THE RACE

The Royal Purple 300 at Auto Club Speedway (two-mile oval, Fontana, Calif.)

THE RESULTS 

The No. 12 Wurth Ford Mustang
Start Position: 7
Finish Position: 2
Status: Running
Current Driver Points Position: 1

THE RACE REVIEW

· Hornish started from the seventh position on the grid after lapping the two-mile oval in 40.852 seconds at, 176.246 miles an hour, during Saturday qualifications at Auto Club Speedway.

· During the opening laps of the race it was evident that Hornish had a strong Wurth Ford Mustang as he advanced to second-place by lap 6.

· Hornish would lead for the first of five times at lap 41.

· For the first half of the event Hornish reported that his Penske Ford was too loose on exit and he needed better driver off of the corner, yet he ran consistently in the top-three.

· Over the course of the 150-lap event Hornish accrued over 10 of the fastest laps of the race.

· Hornish led the race five separate times for a total of 28 laps.

· With three laps remaining in the race Hornish, while giving it everything he had in an attempt to catch race leader Kyle Busch, made light contact with the outside wall in Turn 1. He was able to continue and went on to finish in the second position.

· With the result the No. 12 Penske Ford Mustang has five top-seven finishes to start the season.

· Hornish and the No. 12 Wurth Ford team lead the series standings with a 28 point lead over second-place Reagan Smith.

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING

“It feels really good, as we started off the year just the way we wanted. We have made sure that we took care of the car throughout the first five races as well as we could. We wanted to get out of the box well, and I preached that to the team in the off-season. We wanted to get through the first five races in good standing, and I am really happy with the way Greg Erwin and the guys on the team have been performing and the job they are doing for me. Everyone is working together, and we have a bunch of new guys and some guys that we have had on the team for a while that are kind of the ones that hold everything together and show them how it needs to be done. Everybody works well together, and I am proud of everyone on this Wurth Ford Mustang.”

“We just didn’t have enough to beat Kyle (Busch) today. We ran hard and got the lead on the restart a couple times. He would run real hard on the first 50 to 75-percent of the run and slide the car around and wear it out, and then we would catch him the last 25-percent. We were doing it again on the last run and I just got within about 10 car lengths of him and got greedy and drove it in too hard and got into the wall. We want to win races as bad as we want to win the points. When there was still smoke in the car halfway down the back straightaway I was worried we would end up with a flat tire and I would end up looking real bad. I am glad things worked out the way they did.”

THE RACE

The Sam’s Town 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (LVMS) (1.5 mile speedway) – Las Vegas, NV

THE RESULTS

Start Position: 7

Finish Position: 1

Status: Running

Driver Points Position: 1

THE RACE REVIEW

·   After rain cancelled qualifying, Hornish started from the seventh position as the lineup was set per the NASCAR Nationwide Series rulebook, utilizing the 2012 owner point standings.

·   Hornish scored his second Nationwide Series victory after leading 114 laps of the 200 lap event.

·   The win is the first victory of the season for a Penske Ford and the first Ford Mustang victory of the season.

·   The No. 12 Wurth Ford showed strength and speed all afternoon as Hornish was able to drive his Mustang from fourth to first on three separate occasions during restarts.

·   Hornish and the No. 12 Wurth Ford Mustang now own a 19 point lead over the second-place competitors.

·  This is the third consecutive top-10 and the second top-five finish for Hornish through three races.

·  This is crew chief Greg Erwin’s first career Nationwide Series victory and the first  win for the new driver – crew chief pairing.

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING

“It feels great to win here. I just realized this morning at the driver’s meeting that this was the Sam’s Town 300, and I thought this would be a good one to win because my name is already on the trophy.”

“We had a dominant car all day long. After the third lap of practice, I knew we had a pretty good Ford Mustang. We made some minor adjustments throughout practice, and a little bit for the race and the car was great.”

“The last time I had a car that good was probably in the 2008 All-Star race. We did have a really good Wurth car last year at Charlotte in the Nationwide Series race, but we didn’t get to race it. We made it about two laps in the race before we had a miscommunication between the spotter and me and ended up wrecked. I felt as good about that car in practice as I did this one. After patching it up we ran top five times with the replacement radiator and a lot of tape, but the car we had today was pretty special.”

Regularly cleaning your solid surface countertop will keep bacteria off the surface and out of your food. You’ll avoid a costly countertop replacement by taking care of your solid surface countertop.

