Wolfe wasn't thinking title when building No. 22

HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Paul Wolfe admits he's kind of a quiet guy, someone who doesn't bring undue attention to himself. The crew chief of the No. 22 Dodge in the Nationwide Series would rather let his race cars do the talking for him.

Wolfe came up through the ranks as a driver, reaching the Nationwide Series by 2003 and competing in six races for Ray Evernham two years later. But a decision to switch from the cockpit to the pit box was a career-changing move for Wolfe, who wrenched for Fitz-Bradshaw, Braun and CJM Racing before landing a job with Roger Penske during the offseason.

So landing a championship in his first season earned Wolfe high praise from the man they call The Captain.

"When you think [back to] just a year ago, we decided to put this team together and Paul agreed to come on board and Brad [Keselowski]," Penske said. "We talked with [Wolfe] and said let's build something from the ground. Let's build a whole new team, and that's what we've done this year."

When given the task to put together a race team from the ground up, Wolfe knew immediately what he needed most.

"For me, personally, it was like, 'Alright, I need to get in there and build some fast race cars and figure out how we're going to win races,' " Wolfe said. "That was my No. 1 goal."

But he also needed a crew. And 11 months after he started, it seems he made some pretty good choices. Keselowski completed all but one lap and set a series record with 26 top-five finishes.

"You know, starting up a new team, I don't think we had any guys on the team going into December," Wolfe said. "And to be able to come out here in less than a year and win the first championship for Penske Racing just says a lot about all the guys that we put together on this team."

Certainly, every team begins the season believing it can win a championship. But a first-year organization? For Wolfe, just making sure he had the pieces in place was the most important thing on his mind at the start.

"I didn't really have a championship on my mind," Wolfe recalled. "It was building fast race cars and winning races."

And Keselowski was more than appreciative of the job Wolfe did all season.

"So much of this sport revolves around speed," Keselowski said. "You're crippled as a driver when you don't have fast race cars.

"When you look through the sport's history, fast race cars always set the precedent over so many other things. Even reliability and pit road and all of that. If you have a fast race car you can just overcome so many issues."

When Keselowski started to string together a series of top-five finishes throughout the spring, including a pair of victories, Wolfe began to think about the possibility of a title run.

"As we got into the season and had the back-to-back wins at Talladega and Richmond, and kind of seeing how the points were shaking out, that's probably around that time I was like, 'You know, I think we have a shot at this championship,' " Wolfe said.

By the time Keselowski won at Nashville, his lead on Kyle Busch had grown to 196 points. And even then, Wolfe said the focus remained on running at the front every weekend rather than playing it conservatively.

"I can't say that we approached any weekend different as we found ourselves in the points lead there," Wolfe said. "I don't remember what race we had the points lead. But we didn't really approach the weekend different from the way we called the race, from the way we set up the race cars.

"I'm not going to say Brad might not have been driving smart or careful, not putting himself in bad situations -- which he does a really good job of not doing that. But we went out to win races and to win six races is a pretty good stat."

For Keselowski, having Wolfe as his crew chief adds a level of comfort when he climbs into the car.

"What Paul brings to the table is the knowledge and guts to work hard and build those cars and not accept anything less than that," Keselowski said. "Obviously, our relationship has developed throughout the year to where we have a lot of confidence in each other and that gives a little more clarity and allows us all to be very focused as well."

And for a man of few words, a championship in his first season as a crew chief with Penske and Keselowski says it all.

"You know, every day I get more emotional [when I] think about it, but I'm kind of a quiet guy, I don't say a whole lot," Wolfe said. "But it definitely means a lot. Like I said, I'm just grateful for the opportunity. I think this is just a little bit of what we've got to look forward to in the future.

"... Yeah, it's definitely a special deal for everybody involved, and it seems like the hard work that everybody's put in definitely paid off."