Kes Finishes Third in Thrilling Daytona 500

From the outset of Speedweeks at Daytona, Brad Keselowski knew he would have a fast car for Sunday’s Daytona 500.

As it turned out, the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion was nearly fast enough to win The Great American Race.

Brad led on four different occasions during the 56th running of Daytona 500, for a total of 13 laps and was in contention for the victory as the field came to the line for a green-white-checkered finish under the lights.

BK had his No. 2 was side-by-side with leader Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the 88 as the field approached the green flag, but when Earnhardt Jr. got a big restart push on the low line from his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon, he pulled ahead of BK.

Brad mounted one final a run at the lead before the white flag, pushed hard on the high line by Kyle Busch around Turn 3 at Daytona. But Earnhardt Jr. came up to block and Kes couldn’t quite find a way get his No. 2 around the 88 car.

On the final lap, BK lost his drafting help and Earnhardt Jr. drove on to his second Daytona 500 victory while Brad settled for a third place finish.

The result was BK’s best ever finish in the Sprint Cup Series at Daytona and he said afterward that he enjoyed a great Daytona 500. He just wished he would’ve gotten one more chance to go for the win in the final lap.

“I thought our car was really strong, the best car I have ever had here at Daytona. I got the lead from the very back twice and just didn’t quite pull it off the third time,” Brad said. “That last restart was just crazy. I had the 18 (Busch) and the 11 (Denny Hamlin) behind me and they were doing a good job pushing me into Turn 3. I honestly thought we were going to win, right then, going into 3, with the run that we had. But the 18 and 11 got separated, that kind of stalled my run, and I couldn’t get any help from behind for the last lap and a half, so that was all she wrote.

“It was a strong night for sure. We didn’t get the win, which is most disappointing as a driver with a car like that, which you don’t get all the time. At least most of us don’t. I had the opportunity tonight and came up a little short on that last restart. I am really proud of the effort and happy for my friend (Earnhardt Jr.).”

It was certainly a bittersweet finish for BK, who was focused on kicking the season off on a high note and winning his first Daytona 500. But he was happy for his good friend, Earnhardt Jr., who gave Brad an opportunity in 2007 to race his Nationwide Series (then still known as the Busch Series) car back in 2007. BK ended up running 84 races over three seasons with Jr. Motorsports and won six races. He credits the chance Dale Jr. gave him for allowing him to truly break into the sport.

“Dale obviously gave me my big opportunity. He’s probably my best friend in the garage outside of my teammate Joey Logano,” Brad said afterward. “I thought he did a great job. If there’s ever a guy who is due, it’s the guy who finished second three out of the last four years. He was due. Today was his day. So I’m happy for him and happy for all those guys.”

The incredible finish to Sunday’s Daytona was a full week in the making and it took a full day to get there.

Because he posted the sixth best speed in the field during last Sunday qualifying session, Brad was locked into a spot in the field a week before the 500. But he had to start the race in 33rd after a series of mishaps caused him to finish his Budweiser Duel in 24th place on Thursday night.

The race began under sunny skies shortly after 1:30 p.m. ET and Brad quickly began Miller Lite Ford Fusion quickly began making his way through the pack toward the front of the field. By the time the caution came out on Lap 22, Kes was just outside the Top 20 and after a pit stop during that caution period for two-right-side tires and fuel, he moved up to 18th position.

From there, BK worked his way into the Top 10 and when the race’s second caution came out on Lap 33, he sat in sixth place. During that caution period, a rainstorm that had been anticipated to deter the race arrived, and the Daytona 500 was red flagged on Lap 38.

The cars were called to pit road where they were parked in order and covered while drivers retreated to their haulers. A six-hour and 21-minute rain delay, the longest single-day weather delay in Daytona 500 history, ensued. But after extensive track-drying efforts, the drivers were called back to their cars shortly after 8 p.m. ET. The cars rolled back out for some caution laps at 8:35 p.m. and green flag racing resumed at 8:53 p.m. on Lap 47.

After restarting in sixth, it didn’t take long for Brad to surmise that his car hadn’t skipped a beat despite the weather change and on Lap 57, he used a push from Jeff Gordon to pass Kyle Busch and take the lead for the first time.

BK and Busch ran side-by-side for most of the next six laps. Brad held the lead for four of those six laps and pulled ahead again on Lap 73 for three more laps before making his first green flag pit stop on Lap 76. The No. 2 elected to change all four tires and after the race Kes noted that the first round of green flag pit stops seemed to level the playing field a bit.

“Probably around lap 80, a bunch of other cars picked up speed for whatever reason. It was interesting,” Brad said. “I’m not sure why, but the back half of the field seemed to really adjust on their cars and make gains. I thought before that, there was a little more of a separation, especially in the sun. It would have been interesting to see how the race played out under those circumstances.”

Despite competing with a larger number of fast cars than he did earlier in the race, Brad still managed to gain ground with the Miller Lite Ford Fusion in short order and was the race crossed the halfway point at Lap 100, Brad was in fifth.

Drivers were notified shortly after the race went back to green that another storm system was on its way and could halt the race at anytime, so as the race reached the official halfway point, racing got even more intense.

“Everybody kept telling me over the radio, ‘There’s more rain coming, more rain coming.’ I think that really added to the anxiety and rush of pace,” Brad said.