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

What you need:

• dishwashing detergent
• a soft cloth
• mildly abrasive cleaner such as Soft Scrub
• sponge
• towel
• abrasive pad

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

1. First, wipe down your solid surface countertop with warm, soapy water and a clean, soft cloth. Dishwashing detergent works well as a mild soap. After you’ve wiped away any grime or dirt, be sure to rinse and then towel dry your countertop to prevent spotting, especially if you live in an area with hard water.
2. If you have stubborn residue that won’t come off with soap and water, apply your mildly abrasive cleaner. Dampen a sponge with warm water, and then buff the area in circular motion. After you’ve scrubbed the area, rinse away the cleaner and then dry the counter with a towel. If the residue is still on the counter, lightly buff the area with an abrasive pad.
3. Check your solid surface counter for minor cuts and scratches. If you’ve spotted a scratch, apply abrasive cleaner onto a damp sponge. Buff the area in a circular motion, and then rinse and towel dry the surface.
4. To keep your solid surface countertop in peak condition, avoid exposing the surface to harsh chemicals such as paint removers and thinners, acetone based cleaners and drain cleaners.
5. To prevent minor scratches on your countertop, avoid cutting directly on the surface.
6. Avoid placing heat-producing kitchen appliances on your countertops. Heat can discolor the surface and leave burn marks.

Homestead, Florida (November 18, 2012) – Brad Keselowski and the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge team claimed the first-ever NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) championship for Penske Racing Sunday evening.

Entering the 2012 Cup Series finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway with a 20-point advantage over five-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson and the No. 48 car team, Keselowski needed to secure a 15th-place or better finish to wrap up the title.

With a strong top-20 run, Keselowski earned the title after Johnson finished back in the field after suffering mechanical issues. Keselowski’s 15th-place effort capped a remarkable season that featured five wins, 13 top-five a 23 top-10 finishes. The result also secured the 24th national championship in the storied history of the Penske Racing organization.

Keep visiting PenskeRacing.com for more from Homestead and complete coverage of the team’s Championship “Victory Lap” in the coming days.

Wilsonart launches two new Wilsonart® HD® designs, available NOW: Winter Carnival and Summer Carnival. These designs feature a large-scale structure, dramatic movement with mixed coloration, -35 finish and AEON™ Enhanced Performance technology.

The designs provide a large-scale, granite look to the HD category, in two popular colors, and compete with Formica’s best-selling 180FX designs. Based on channel and customer feedback, Carnival will be standard in a Wilsonart HD build. Many of you have told us that you believe your customers will want to preserve HD price point with this series, and that the designs can hold the higher value despite the presence of lower-cost FX. We will also offer these designs in a -52 finish at the Premium price level, to be used where cost is a driver of brand selection.

These new designs are inspired by the luxurious, exotic, natural granite out of Brazil that includes large-scale elements called “Carnival.”Winter Carnival movement carries a rich red-brown with accents in cool grey. Summer Carnival has movement in Golden ambers and browns with accents in greys. These designs strategically focus on premium, exotic stones (rather than replicas of readily available, “cheap”granite) that are typically unavailable to the consumer due to cost, rarity and/or transportation.

Wilsonart® HD® The surprisingly smart alternative to granite. Believe It.

Charlotte, North Carolina (October 6, 2012) - Nearly 18,000 people ran at Marshall Park on Saturday morning for the 16th annual Race for the Cure in uptown Charlotte. Wurth Wood Group brought a team of 20 participants to walk/run in the recreational 5k. Wurth Wood Group exceeded their goal and raised over $1000 for the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

Many of Wurth Wood Group’s runners ran for loved ones who were diagnosed or died from breast cancer. Pam Wilson, an employee at Wurth Wood Group was running for herself. Pam has been a breast cancer survivor for 16 years and was ecstatic to be able to participate in her first Race for the Cure. Wurth Wood Group looks forward to making this an event for employees and customers to participate in every year.

Special thanks to all of the supporters, participants, and donators, without all of your support this event would not have been a success.

Race for the Cure – Charlotte has raised over 1.1 million dollars thus far and donations are being accepted until October 31, 2012.

Newton, Iowa (August 4, 2012) – Sam Hornish, Jr., driver of the Penske Racing No. 12 Wurth Dodge Challenger in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, finished third in Saturday evening’s U.S. Cellular 250 at Iowa Speedway. The result marks Hornish’s second best finish of the season and third top-five in the last four events. The top finish was made extra-special as Hornish and the Wurth Dodge team brought home a $100,000 bonus as the top finishing Dash4Cash driver and the performance netted a lucky fan $100,000 as well.

