Brad Leaves Phoenix With Another Top 5

Last season, Brad Keselowski proved that consistency is a key to competing for the Sprint Cup and this year he’s already off to a stellar start in that department.

For the second straight week, Brad left the race track with a Top 5 finish after racing the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford into fourth place in Sunday’s Subway Fresh Fit 500. After two races, Brad finds himself third in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Standings behind Jimmie Johnson, who finished second and Dale Earnhardt Jr., who was right behind him in fifth.

“To turn in two fourths at the beginning of the season, this is by far the best start of the season I’ve ever had,” Brad said. “I feel like we’ve had a shot to win the first two races of the year and came up just short in both of them.”

Brad started 11th after his qualifying lap of 26.309 seconds and hung in the Top 10 most of the day. He pushed himself as high as third place early in the race with help from his pit crew during a great two-tire pit stop on lap 100. Twenty-seven laps later, Brad took the lead and held it for 16 laps.

“If you could get to the lead, it looked like you had it covered, but it just wasn’t meant to be,” Brad said afterward.

BK lost the lead when a caution came out on lap 142 and the field went in for pit-stops. Brad’s earlier gamble with a two-tire stop forced him to take four tires on the Miller Lite Ford, while other drives followed his lead from the previous stop and took just two. That shifted BK back to 16th place on the restart.

Brad spent the next 170 laps racing the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford from the middle of the pack to the front of the field. He noted after the race that the new car that NASCAR is debuting this season, while state of the art, has its drawbacks.

“These cars are a big step forward in a lot of ways,” he said. “I’d love to see them be better in traffic. It’s harder than ever to pass in traffic.”

But Brad worked through those struggles and when a caution came out in the final laps, setting up a green-white-checker finish, he found himself in third place behind teammate Carl Edwards with a chance to challenge for the win.

On the side-by-side restart, the two Fords teamed up as Brad’s No. 2 pushed Edwards’ 99 out ahead of Johnson, who was gunning for his second straight win to start the season. But once Carl got out in front he pulled away and Brad quickly lost his chance at the win.

“I just gave Carl a good push into turn one,” BK said. “I wish I would have used the run to try and make a pass, but I don’t think I could have pulled it off without wrecking Carl.”

Instead, Brad was left to battle with Johnson and Denny Hamlin for the second third and fourth spots. The trio traded spots and Brad noted after the race that the excitement of the final laps thrilled him.

“Those guys fought hard and there was a lot of desire,” he said. “It’s early in the season, but I feel like there’s a lot of passion and that’s a good thing. That’s how it’s supposed to be, right? That was cool.”

In the end, Brad took the Blue Deuce around the final turn in fourth place and was proud of the effort of the entire Miller Lite Ford team on Sunday.

“We had a really great Miller Lite Ford today,” Brad said. “I thought we had the car to win the race, but I could just never get that track position towards the end that we needed.”

RELATED ARTICLES

• Edwards Wins Phoenix Sprint Cup Race (The New York Times, March 4, 2013)
• Carl Edwards snaps winless streak at Phoenix (Yahoo! Sports, March 3, 2013)
• Keselowski Scores Fourth-Place Finish at Phoenix (Penske Racing, March 4, 2013)
• Carl Edwards snaps long drought to prevail at Phoenix (USA Today, March 4, 2013)