Rain and Wrecks Ruin BK’s Day in Daytona

One week after winning the checkered flag in sunny Kentucky, rain and wrecks threw wrenches into Brad Keselowski’s plans for a follow-up at Daytona.

At the end of a weekend that saw almost every part of the Independence Day themed event altered by the weather, NASCAR officials called Sunday’s Coke Zero 400 due to more rain, 48 laps short of its conclusion, with Brad running in 18th position, one lap down.

Before the race’s anti-climactic conclusion, BK navigated two titanic wrecks, one collecting 16 and another claiming 26 cars, and kept his No. 2 Alliance Truck Parts Ford Fusion in the running, but he sustained damage in both accidents, which halted his charge for back-to-back victories.

“We had a strong Ford Fusion today, though we didn’t get much of a chance to show it,” Kes said. “I have to give credit to the crew as they did great job of patching the car up and keeping me in the race. It was just one of those days.”

It was a difficult weekend altogether for Brad and the 2 Crew, starting in qualifying. BK failed to make it out of the first round of qualifying, which was cut short due to rain, and started 26th. It was just his fifth points race this year where he didn’t qualify sixth or better. Afterward, he admitted that he and his team, including Penske partner Joey Logano, who qualified 28th, have still yet to formulate a winning strategy for time trials in restrictor plate events.

Rain continued to dampen the weekend in Daytona Beach, including postponing the Coke Zero 400 from it’s originally scheduled Saturday night green flag time to Sunday morning. With cars impounded overnight, teams weren’t able to make significant changes. Fortunately, the No. 2 team was thinking ahead.

After starting 26th, BK cracked the Top 20 and nearly the Top 15 before a brief 25-minute red flag flew due to more rain just 11 laps after Sunday’s green flag. 

“I’m trying to be optimistic. I think the race was just starting to take shape,” Brad said on TNT during the first red flag. “The car’s really strong. We were a little ahead of the curve thinking it was going to rain yesterday—we put a different handling package on it. I think we’ll be one of the cars to beat.”

Unfortunately, Brad ultimately was never able to show off the strong No. 2. Less than 10 laps later, and just before the NASCAR mandated competition caution, a massive chain-reaction wreck swallowed up nearly half the field, including the No. 2 Ford.

From the high line, it looked like Brad might luck out as several drivers wrecked ahead of him. But when Matt Kenseth was clipped and began to spin just inside of Kes, he smacked the left side of the No. 2, sending it into the outer wall. Amid the mayhem, he also made contact with the back of Marcos Ambrose, who was running right ahead of him on the outside.

The wreck dealt damage to several top contenders, even sending a few drivers home early.

Kes was able to avoid heading to the garage or back to North Carolina, but had to hit the pits four times for repairs. He managed to stay on the lead lap before the race went back to green and was the last car on the lead lap when the race got back underway. Despite significant damage to the front and side of the Alliance Truck Parts Ford, Brad appeared to have the speed to make a run at the front. 

“We did avoid major damage in the first wreck and while it wasn’t perfect, our Alliance Truck Parts machine was still alright,” BK said.

After falling back to 34th for the restart on Lap 28, the Deuce gained 10 positions after just two trips around the track. However, with significant damage, including to the front valance, the No. 2 eventually ran into trouble, lost the draft and fell a lap behind the leader at lap 62. He was joined a lap down by Kenseth and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

But as the race went on, the No. 2 Alliance Truck Parts Ford seemed to rediscover the speed that made it a force in the opening practice of the weekend on Thursday. However, when the next caution came out on Lap 94, Brad was one spot short of getting the free pass back to the lead lap.

None of that mattered when Lap 20’s “Big One” got trumped by the “Huge One” on the subsequent restart.

It began when Kasey Kahne got loose in Row 3, taking out Brad’s Penske teammate Joey Logano and creating another ugly chain of mayhem. In total, 26 cars were involved in the wreck.

Yet again, Brad looked like he might luck out and skirt his way up through the gargantuan wreck. But after taking contact from behind, BK was bounced around like a pinball before sliding up the track side-by-side with Danica Patrick. 

“

[When] the second wreck happened, I thought I was going to make it through,” BK recalled afterward. “Then someone hit me from behind and we sustained more damage.”

Both Kes’ No. 2 and Patrick’s 10 drove away from the wreck with a few nicks but others were far less fortunate, namely Kyle Busch, whose car came to rest upside down. Busch had to remain in his car while it was flipped by over by NASCAR personnel. 

Though engines were only turned off for five minutes, the race was halted shortly thereafter at Lap 109 as new storm clouds rolled in and ir once again began to rain. Cars were pulled off the track and covered at Lap 112 as the Air Titan track driers came back out. The machines went to work for an hour of track drying, but the effort proved to be in vain as rain continued to fall and the race was eventually deemed final.

Ford driver Aric Almirola joined Brad and Carl Edwards to make it three straight victories for Ford Racing and Roush Yates Engines. BK finished 18th, as the first car a lap down, while Logano was 17th, the last car on the lead lap.

Fortunately for BK, the wacky afternoon affected most of the Championship contenders. None of the Top 10 drivers in the Sprint Cup Standings finished inside the Top 10 at Daytona, resulting in minimal movement atop the leaderboard. After claiming 26 points in the wild weekend, Brad’s positions of 3rd in the Chase grid and 4th in the points standings remained unchanged.

NEXT UP

The No. 2 crew will aim to regroup next week at one of BK’s best tracks, New Hampshire Motor Speedway for next Sunday’s Camping World RV Sales 301.

Brad has five career Top 6 finishes at NHMS, including four of the last five trips for the Cup Series to Loudon. He also has two starts from the pole in nine career Cup Series races at New Hampshire, including last year’s Camping World RV Sales 301. He finished that race in fourth and finished 11th in the fall race at Loudon last year.

The weekend begins on Friday with morning practice at 11:30 a.m. ET followed by qualifying at 4:30 p.m. ET, both to be seen on Fox Sports 1. Another practice session kicks off Saturday at NHMS, at 9 a.m. ET and teams get one final tune-up with final practice at 11:30 a.m. Those session can also be seen on FS1.

Coverage of the Camping World RV Sales 301 on Sunday begins at Noon on TNT with “Countdown to Green.” The green flag is slated to fly at 1:15 p.m. ET.