Earnhardt seeks speed at Kentucky test

"It was an eventful three days," Keselowski, 31, said of last year’s race weekend. "I ran all three races …a great three races for us. It was kind of funny, the Truck race I think was my worst finish, then the XFINITY race I ran second and then won the Cup race. I guess we saved the best for last."
 
He finished fifth in the Camping World Truck Series event in one of only three starts for the series’ team owner/driver in ’14.
 
It was following the Sprint Cup win that Keselowski sliced open his hand while trying to open a champagne bottle in Winner's Circle, thus the trip to the care center.
 
"It was a heck of a weekend and I'll never look at a champagne bottle the same again," he said. "Lesson learned."
 
Keselowski was testing with the No. 22 team of teammate Joey Logano instead of his own No. 2 squad at Kentucky. Logano was originally scheduled to participate but was unable to attend.
 
Also taking part in the open test were Greg Biffle (Roush Fenway Racing), Ryan Newman (Richard Childress Racing), Jamie McMurray (Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates), Brett Moffitt (Michael Waltrip Racing), Ryan Blaney (Wood Brothers Racing), Matt Kenseth (Joe Gibbs Racing), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Hendrick Motorsports), Danica Patrick (Stewart-Haas Racing) and Sam Hornish Jr. (Richard Petty Motorsports).
 
Biffle, Newman, McMurray and Moffitt also took part in a two-day Goodyear tire test at the track Monday and Tuesday.
 
Keselowski, the 2012 Sprint Cup Series champion, is a two-time winner at Kentucky in the Cup Series and has a pair of XFINITY Series wins here as well.
 
"I like the fact that it's really rough in the corners," he said. "A track that's very rough in the corners requires something different out of the driver, it requires something a little different out of the setup of the car as well. And that seems to really fit my style."
 
Keselowski's success hasn’t gone unnoticed by Earnhardt Jr., who said crew chief Greg Ives arrived at the track with a laundry list of changes to try on the No. 88 Chevrolet.
 
"I think we can get better here," he said. "We definitely all got spanked by Keselowski (last year) so we look forward to the opportunity to get some laps here and trying to find out how we can get faster. We thought we had a top 10 car here last year but definitely need to be a little bit quicker."
 
To help try and accomplish that, Earnhardt said he needs to take an active part in the process.
 
"I think I can help, if I mentally plug in to what they're doing and get real serious about the test, I need to do whatever I can to give Greg the opportunity to make the test productive," he said. "I don't really learn anything myself; we've got so many laps here, we've come here and tested for years and years before they ever had a (Cup) race here.
 
"I need to be driving the car instead of someone else, Greg needs that good feedback and I need to be as productive as I can so I have to plug in mentally and try to give him the information he’s looking for after every run. He's making a lot of small … changes on the car and he wants that feedback on what that's doing. It's a little more than just going out there and making laps and letting them figure it out with the data on the computers. He wants that personal feedback."
 
Wednesday's test was the fourth for teams in 2015 under the NASCAR National Series Unified Test Schedule. The sanctioning body banned private testing after the 2014 season in an effort to help teams control costs.
 
Open tests have been held at Atlanta, Charlotte and Richmond. The next scheduled test is set for April 29 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
 
In the day's only mishap, Moffitt sustained damage to his No. 55 Toyota during the morning session after contact with the wall, requiring the team to bring out a backup entry for the remainder of the day.

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