Hornish qualified for the event in the seventh position after turning a lap of 23.456 seconds, or 134.294 miles per hour, around the 7/8ths mile speedway during the Saturday afternoon qualifying session. As the green flag flew Hornish held position as the short-fast track kept the lead cars bunched tightly during the opening laps. The Defiance, Ohio native was able to improve his position two spots by lap 10 as he was scored fifth in the running order.

Hornish informed the crew that the car was too free into the turns and then tight in the center yet he was able to hold the fifth spot for the first 50 laps at which point the yellow flag was displayed for a pre-mandated competition caution. Crew chief Chad Walter elected to bring the Wurth Dodge to pit lane to make adjustments including air pressure, four tires, left rear wedge and to fill it with fuel.

When the action restarted at lap 56 the Wurth Dodge was scored fifth in the order. Over the next few laps Hornish would be shuffled back to eighth-place while cars were dicing for position, but by lap 70 he had climbed back up to sixth. At lap 89 the caution flew for the second time of the night and after conferring with his driver Walter called Hornish to the pit lane at lap 91. During this stop the Penske pit crew changed the two right-side tires and dispensed a can of fuel with an air pressure adjustment that was aimed at keeping up with changing track conditions.

The Penske Dodge gained multiple positions on the strength of the well-executed pit stop and was shown running second as the racing resumed at lap 95. Over the next several laps the No. 12 Wurth Dodge would battle with the No. 18 of Michael McDowell as the two would swap positions numerous times throughout each lap. At lap 101 Hornish was able to settle into the second position as the 18 began to fade.  Over the next 70 laps Hornish reported that his Penske Dodge was too free into the corners and that the rear of the car was sliding across the track. Despite not being completely content with his car Hornish managed to turn competitive lap times and maintained a solid presence in the top-five.

At lap 172 the final caution of the evening was displayed and at lap 174 Hornish pitted for the last time in the event. During this stop the crew changed four tires, made air pressure adjustments and made a wedge adjustment while topping the car off with fuel. At the lap 178 restart Hornish was running fifth. Within two laps the Wurth Dodge moved up to the fourth position and at lap 245 advanced to third as the No. 54 of Kurt Busch had to pit for a flat tire.

Hornish would hold on to third-place and by doing so he earned a $100,000 bonus as he was one of four Nationwide Series drivers that had qualified for the Dash4Cash at the recent race at Indianapolis. As an added bonus a lucky fan, Tammy Altieri, from Spokane, WA also won $100,000 at the Nationwide Dash4Cash event.

“I felt like we had a pretty good car in qualifying but after how practice went yesterday I wasn’t exactly sure how we were going to be tonight,” said Hornish. “I’m just really happy the guys put a good car under me and we did exactly we needed to do. We’re out here trying to get points and we lost a little bit to the leader today but we’re going to have our days too so we just need to be smart about what we’re doing and continue to finish these races. We’re really proud to have brought home a top three finish in our Würth Dodge. We’ve been real fast in these cars this year and haven’t always gotten the finishes that we deserve. Overall, this is a great night for the Würth Dodge and for all of us at Penske Racing to be able to get out of here with our second-consecutive top-three finish.”

With the result Hornish and the No. 12 Wurth Dodge maintain fourth in the championship standings trailing first place by 34 points and are just 13 points behind third-place competitor Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Penske Racing teammate, Ryan Blaney finished 10th in the No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge.

Hornish and the No. 12 Penske Dodge team will next race at Watkins Glen International Raceway in the Zippo 200 at The Glen on Saturday, August 11. Coverage will air live beginning at 2:00 PM EST on ABC. The race will also be broadcast on the Performance Racing Network and SiriusXM Satellite Radio Channel 90.

