BK 7th and Penske On Top At Loudon

The second leg of the Chase for the Sprint Cup brought with it another solid day for Brad Keselowski and his No. 2 Miller Lite Ford team, and after a chaotic Sylvania 300, Team Penske is riding high as the team to beat in the Chase.

BK and the No. 2 team responded from a lap 193 spin and nearly came back to take their third straight checkered flag, as Brad held the lead with less than 40 laps to go. But the incident ultimately left the White Lite just shy of winning speed as Brad was passed by Kevin Harvick and teammate Joey Logano on a late restart and shuffled back on the final green-white-checkered restart, relegating him to a seventh-place finish.

But while Kes came up short in his bid for his first ever three-race win streak, his Penske teammate Logano parked his No. 22 in victory lane, locking both Penske drivers into the Contender Round of the Chase. Sitting in first place, one point ahead of Joey in the standings, Brad is thrilled with Penske’s prospects early in the postseason, but his sights remain firmly set on the next eight races.

“It’s great for everyone at Team Penske,” Brad said. “We certainly have a lot to be proud of, but there’s still a lot of work to do.”

While it was Logano who ended up in the Winner’s Circle, it looked all weekend like a third win in-a-row might have been on its way for BK. Kes was fastest in the first two practice sessions and was second to Jeff Gordon in the final trial run. He was first in Round 1 of qualifying at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and he shattered the track record with a time of 27.090 seconds to claim his fifth Coors Light Pole Award of the year—more than any other driver.

From that P1 starting position, Brad held the lead in Sunday’s Sylvania 300 for the first 35 laps until a NASCAR-mandated competition caution flag flew. He reported to crew chief Paul Wolfe that he was free all over during that first run, and headed down pit road for a four-tire stop, while the majority of the field replaced just right-side tires.

As a result, Kes dropped from first to 15th. On the ensuing restart, he avoided what spotter Joey Meier called a “hornet’s nest” as the field around him bottled up, causing him to cautiously drop to 22nd. Finally, as the competitors settled into a single-file line, BK let the Deuce’s speed in traffic show. Over the green-flag run, the machine’s handling improved and he moved his way past Kasey Kahne, Kyle Larson, Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards and many others to 11th place by lap 96. A second caution came at lap 105 for debris, and a swift four-tire stop from the 2 Crew had Brad off pit road three spots up in P8.

He worked his way to sixth on the following run before another caution for debris signaled a turning point in the race. The Lap 171 caution was just the race’s third yellow, but 12 more flew before the end of the race. In total, there were 15 cautions, a season high. Brad brought the sixth yellow flag out at lap 193, when he got loose and spun while trying to pass Matt Kenseth on the bottom of The Magic Mile.

The No. 2 took some minor damage upon hitting the wall, but made no contact with other vehicles, and the 2 Crew was able to make necessary repairs on pit road.

Another caution flew at lap 201, and Kes went down pit road again for four new tires and adjustments, dropping him to P22. This set the No. 2 team up for a race-changing move at lap 210. 

While others went with fresh tires, Kes went down pit road for just a splash of fuel and came off in fourth, back in contention for the win. At lap 227, Brad took the lead for the second time in the race after making a pass of Brian Vickers—just 34 laps after spinning out and hitting the wall. He held the lead for 78 of the race’s 303 laps.

Brad held that lead through another trio of restarts and ran in first with Logano second and Harvick third for a reset at lap 268. It was then that he battled hard with Logano for the lead, allowing Harvick to shoot past the Penske pair and into P1. 

Logano ended up taking the top spot on the next restart, while Brad fell to third. The race came down to a green-white-checkered finish with a top three of Logano, Harvick and Kes. On this last reset, Logano burst to the lead, while Harvick had a poor start. Behind Harvick’s No. 4, Brad was shuffled back to seventh and left without any time to make up ground for the finish.

After winning the last two races, the P7 result was a letdown for BK, though he came away proud of the efforts of Wolfe and the 2 Crew to keep the White Lite within reach of the lead despite a wild afternoon.

“We had a lot of adversity. I made a few mistakes that got us behind, but (crew chief) Paul Wolfe and the crew did a great job of getting us back in position,” Brad said. “It was kind of an up-and-down day and I guess we ended on an OK note. We finished seventh, but I was definitely looking for more than that. We fought hard and it was a good, solid day.”

With a combined nine wins, Team Penske’s Keselowski-Logano duo has as many trips to victory lane as any other three drivers combined, and are the only two Cup drivers with more than three victories on the season. They also are tied for the lead with 12 Top 5 results apiece. Kes holds a one-point lead on Logano in the standings, though the points will be reset after next week’s elimination race.

NEXT UP

The Penske duo is locked into the Contender Round of the Chase, while the rest of the field will be scrambling for a win or at least a strong finish at the treacherous Monster Mile in Dover next week.

But as Brad showed through his hard racing at Loudon, he will still be driving with a victory on his mind in next week’s AAA 400. Team Penske vice chairman Walter Czarnecki reiterated that message after Sunday’s race.

“Somebody (said to) me a minute ago, ‘This must make you feel pretty good, both cars advancing to the next round.’ I said, ‘Let me tell you something about this group: We’re worried about Dover right now.’ That’s our intent – one race at a time, and that’s how we’ll proceed.”

BK will enter Dover particularly hungry for a win after finishing second at the Delaware track earlier this year. Brad has one win, three Top 5s and one pole award at the track over his NSCS career.

Qualifying time is set for 3:40 p.m. EDT Friday. The AAA 400 will go green shortly after 2 p.m. ET Sunday and will be broadcast on ESPN.

RELATED ARTICLES

• Logano pulls away to win Sylvania 300 (Charlotte Observer, Sept. 21, 2014)
• Logano wins Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire (SBNation, Sept. 21, 2014)
• Logano wins in New Hampshire, advances in Chase (USA Today, Sept. 21, 2014)
• Logano beats Penske teammate to win second Chase race (Sporting News, Sept. 21, 2014)