A Second Straight Third for Brad

During any previous Sprint Cup season, beginning the season with back-to-back third place finishes would be a boon for a driver.

But the game has changed in 2014 and wins mean more than anything in NASCAR’s new postseason format. So although Brad Keselowski was pleased once again with having a competitive car, which he drove to a third place finish in Sunday’s The Profit on CNBC 500 at Phoenix International Raceway, he was nowhere near satisfied with his result in the desert.

“It feels good to run up front and be competitive,” Brad said. “But we know under this system wins are the only things that count. Last year you would have said second and thirds were great, but this year they are just so-so.”

The weekend at Phoenix did begin on a high-note for BK. Fresh off a string of solid performances at Daytona, Brad headed West with some extra motivation and it showed in his performance during Friday’s qualifying session.

NASCAR debuted a new elimination qualifying format in Phoenix and after running second fastest in the first session of qualifying to secure a chance at the pole, BK nabbed the top spot by setting a new track record at PIR with a lap of 25.828 seconds.

At a track like Phoenix, starting at the front makes a world of difference and BK was thrilled to get his fourth career pole in a place where it mattered so much.

“I think qualifying has been one of those formats that I have struggled with. It just didn’t suit my style in the past. This qualifying format really does suit my style a lot better. It gives me a chance to learn and apply, which to me was instrumental to our success today and hopefully will be in how we go forward.”

ERWIN AND WILSON FILL IN FOR WOLFE

Brad also learned on Friday that he would be running on Sunday without crew chief Paul Wolfe, who left the track Saturday to return to North Carolina for the birth of he and his wife Aleah’s first child.

Brad showed his support for his crew chief on Twitter:

Team engineer Brian Wilson and Greg Erwin, Team Penske’s director of competition for the Nationwide Series, split Wolfe’s duties in calling the race for Brad. Wilson handled adjustments to the car, while Erwin took charge of the strategy. Brad was complimentary of the duo after the race.

“They did a great job,” Brad said. “Still had two more spots to go. All things considered, I thought they did really well. I was very proud of the effort.”

Erwin previously served as a Cup Series crew chief for Robby Gordon (2005-2006) and Greg Biffle (2007-2011), so he is no stranger to the pit box. Last year he served as Nationwide Series crew chief for Sam Hornish Jr. and the duo nearly brought Team Penske a Nationwide Series championship. But Erwin said after the race that going into his duty for the No. 2 team with experience didn’t mean quite as much as the way that crew embraced and accepted him.

“Honestly, stepping into a situation like that, I didn’t know what to expect. Other than listening to Brad during the Nationwide races, and listening to him sometime over the radio, I didn’t know what the dynamic on top of the box was like,” he said. “You don’t get to see or feel any of that when you’re not there. Those guys treated me like I’ve been part of the team forever. That helps.”

Erwin also credited Wolfe, who didn’t leave him completely unprepared despite having to leave on short notice.

“We talked about some of the adjustments he generally feels are slam-dunks for Brad,” Erwin noted. “

[Wolfe] said, ‘These adjustments are generally the most successful, adjusting for Brad and the way he drives the car.’ We laid a plan out and we just stepped through it.”

A TOP 5 DAY

The No. 2 team didn’t appear to miss a beat under the leadership of Erwin and Wilson, as Brad ran in the Top 5 for most of the afternoon.

At the outset of the race, BK ceded his lead spot to Logano, who immediately went for the outside lane pass on Lap 1. After his teammate took the lead, Brad was able to maintain his runner-up spot for more than 30 laps.

He dipped to third just prior to the NASCAR mandated competition caution flag on lap 36, when most of the field went in for the first pit stops of the day.

In the pits is where being the polesitter really came in handy for BK. He was able to select the last pit box on pit road, which, combined with a quick two-tire-and-fuel pit stop by the No. 2 crew allowed him to come off pit road with the lead.

Kes only managed to stay out front for a moment before Logano reasserted himself and drove his No. 22 car to the lead. Brad ran in second right behind Logano until they caught up with lap traffic.

