Blown Tire Deflates Brad’s Run at Kansas

After winning the opening race of the Challenger Round in NASCAR’s Chase three weeks ago at Chicagoland, Brad Keselowski had his sights on a repeat performance to open the Contender Round on Sunday at Kansas Speedway, and his charge was going strong through the first half of the Hollywood Casino 400. But in an instant, the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford was cut down, and BK’s chances at a top-five finish were ruined.

Brad was running in sixth at lap 161 when his right-front tire blew without warning, sending the Deuce crashing into the outer wall at Kansas. The 2 Crew was able to patch up the Miller Lite Ford and send it back on the track, but by that time, 38 laps had gone by, and it was all could do Brad did all he could over the final stretch of the race to secure a 36th-place finish.

“We blew the right front tire. I am not sure why. We didn’t have an aggressive setup or anything, we just blew the tire,” Brad said. “It was just Russian roulette and it was our turn.” 

Several other drivers took their turns throughout the day as well. Roughly 40 laps before BK’s incident, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was running in position No. 1 when his right-front blew, whice sent him to a 39th-place finish. Not long before that, defending champion Jimmie Johnson was caught up in a wreck deep in the field, and he finished 40th.

Numerous other Chasers, including Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth and Kasey Kahne also endured rough days due to various issues, including tire vibrations and spinouts. But despite seeing several other top contenders have rough days, Kes was upset at the Hollywood Casino 400’s overall outcome.

“I don’t enjoy seeing anyone have to go through what we did and it looked like there were a handful that did,” BK said. “I feel like the losers are the people that want to see us race 100 percent and when you try to race 100 percent you blow a tire. Those are the people that lost today.” 

While the Chase was shaken up in a big way for Brad and several other drivers, the day’s big winner was Brad’s Penske teammate Joey Logano, who took his fifth checkered flag of the year and second of the Chase, securing his spot in the next round.

Both Brad and Joey looked strong through the early week preparations. Logano qualified fourth and Brad qualified sixth, continuing Team Penske’s qualifying success. It was BK’s 24th top-10 start of the year and his 11th in the last 12 races.

Early in the race, Kes battled for position with Aric Almirola, Earnhardt Jr., Brian Vickers and Jaime McMurray, and despite battling a White Lite that was loose driving through traffic, BK managed to hold a spot right outside the Top 5 for the first long run of the race. Brad even piloted the Deuce to the lead for two laps before making his first pit stop at lap 50 under green. By staying out to lead, he earned an all-important bonus point.

But the decision wasn’t without a trade-off. After running the Deuce on several laps with old tires, others who pitted sooner gained position on Brad, and a slow 14.3-second stop caused him to cycle back to P12. But wasn’t stuck in that spot for long as the first yellow flag came out at lap 72 for debris on the frontstretch. Once the dam was broken with the day’s first caution, the floodgates opened and a steady stream of yellows followed.

Through it all, BK battled his way back and was on the cusp of breaking back into the Top 5 when disaster struck in the form of blown tire while he was going through Turn 2 on Lap 161.

After the wreck, the No. 2 Crew attempted to do some quick work on the Miller Lite Ford Fusion in the pits to keep Kes in contention. But crew chief Paul Wolfe eventually elected to take the Deuce behind the wall and to the garage for more extensive repairs.

However, rather than just calling it a day, the No. 2 team worked hard to fix the battered car and put it back on the track. The crew had to cut away the bent front suspension and replace the right-front upper control arm, as well as the right splitter.

When the crew had the Deuce patched up enough to get back on the track, BK went back out for the final 68 laps running in 37th postion, 38 laps down. He managed to gain one spot to 36th before the checkered flag.

Although it may seem that the gains made by getting back on the track were minimal, Brad noted that the work done by the 2 Crew could prove to be vital later on. Their swift repairs allowed Kes to make it back out in front of Johnson and Earnhardt Jr., giving him a few extra points that could wind up being the difference in the standings.

“Hopefully we can win one of the next two races and those three points don’t matter,” Kes said, “but it could come down to one point at Talladega and if it does my guys deserve a lot of credit for getting us back out on track.”

Brad made it past Joey Gase in the running order and finished 36th, slating him 10th in the Chase Standings. He is 39 points behind race winner and leader Joey Logano and 22 points Jeff Gordon for the eighth and final spot in the Eliminator Round.

NEXT UP

As he sought to put a rough weekend at Kansas behind him and take a positive outlook going forward, BK identified a win next week at Charlotte Motor Speedway as his best option for advancement. A wild-card restrictor-plate race at Talladega Superspeedway follows the next week, making a dicey situation for BK and the rest of the contenders who had rough finishes.

“Yeah, the easiest approach is to go to Charlotte and win,” Brad said. “The bad side of this Chase is we took a big points lead in here and gave it all back to zero. The good side of it is that you can still win your way out of it and we have two really good tracks for us ahead. If we can just win at one of them we will be fine. Maybe if we have two really good finishes we will be fine. That is the good side.” 

Fortunately, Kes has had success at each of the next two tracks. First up is Charlotte, where he’ll be the defending race-winner after driving to Victory Lane at the track in last year’s Bank of America 500. He also has two career wins at Talladega, where the Cup circuit heads Oct. 19.

The 2014 Bank of America 500 is set for a 7:30 p.m. ET start time Saturday under the lights and will air on ABC.

RELATED ARTICLES

• Hollywood Casino 400 Unofficial Results (Jayski, Oct. 5, 2014)
• Blown tire dooms Earnhardt Jr., Keselowski at Kansas (USA Today, Oct. 5, 2014)
• Brad Keselowski goes into wall (MotorSportsTalk, Oct. 5, 2014)
• Keselowski third Chaser to have trouble at Kansas (SportingNews, Oct. 5, 2014)
• Keselowski loses right-front tire and hits wall at Kansas (Tireball Sports, Oct. 5, 2014)
• Keselowski runs into trouble at Kansas (Fox Sports, Oct. 5, 2014)
• Wrecks, tire problems derail Dale, other contenders (SportingNews, Oct. 5, 2014)
• Pressure builds at Kansas (Charlotte Observer, Oct. 5, 2014)