BK 2014 Top 10: No. 7

Brad Keselowski’s 2014 campaign was one to remember in all three NASCAR series. So over the course of the offseason, we’re going to countdown the Top 10 best moments from one of the most successful seasons in BK’s racing career.

Coming in at No. 7 is an overwhelming short-track victory that put Kes as the No. 1 seed going into the postseason.

No. 7: Sept. 6, 2014
Strut To The Chase

With the Chase for the Sprint Cup looming, Brad Keselowski sucked all the drama out of the air at Richmond International Raceway as the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford team made a loud statement about their title aspirations in the final race of the NASCAR regular season.

The Deuce was dominant and led 383 of 400 laps in the Federated Auto Parts 400 to notch BK’s fourth victory of the season and move the No. 2 to No. 1 on the Cup Series Chase Grid to start the postseason.

“What a night,” Brad said, doused in Miller Lite after the triumph. “I pulled into Victory Lane and I pinched myself once to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. These are nights you don’t forget as a driver, and you live for. The Miller Lite Ford Fusion was just flying, and I couldn’t ask for a better way to enter the Chase than to win and take the first seed. We’re ready. We want to run for another Cup. We feel like this team has it. Team Penske is clicking.”

It all started with yet another exceptional qualifying effort. With a swift time trial run of 21.324 seconds, Brad bested Jeff Gordon to win his fourth Coors Light Pole Award of the season.

BK then led the first 43 laps under the lights at Richmond before the White Lite began to lose its rear grip, allowing Kevin Harvick to slip by for the lead. Harvick was the only other driver to take the top spot all night, leading on two occasions for just 17 total laps.

Harvick led the way for just seven laps before a competition caution at lap 50. At that time, crew chief Paul Wolfe called for a tire pressure adjustment to fine tune the No. 2. On this stop, and throughout the night, the 2 Crew showed the amazing strides they had made throughout the year.

After making changes to the crew in the offseason and then shuffling some members around in the early stages of the 2014 season, the No. 2 team hit its stride in the late summer and began consistently churning out championship-caliber stops every week. The first stop at RIR was an example of that, as Brad was off pit road in P1.

“It was just a phenomenal night for our team here and everyone at Team Penske,” BK said. “Car was fast. Pit crew was flawless. We put all the pieces together tonight.”

Brad was also fantastic on restarts, allowing him to take and keep ahold of the top spot for another 63 laps. During that span, he crossed the single-season 1,000-lap milestone for the first time in his career.

Harvick again briefly claimed the top spot from Kes, but didn’t hold it for too long thanks to another caution. A yellow for debris sent the field down pit road once again, where Wolfe signaled for a chassis tweak to the Deuce, and BK once again exited the pits in position No. 1.

“This team has shown a lot of speed all year long,” Paul said. “There’s been some races over the summer months where I feel like we didn’t put all the pieces together, like Brad said.  We had some other dominating performances, but we had races where we felt like we had a shot to win and we made mistakes or didn’t put all the pieces together right. Last week I told Brad obviously it was going to be important that we have the speed in our cars, but we have to be able to execute.  To be able to come to Richmond tonight and do that, the race before the Chase starts, says a lot about what we’re capable of and what our team can do as we get into the Chase.”

After holding off Harvick and Co. for the top spot on the ensuing restart, Brad couldn’t be beat. He led every lap from then on, cruising to victory.

The win, which was No. 14 for Brad’s career and No. 4 on the season, was a milestone victory for Team Penske, as well.

“It’s the 400th win for Team Penske and this feels so lucky to have such an incredible team and a car like we did tonight and be able to execute it and not have any bad luck,” he said. “We’ve had plenty of bad luck over the last few weeks, but wow, what a night.”

The win was a breath of fresh air for the 2 Crew, which — despite all of their progress — had encountered some misfortune in the month of August, most notably the week prior to the run at Richmond. Kes was in position to challenge for the win at Atlanta Motor Speedway but was clipped by a lapped car, sending him into the wall and giving him his only DNF of the season.

It was also especially fulfilling for BK to be the top seed in the Chase after missing it entirely in 2013, a disappointing follow-up to his 2012 championship campaign. One year after having that misfortune come to a head at Richmond, when he fell short of the win he needed to get into the Chase, Kes not only made the Chase, but entered it as the leader, giving him a mountain of momentum to ride into the 10-race run to the title.

“I think working with Ford and getting another year under our belt, certainly some major progress there,” Brad said. “I think last year was a bit of a kick in the butt, not the way you want but it was enough to really push us all and find another level. We did a great job in 2012, but in the sports world you’ve got to keep progressing, and everyone else progressed and we didn’t. We didn’t progress enough last year, and this year we really have upped our game, and man, this is an incredible team. I feel lucky to drive, I feel lucky to be in the Sprint Cup Series.”