BK Aims For Back-to-Back at Kentucky in Nationwide No. 22

The second act of Brad Keselowski’s triple-header weekend at Kentucky Speedway–Friday night’s Nationwide Series John R. Elliott HERO Campaign 300–could be his best.

BK has dominated the Nationwide Series event at Kentucky throughout his career, but particularly behind the wheel of the No. 22 Discount Tire car.

Friday night’s race will be Brad’s fifth Nationwide start of the season and first since he finished in second place at Charlotte a month ago. He makes his return to the series at a track where his average finish is an incredible 3.2 in six races. In fact, BK has never finished lower than seventh in a Nationwide race at Kentucky and has run all 1170 laps successfully over the last six years.

In that span, Kes has made two trips to Nationwide Victory Lane, finished third twice, fourth once and seventh once. His last victory there came last year in the rain-shortened Feed The Children 300.

Brad was driving far and away the fastest machine on the track and led 59 of the 170 laps run. He had just re-taken the lead 13 laps prior to the stoppage, which came 30 laps shy of completion. After waiting out an hour-long delay with no end to the showers in site, track officials ruled the race to be over, awarding BK his second Nationwide victory at Kentucky.

He was even more dominant in his first victory at Kentucky back in 2011, when he led 132 of the 200 laps on his way to victory.

“Kentucky traditionally has been a strong track for Team Penske and this Discount Tire team,” Brad said. “The track itself has some personality in terms of the surface, which requires that the driver manage the tires over the course of a run.”

Although Brad has traditionally owned the Kentucky race in particular over the years, he’s also been a consistent Nationwide competitor up and down the schedule.

A win this weekend would give him sole place of sixth place on the all-time series wins list with 29. This year, the script is no different. His early-season win at Vegas extended his streak of consecutive seasons with at least one Nationwide win to seven, dating back to 2008. 

With his win at Vegas, second place finish at Charlotte, second place run at Daytona and a third place run at Phoenix, the 2010 Nationwide Series Champion has yet to finish a 2014 Nationwide race outside the top three.

“In general, this No. 22 Team Penske Ford crew is capable of contending for the win every weekend,” he said. “We fully expect to do just that this weekend.”

BK and teammate Joey Logano have played a huge role in putting the No. 22 Discount Tire Ford Mustang in serious contention for their second consecutive owner’s points title. After 10 races, they are second in the standings, 50 points behind the No. 54 of Joe Gibbs Racing.

Crew chief Jeremy Bullins is approaching the race with plenty of confidence.

“We look forward to going to Kentucky each year. It’s a place where we’ve run well,” Jeremy said. “We’ve had success here, and it felt like it jump started us last season to some intermediate track wins that got us back in the championship hunt. Hopefully, we can get that going again and carry the momentum forward for the rest of the year. Our Mustangs have been really fast lately, and we feel like we are close to breaking out for some wins.”

Though all drivers will have gone through their requisite preparations, Kes will enter the John R. Elliott HERO Campaign 300 more familiar with the track having run his No. 19 Brad Keselowski Racing Draw-Tite Ford F-150 to a fifth place finish in Thursday night’s Camping World Truck Series UNOH 225.

“Since I am running all three races, I feel as though the additional track time will be beneficial too,” Brad said. “On top of all that, I just seem to do well at Kentucky and anytime you go into the weekend with that mindset you do have an advantage.”

In addition to four sessions with the No. 19 truck on the Kentucky track Thursday, BK got to take the Discount Tire Mustang for a spin in opening practice on Thursday night prior to the truck race. He was 10th fastest in that session with an average speed of 173.455 miles per hour over a 31.132-second lap. The Double Deuce was even quicker in final practice on Friday morning, posting a top speed of 175.695 mph over a 30.735-second lap.

Qualifying for Friday night’s race is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET and can be seen on FOX Sports 1. Just a few hours later, The John R. Elliott HERO Campaign 300 gets its start under the lights at Kentucky. Coverage begins at 7 p.m. on ESPN with green flag scheduled to wave at 7:45 p.m. ET.