No. 12 WURTH Dodge Team News and Notes
• Sam Hornish Jr., driver of the No. 12 WURTH Dodge Challenger, will make his 20th start of the 2012 NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) season Saturday evening in the U.S. Cellular 250 at Iowa Speedway
• This race marks the sixth appearance of the season for Wurth as the primary sponsor of the No. 12 Penske Racing Dodge in NNS competition. The Wurth Companies of North America provide customers with everything they need to succeed in the Automotive, Industrial and Woodworking Industries. Whether it is a small body shop or nationwide fleet maintenance company, Wurth USA offers the unparalleled selection and unbeatable service that is synonymous with the Wurth brand
• This will mark Hornish’s third Nationwide Series start at Iowa Speedway – his best finish came in May of this year (12th) and it marks his fourth start all-time at the venue
• Hornish will be doing double-duty this weekend driving at Pocono in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race and in Iowa in the Nationwide Series race – this will entail a fairly complex travel schedule which will include a plane, a helicopter, car and a golf cart
• This event will mark Hornish second race as a Nationwide Dash4Cash eligible driver – if he is the top finisher of the four eligible drivers he will earn a $100,000 bonus
• Hornish has 52 NNS starts. He has scored one victory, seven top-five and 18 top-10 finishes
• After 19 races Hornish and the Wurth Dodge team are fourth in the NNS Championship point standings.
• This weekend the No. 12 WURTH Dodge Challenger will race with chassis PRS-223 which Hornish last drove at Dover
• Local talent – Penske Racing No. 12 Dodge shop-based set-up mechanic, Kyle Pinkerton is from Grinnell, Iowa
• Consistency has been a key for Hornish this season as he has completed 3318 of 3320 laps thus far (99.9%)
• Fun fact – Sam attended a Dale Carnegie seminar early in his career to bolster his public speaking skills
• Penske Racing has 361 all-time race victories with 100 NASCAR wins and 419 pole positions overall including 126 NASCAR poles
• Follow Hornish at @PenskeRacing, @SamHornish, http://www.penskeracing.com, http://www.samhornish.com and the Penske Racing Facebook page – http://www.facebook.com/penskeracing and http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sam-Hornish-Jr
• #PenskePride – each race weekend fans will have the opportunity to Tweet @PenskeRacing pictures showing their support of the Penske Racing organization, their favorite Penske Racing driver(s) or teams in unique and creative ways, using the hashtag #PenskePride. The best weekly photo will be named Fan Photo of the Week. At the end of each month, a Fan Photo of the Month will be selected from the weekly winners. The best monthly photos will be voted on by @PenskeRacing followers to be named Fan Photo of the Year. The winner of Photo of the Year will receive the Ultimate Penske Racing Fan Experience including tickets and hot passes to the 2013 NASCAR All-Star Race, autographed items and a tour of the Penske Racing facility with a Penske driver

Sam Hornish Jr. comments about this weekend’s U.S. Cellular 250
“Our Wurth Dodge team is in a very good place heading into Iowa. We have been consistently improving our performance throughout the year – our Penske Dodges have been fast, we have had terrific reliability and the pit crew has been strong. We have qualified well in the past at Iowa – we just haven’t put it all together and this weekend we are poised to do just that. We feel like we’ve built some strong momentum and we are looking forward to finishing this one on top.”

Crew Chief Chad Walter comments about this weekend’s U.S. Cellular 250
“We have been looking forward to returning to Iowa as we feel as though we have unfinished business there. We’ve had fast race cars there, but we have not executed to the level of which we are capable. It is a short oval that tends to drive more like an intermediate, which favors Sam’s driving style and he’s had some strong runs there the past couple of races. The Wurth Dodge team is on a roll and we are ready to bring home another strong finish.”

Loudon, New Hampshire. (July 14, 2012) – Brad Keselowski, driver of the No. 22 Snap-on Dodge Challenger in the NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS), scored his second win of the season in the F.W. Webb 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (NHMS) on Saturday afternoon. Keselowski led a race-high 131 laps on the way to his 19th career NNS victory, which places him 15th on the NNS all-time wins list.

Keselowski began the 200-lap race from the pole position – his third-consecutive NNS pole award at NHMS – based on his lap of 29.067 seconds, or 131.035 miles per hour, around the one-mile oval. The time was good for a new NNS track record, the second time in three years that Keselowski has set a track record at NHMS. He briefly held the Cup Series track record based on his qualifying time during the fall 2010 event.

As the race began, Keselowski established the dominance of his Snap-on Dodge Challenger as he quickly raced out to a comfortable lead. He radioed to crew chief Jeremy Bullins that his car was slightly loose on corner entry and a little tight on corner exit. However, his forward bite was excellent and that is where he was able to put distance on the field. Keselowski led the first 38 laps of the event before the first caution of the day brought him down pit road for four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment. The Snap-on Dodge team pulled off a fast pit stop, but they were beaten off pit road by teams electing to take only two tires. As a result, Keselowski restarted the race from the fifth position at lap 43.

Once again, Keselowski began to show the strength of his Dodge as he began to make his way back toward the front of the field. He stated over the radio that he was still dealing with the same handling issues as in the first run and that he needed to be better just past the center of the corners. Following the second caution flag of the day, Bullins elected to go with a two-tire stop – along with fuel and an air pressure adjustment – to get his driver back at the front of the pack. With the benefit of having the No. 1 pit stall, Keselowski beat everyone off pit road and resumed the lead when the race resumed at lap 89.