Kevin Harvick, the eventual race winner, took advantage of the traffic to drive his No. 4 car by BK and then Logano for the lead on Lap 74. The No. 4 dominated the day, leading 224 of the 312 laps and after the race Kes was complimentary of Harvick, who posted the fastest speeds in two of the three weekend practices.

They beat everybody before they came to the track today.  It’s a great combination.  They were prepared for the weekend. We saw it all the way through testing, that they were dominant. They showed it when they came to the actual racetrack to race.

The No. 2 Ford Fusion had a bevy of handling issues during a green-flag stretch of over 100 laps that caused Kes to drop back to fourth, but the Alliance Truck Parts pit crew’s adjustments allowed him to stay in the top five for most of the day. 

Still Erwin admitted after the race that no matter what adjustments his crew made, he always felt the No. 2 was always a little bit behind Harvick and Dale Earnhardt Jr., who finished 2nd.

“We didn’t quite go far enough,” Erwin said. “The track went this way, we adjusted, the track went again, we adjusted. We probably needed to get out ahead of it. But at the end of the day, that was just a joy working with those guys.”

A series of four cautions in the final 64 laps of the race allowed Kes and the other front runners save fuel down the stretch, and helped BK improve his result. On the restart from the eighth and final caution, Logano attempted to get under Harvick but instead lost momentum and fell back, allowing Brad to move into third.

After the race, BK explained his line of thinking during the final restart and noted that it brought to mind a race from last year.

“I thought, Get him, go, maybe I can sneak by all of [them],” he said “I kind of was remembering Clint Bowyer at Martinsville in that moment. I was thinking about how everybody wrecked and where to be to get through the wreck to take the lead. That’s really what was on my mind. That didn’t happen.”

After passing Logano, BK did have a run on Earnhardt Jr. for second position on the high line of the track, but the No. 88 driver closed the door.

“I thought we were going to wreck each other twice and didn’t,” BK said of racing tight with the 2014 Daytona 500 winner and NASCAR’s most popular driver. “That was good, I guess. I would have had a lot of people mad at me if I would have done that.”

Instead of pushing it, Brad settled for a third place finish, his fourth top-six finish in his last five Sprint Cup trips to Phoenix and his best result there in ten career Cup races at PIR. The result bumped Kes up one spot to second in the Sprint Cup standings after two weeks, six points behind Earnhardt Jr.

Though he was glad to repeat a competitive result, it was a hollow feeling because of the new format’s emphasis on wins. Brad said after the race that he believed in the middle portion of the day that he’d have a chance to win, and although a series of late cautions allowed him to gain a few spots in the short run, they may have cost him a chance to catch Harvick in the long run.

“I never gave up thinking we had a shot at him,” Brad said. “We just had to make a really strong adjustment. I thought in the midsection of the race we were just as good if not a little bit better when the rubber was down on the track. Then all the yellows in a row picked up all the rubber. We really needed that on the track to excel, so we weren’t very close to him. Always hope it falls that way, and maybe next time it does.”

NEXT UP

Week three of the 2014 season takes the Sprint Cup Series to Sin City where Las Vegas Motor Speedway will host the Kobalt Tools 400 next Sunday.

Sunday will mark Brad’s sixth career Cup race at Las Vegas. His best result at Vegas came last season, when qualifying was rained out, putting Brad, then the Series points leader, on the pole. He led 12 laps in the 2012 Kobalt Tools 400, but finished in third behind winner Matt Kenseth and second place Kasey Kahne.

Prior to last season, Las Vegas had been a sore spot for the No. 2 team, as BK had never finished in the Top 25 at LVMS. He and his team head there this year hoping to use last year’s finish as a building block.

They’ll find out on Friday, when the first practice begins at 2:00 p.m. ET. Qualifying will follow at 6:35 p.m. ET on Friday. Both can be seen on Fox Sports 1.

Saturday features two practice sessions, at 11:30 a.m. ET and 2:30 p.m. ET. Brad will then run the No. 22 Discount Tire Ford Mustang in the Nationwide Series Boyd Gaming 300 at 4:15 p.m. on ESPN2.

Sunday race coverage begins at 2:30 ET on FOX with the green flag for the Kobalt Tools 400 scheduled to fly shortly after 3 p.m. ET.