The storm system held off but the drivers raced aggressively in anticipation of its arrival. Kes took the lead for a fourth time on Lap 116 and held it until Lap 121, when he dropped down to make a second green flag pit stop. As the field cycled through the pits, Brad found himself in the middle of the pack, but he didn’t stay there long and when the first wreck of the race came on Lap 146, BK was well ahead of it in seventh.

The wreck also led to another round of pit stops, which wound up being the last of the night for the leaders. Brad came out of the pits in sixth, where he sat when the race restarted with less than 50 laps to go.

Another wreck on Lap 163 involved 10 cars and took several out of the race. Still more fell out of the running during another wreck on Lap 185. BK said after the race that as the field thinned out, the skill level and intensity of the racing only heightened.

“I think everyone raced a hard 500‑mile race. I never saw a lull in the action from where I was sitting,” Brad said. “You look at this rules package, the way the cars ran today, you could run the bottom, the top, the middle.  At one point in the race, handling started to come into play and skill level really showed up from a driver’s perspective.”

As wrecks continued to occur in the middle of the pack, Kes kept the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford near the front. By Lap 194 he was running in second and chasing down Earnhardt Jr. in an effort to take the lead and race to the win. But another crash in the rear of the pack stopped his charge, putting the race under caution and setting up the green-white-checkered finish.

When he analyzed the field around him while the drivers toured the track under yellow, Brad realized he would have his hands full. Not only was Earnhardt Jr. in front, but he had one Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Jeff Gordon, right behind him and another, Jimmie Johnson, two cars back in seventh.

“I never come here and write off the Hendrick cars,” Brad said. “Seems like come Sunday they pull something out that no one’s ever seen.  They obviously were faster in the race today than they had been throughout the rest of Speedweeks.”

Behind him, Brad had the No. 18 car of Kyle Busch and the No. 11 car of Denny Hamlin, two Joe Gibbs Racing machines with drivers who were focused on making their own way to Victory Lane.

The disadvantage was obvious at the restart as Gordon pushed Earnhardt Jr. to start/finish line well ahead of BK. But with the help of Busch and Hamlin, Brad got a run on the outside line, forcing Earnhardt Jr. to leave the low line and block the high line.

As Earnhardt Jr. held off BK, the field began to shuffle. Gordon lost his drafting help from Carl Edwards, who began to fall back and the high line advanced with Earnhardt Jr. Brad, Busch and Hamlin. But that line soon broke down too as Hamlin left Busch’s back bumper and dropped to the low line as soon as he cleared Gordon’s nose. Without a drafting partner Busch began to fall back and was passed by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. who settled in behind Brad.

The field took the white flag with Earnhardt Jr. trying to hold off Kes on the high line and Hamlin on the low line. Earnhardt Jr. finally chose the low line and Stenhouse couldn’t get to BK’s bumper to give him a push.

“I don’t feel like there’s anything I could have done differently. When the 11 and 18 broke apart, then the 17 split the 18, that was the end of my night,” Brad said. “There was nothing I could do. It was just circumstances outside of my control. I could have blocked the 11 and ran second. That’s all that was going to happen if I would have blocked the 11. But I really wasn’t interested in running second.  I took a shot at a different move that would have given me an opportunity to win and finished third. That’s just the way it is.”

By the time the field entered the final turn of the race, the result was essentially academic, but the middle of the pack was still running aggressively, which created a wreck, bringing out the caution to freeze the field and end the race.

Brad was originally marked in fourth place behind Earnhardt Jr., Hamlin and Gordon, but when NASCAR officials reviewed the tape of the finish, they ruled that BK was ahead of Gordon when the caution came out, giving BK third place, his best ever Cup Series finish at Daytona. After the race, though disappointed at missing out on a chance at a huge win, Brad beamed at the competition level of the race itself.

“That has to be the hardest 500 race ever, probably one of the best,” he said. “I couldn’t be more pleased as both a participant and naturally a fan of the sport with how the 500 went from a competitive standpoint, how things went there. Obviously disappointed I didn’t get two spots higher, but the actual racing I really thought was great. I really hope they don’t change this package because I thought it was very, very solid.”

“We seem to do really well when we have delays here in Daytona. Maybe we should run 50% of the race and pause for four hours. We’re stumbling upon something. The racing gods are trying to tell us something. We need a four‑hour intermission during the 500. That will be our next format change. Whatever works. I’m glad that it’s working.”

Brad managed to pick up 42 points in the Sprint Cup standings to begin the season in third place, but with the new Sprint Cup playoff format putting an even bigger emphasis on winning, BK said the points were of no solace. 

“Points days don’t mean anything anymore,” he said. “That’s the great thing about this format. There is no good points day, as far as I’m concerned. What matters is a win, especially when you come to Daytona.”

NEXT UP

The Sprint Cup Series heads west for the second race of the season next Sunday in Phoenix.

In nine career Cup Series races at Phoenix International Raceway, BK has three Top 10 finishes, including two Top 5s. Since taking over the No. 2 Miller Lite car, Brad has never finished lower than 18th at PIR. His highest finish was in last week’s March race at Phoenix when he took fourth and he followed that with an 11th place finish in the fall.

The first practice at Phoenix is on Friday at 2 p.m. ET, followed by qualifying at 6:40 p.m. ET. Saturday features a morning practice at 11 a.m. and final practice at 2 p.m. BK will then run the No. 22 Discount Tire Ford Mustang in the Nationwide Series Blue Jeans Go Green 200 at 3:45 p.m. on ABC

The main event comes Sunday, The Profit on CNBC 500, scheduled for 3 p.m. ET live on FOX.