. Unlike other well-heeled teams, Keselowski doesn’t have a fresh engine to put in the car for Sunday’s race. A complication is that Keselowski is running an older generation R5 engine. The new R6 power plant available from Penske requires, among other things, completely different motor mounts and an external fuel pump. According to Keselowski’s father and crew chief, Bob Keselowski, the team might not be able to install the engine in time for Saturday’s practice. Keselowski also is working on a sponsorship deal with Golden Corral, which already had sent him a mockup of the paint scheme for Sunday’s race. “Honestly, I couldn’t answer all the calls,” Brian Keselowski said. “It’s just been insane. By the time I got out of the media center and got dressed (after the race), I looked at my phone, and I had 50-something messages and text messages and phone calls. It’s been crazy”(Sporting News)(2-19-2011) UPDATE: Brian Keselowski has a sponsor for the Daytona 500 receiving funding from Discount Tire [a Penske Racing sponsor] and was applying the logos to his [#92 Dodge] car Saturday. Brian Keselowski came to Daytona with two crew members, his father and his uncle, and was a long shot to make the race. Now he’ll pick up a paycheck of at least $250,000 – money he can use to climb out of debt and continue his fledgling career.(Associated Press), during SPEED’s Happy Hour practice coverage, it was mentioned that Brian Keselowski will not be putting the Penske engine as the car is not fitted to do so and it would take a few days to convert for the newer engine.(2-19-2011)
