A Strong Finish at Texas

Brad Keselowski led the second-most laps of all the Top 10 finishers at the AAA Texas 500, but as he commented afterward, second-place was the best-case scenario for nearly all of the field.

After a late-race pit mishap, BK’s Blue Deuce was the sixth car to take the checkered flag, his 13th Top 6 finish of the year. Brad saw it as a decent day at Texas Motor Speedway, and while the finish was respectable, Brad was still left hoping for a little bit more.

“We had an okay day,” Brad said. “I had a lot of confidence heading into this race, but we just missed something on race day. I thought we had decent speed at times with the Miller Lite Ford. I don’t think we were too far off the rest of the field, though. In fact, I think we could’ve finished second.”

As Kes alluded to, a victory was almost out of the question, given the unrivaled speed of Sprint Cup points leader Jimmie Johnson. Brad’s familiar rival in the No. 48 led 255 of 334 laps, leaving the rest of the field racing for No. 2.

“His car was so much faster than the field it was pretty embarrassing to be honest,” Brad said of Johnson. “We were all racing for second place today.”

After starting in second, BK had hopes of winning and ended up spending a solid chunk of time in front of the field on the wide, 1.5-mile oval. He led 30 laps, second only to Johnson and Carl Edwards, who started in first and finished 37th after engine troubles.

“This is a great team, whether we’re in the Chase or not. And we’ve got something to prove every weekend,” says #InRaceReporter @keselowski

— NASCAR on ESPN (@ESPNNASCAR) November 3, 2013

Can @keselowski get his 2nd win of the weekend @TXMotorSpeedway? 2 cowboy hats is better than 1! -KC pic.twitter.com/GTiFoYEDUO

— Miss Sprint Cup (@MissSprintCup) November 3, 2013

With Edwards on the pole, Brad started on the slow outside line and was immediately shuffled back. Johnson, Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth all slid past BK before he settled into fifth place ahead of Dale Earnhardt Jr. As it turned out, he would see more of all five of those drivers as the race went on.

An early caution on lap 15 brought the field into pit road and BK was able to slide pass Kenseth on the restart, but that move didn’t stick. He soon reported that the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion was not turning well through the center of the TMS corners.

Even with the tight handling, Brad stuck right around the Top 5. Still early in the race, Kes and crew chief Paul Wolfe began testing different strategies to fix the tight-handling condition in the No. 2.

On a lap 74 stop under yellow, BK entered the pits in fourth and took just two tires, which helped to loosen up the Blue Deuce just a bit. Tire strategy was vital throughout the day on the rough TMS surface.

That strategy also sent Brad to the front of the field for the first time. After holding the lead on the lap 80 restart, he had to fend off the pole-sitter Edwards during several laps of thrilling side-by-side racing. However, after winning the Nationwide Series race the night before in a similar battle, BK was able to beat the No. 99 without much trouble.

Brad stayed out front on just two new tires for 15 laps before Johnson passed him on four fresh tires. From there, the No. 2’s handling continued to tighten up and Brad was passed by Logano, Kenseth and Earnhardt, making it clear that the Blue Deuce was in need of an adjustment and some fresh rubber.

Through two rounds of green-flag stops and a caution flag around lap 190, Wolfe and Co. continued make track bar, air pressure and wedge tweaks, but none proved to be the right remedy for the Deuce.

Still, BK was able to stick right around the race’s leaders. Right around lap 200, Brad was running in fourth behind Busch and Logano, with the two running clearly faster than the No. 2 at that point.

Busch, a longtime rival of Brad, began to overheat due to debris on his grill and fell back behind Logano. He then slid back behind BK, in need of a draft from the Blue Deuce to remove the debris.

Brad showed his gamesmanship, allowing Busch to take the draft, remove the debris and take his engine temperatures back down.

LOL. It worked! Brad Keselowski helped BFF Kyle Busch get his debris off!! “Funny how the world works,” says @2spotter.

— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) November 3, 2013

Peace in the Lone Star State! RT @NASCARONFOX: .@keselowski, yes Keselowski, helps @KyleBusch remove the debris off the grille. #NASCAR

— Kentucky Speedway (@KySpeedway) November 3, 2013

@keselowski Thanks for the assist. #Championship behavior.

— Mike Proctor (@DocyProcy) November 3, 2013

Classy @keselowski letting KyBusch use his bumper to clear debris #NASCAR

— Ric the Magnificent (@NASCARNAC) November 3, 2013

@NASCARONFOX @keselowski @KyleBusch that is why keselowski is a champion. Classy move on his part.

— Tripp DeRamus (@trippderamus) November 3, 2013

good Sportsmanship by @keselowski !! Class !!

— AuntLue (@auntlue) November 3, 2013

Once Busch’s temperatures were back down, Busch took third place back at lap 217. A few laps later, BK was still plagued by tight handling and allowed Earnhardt to take fourth.

Another round of green-flag stops came with just less than 100 laps remaining and a “short pit” and fast stop from the No. 2 crew paid off in a big way. After the field cycled through its green-flag stops, Brad came out in the front of the field once again.

He held the top spot until there was just 77 laps to go, giving him 15 more laps out front before he was passed by Johnson right before the fifth caution came out.

Still, BK entered the pits in second place but slid all the way back to ninth after a minor mishap on pit road cost the No. 2 team a few valuable seconds and, thus, a chunk of valuable track position.

As BK attested, that mishap ended his chances at upsetting Johnson.

“We were leading at one point and the yellow flag came out. We decided to pit and after our stop we came out ninth,” BK recalled. “That pretty much ended our shot of being able to derail Jimmie (Johnson), if there even was one. But that is the way it goes and we will work and try to get better.”

As Brad also alluded to, with the tight handling of the No. 2, catching up to Johnson still would have been a tall task, even with strong track position.

While running in dirtier air further back in the pack, BK’s handling only worsened. Still, he showed the speed that was present in the No. 2, even behind its unenviable handling as he worked his way nearly back into the Top 5.

With a few more laps to work with, Brad might have made his 10th Top 5 of the year. However, as the 334 laps concluded, the Blue Deuce crossed in sixth, giving him his 15th Top 10 and 13th Top 6 finish of the season.

He finished ahead of all non-Chase for the Championship drivers for the third time in four races. The result also moved Brad back to 14th in the NSCS standings, at the lead of all non-Chase drivers.

NEXT UP

Next up is the penultimate race in the 2013 NASCAR season: the Advocare 500 at Phoenix International Raceway.

BK finished sixth at Phoenix last year, a result that allowed him to finish just 15th in the final race at Homestead to take the Sprint Cup title.

That was his best NSCS result to date at Phoenix. However, BK has had an abundance of NNS success at the one-mine tri-oval. Including a second-place finish earlier this year, Brad has seven Top 5 finishes in the NNS at the Arizona track.

The Advocare 500 will go green at 3 p.m. ET on Sunday.

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