With the race moving past the halfway point, Keselowski raced his Snap-on Dodge out to nearly a four-second lead. When discussing what to do on the final pit stop of the day, Keselowski stated his desire to do what was necessary to keep the essential “clean” air that comes with running at the front of the field. He visited pit road for the final time at lap 123, under the yellow flag, for another two-tire stop. He kept the lead when the race resumed at lap 129 with enough fuel to make it to the end of the race.

Following the final restart of the day at lap 150, Keselowski relinquished the lead to the No. 33 of Kevin Harvick after he had trouble getting up to speed. Harvick held the lead until lap 178 when he began to struggle with lapped traffic, allowing Keselowski to pass him with a strong move to the outside. Keselowski would not look back as he crossed the finish line to pick up the win.

Penske Racing teammate, Sam Hornish finished fourth in the F.W. Webb 200 on Saturday afternoon.

Following Saturday’s result, Keselowski and the No. 22 team moved up one spot to eighth in the NNS owner point standings.

“I’m proud of my team for putting that effort in on this Snap-on Discount Tire Dodge,” said Keselowski. “Just a great car, I’m just proud of it. This is a tough series. Kevin (Harvick) raced me hard and there are very few guys that I’d like to race more than Kevin. He’s a lot of fun to race with. I caught a little bit of a break in lapped traffic.”

Daytona, Florida. (July 6, 2012) – Sam Hornish, Jr., driver of the Penske Racing No. 12 Wurth Dodge Challenger in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, finished 10th in Friday evening’s Subway Jalapeno 250. The result marks his best superspeedway finish of the season.

Hornish qualified for the event in the 17th position after turning a lap of 51.231 seconds around the 2.5 mile superspeedway at an average speed of 175.675 miles per hour during Friday afternoon qualifying. However, due to a post-qualifying engine change the No. 12 Wurth Dodge had to start the race from the back of the field.

The Defiance, Ohio native spent the first part of the race at the back of the pack with a mind to avoid the crashes that are prevalent at Daytona. At lap eight the first caution of the night was displayed and crew chief Chad Walter elected to stay out which resulted in the Wurth Dodge picking up the lead. When the green flag brought the field back up to speed at lap 11 Hornish was scored first with Penske Racing teammate Brad Keselowski pushing him. The two would break away and Hornish would go on to lead several laps before another tandem pushed its way to the front.

At lap 39 Hornish brought his Dodge to the pits for a scheduled green flag pit stop at which point the Penske Racing crew changed four tires and filled the Dodge Challenger with fuel. Just as Hornish rejoined the action a yellow flag was displayed, this meant that Hornish was now a lap down to the leaders, but he was the first car one lap down and was awarded the “Lucky Dog” award, putting him at the tail end of the lead lap.

During the next segment of the race Hornish would run as low as 30th and as high as 21st. A lap 65 caution flag gave the Penske crew the opportunity to make up track position for their driver which they did as when the action picked up at lap 72 Hornish was scored in the fifth position.

During the final 28 laps of the race there were multiple caution periods, due to a couple of big wrecks and single car crashes. Hornish was running third at lap 96 when the final caution of the night was displayed at lap 97 setting up a green-white-checkered finish. At lap 99 the green flag brought the cars up to speed for the final time of the night with the Wurth Dodge scored seventh. Hornish had been working with Justin Allgaier for the previous 10 laps, but the two were not able to effectively pair up for the last lap and Hornish finished the race in the 10th position.

“It was a strange race, said Hornish. “We were able to miss a lot of the carnage and that helped us a lot. I’m not sure how good our car was, but we got a lot of breaks that helped us get track position. The guys worked their butts off all weekend. We changed a transmission and an engine. We started from the back and were able to claw our Würth Dodge Challenger back up to the front. At the end of the day, we’re looking for wins and we fell short today. We’ll take a 10th-place finish but we always want more. Our car wasn’t good enough to push like we needed to and every time that we got into traffic we just got pulled off the car ahead of us. “It’s just luck. You can never predict where or when all heck is going to break loose. We were just fortunate to stay clean all night, get some track position back and contend at the end of race.”

With the result Hornish and the No. 12 Wurth Dodge securely maintain fourth in the championship standings trailing first place by 35 points.

Penske Racing teammate, Brad Keselowski finished 35th in the No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge.