Back to the Track

After the first weekend off of the 2014 season, Brad Keselowski and the No. 2 crew are anxious to get back to the track this weekend as the series hits Richmond International Raceway for the Toyota Owners’ 400 on Saturday night.

But even through a break in the schedule, BK couldn’t keep his mind off the track.

The 2012 Sprint Cup champion kept both his mind and his body in racing mode over the Easter holiday break. He spent time dreaming up his ideal NASCAR schedule and also took advantage of a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series test at Charlotte on Monday and Tuesday to prepare for some upcoming truck races on his calendar.

Brad can’t be blamed for wanting to keep his focus on the track after the stellar start to his 2014 season. At the quarter mark, BK is in prime position to return to the Chase for the Sprint Cup. He currently sits seventh in the points standings after kicking off the year with two third-place finishes at Daytona and Phoenix and a thrilling final-lap victory at Las Vegas.

The racing gods weren’t as kind to BK over the last handful of races, as a series of misfortune relegated the No. 2 car to five straight finishes outside the top 10 despite excellent driving and pit work that allowed him to lead a lap in four of the five races. Kes also boasts six top-five qualifying efforts, including one pole and four P2 starts.

Crew chief Paul Wolfe noted that the consistent speed in the Team Penske Ford Fusions has been one of the biggest revelations of the season so far:

“We’ve had fast Ford Fusions and we had a pretty good start through the first few races,” Wolfe said. “We’ve made big gains in our qualifying performance this year and we feel pretty good about that. The last few races we’ve struggled to get our results to match our potential. Our Fusion has had speed, we just haven’t executed well enough, which I think frustrates the team a little. The good news is we have great equipment and the tools that we need and this team is more than willing to do the work necessary to get back to the front.”

A visit to RIR gives Brad an opportunity to hit the reset button in more ways than one.

The No. 2 Ford gets a makeover this weekend for the debut of the No. 2 Detroit Genuine Parts Ford Fusion. The car’s blue-grey color is expected to stand out under the lights during the second night race of the year.

Then there’s a little matter of personal history between Brad and Richmond.

The Rochester Hills, Mi. native has dominated the 0.75-mile track in the Nationwide Series. He swept both Nationwide races at Richmond last year and also took the spring Nationwide race at RIR in 2010. Those three victories are the most he has at any track in one series. Add four other top-five results and you could say Kes has an affinity for America’s Premier Short Track. At least on the Nationwide side of things.

With two top-ten finishes in nine attempts, Brad has yet to find the same groove in his Cup Series Car at Richmond. Though it’s not for lack of trying. A flat tire and power issues doomed him to a 33rd-place finish a year ago despite making multiple charges into the top 10 and consistently recording lap times faster than the leaders.

“In my mind, Richmond is real short-track racing,” Brad said. “It’s a very fast short track and things happen in a hurry. This is another one of the tracks that require a driver to manage tires. The other thing that I think of when I think of Richmond is pit stops. It’s true at every track, but here with the laps being so quick a bad stop will really hurt your race.”

The memory that likely sticks out clearest in BK’s head comes from back in September as he attempted to qualify for the Chase and defend his championship. Richmond hosts the final regular season race of the year and he needed a win and a lot of help from the rest of the field to qualify. In a sense, he needed a miracle.

Brad almost made it happen as he led 142 laps and ran among the top five for more than 300 of the race’s 400 laps. But unfortunate timing of a caution just after he had hit pit road under green put him a lap down and doomed the No. 2 to a 17th-place finish. With that fresh in his mind, BK remains optimistic about getting over the hump at RIR:

“I like racing at Richmond and we are better there than our results show,” he said. “This weekend is a welcome opportunity to demonstrate what we are capable of and we will do all that we can to get our Detroit Genuine Parts Ford to Victory Lane.”

Brad got the weekend off to a fast start during the two hour practice session on Friday morning at Richmond. He ran 77 laps, capped by an excellent run of 21.396 seconds, the second best of the field during the session. He’ll be back on the track twice more on Friday, at 1 p.m. ET for final practice, and then at 5 p.m. for qualifying. Both sessions can be seen on Fox Sports 1.

Late Friday night, 15 minutes after the conclusion of the Nationwide Series race, Brad will make an appearance at the No. 2 Miller Lite merchandise unit. It will be the first of two visits for BK to his merchandise hauler. He’ll also stop by at 4:20 p.m. ET on Saturday, just hours before the race.

The green flag flies on the Toyota Owners 400 at approximately 7:14 p.m. ET with pre-race coverage beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET on FOX.