The two-truck Brad Keselowski Racing operation in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is off to a spectacular start to the 2015 season and Brad himself will attempt to help keep up that hot streak by taking the wheel of one of the trucks on Friday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
In Friday night’s North Carolina Education Lottery 200, BK will pilot the No. 29 Ford F-150 representing Cooper Standard’s Careers For Veterans program. The race marks Kes’ second NCWTS run in the No. 29 this season. He won the Keystone Light Pole award in the Cooper Standard truck for the second race of the season at Atlanta Motor Speedway, where he was a serious threat to win. But a pit road miscue put him down two laps, ending his shot at a victory.
JOEY LOGANO AND TYLER REDDICK HAVE BROUGHT TEAM BKR TWO WINS IN FOUR NCWTS RACES THIS YEAR.
Two-time truck series champion and 2015 points leader Matt Crafton won that race, and has won two of the four Camping World Truck Series races this season. But the other two races have been win by Team BKR drivers: a season-opening victory by Tyler Reddick and the No. 19 team at Daytona, and a win by Joey Logano in the No. 29 machine in the third race of the season at Martinsville Speedway.
“To win two of the first three races was a pretty big step up from where we’ve been with this program,” Brad said. “I feel good about every race. We’re making a lot of investments to be a high-caliber team that can win the championship year in and year out.”
Due to those early-season results, Team BKR is in great standing entering the fifth race of the season. The No. 29 team, much thanks to Logano’s win, sits sixth in the Owner’s Points standings. Meanwhile, Tyler Reddick, the full-time driver of the No. 19 Ford, has his team second on both the driver and owner points leaderboard, trailing only Crafton.
Reddick, who will drive with Broken Bow Records on his No. 19 F-150 Friday night, is ready to build on his strong start at Charlotte—and he’s glad to have BK along for the ride around the tough 1.5-mile track.
“I understand that Charlotte is not your average cookie cutter mile-and-a-half quad oval,” Reddick says. “Turns 3 and 4 are very tricky and it’s very narrow getting off Turn 4. It’s all about entry into the corner. The track changes from daylight to nighttime. Having the experience and knowledge of my crew chief Doug Randolph and Brad Keselowski is invaluable because they can help you understand what happens with the transition of that racetrack from day to night.”
This will be Brad’s fourth consecutive year running in the NCWTS at Charlotte and Friday night’s race will be Brad 39th career race at Charlotte between NASCAR’s three series.
He has one win and three Top 10s in 11 Sprint Cup Series regular season starts. That lone Cup win at Charlotte came during the 2013 Chase for the Sprint Cup after he’d missed the Chase and that was his only victory of that 2013 season in the Cup Series. Additonally he’s competed in two Sprint Showdowns and five All-Star races at CMS with a second place finish in the Showdown and three All-Star Top 10s, including a second place finish during his 2012 Cup Championship season.
BRAD PLACED THIRD IN LAST YEAR’S NORTH CAROLINA EDUCATION LOTTERY 200.
In the XFINITY series, BK has three wins and 11 Top 10s in 15 races at Charlotte, in 2010, 2012 and 2014, his last race at Charlotte in that series. He also has made five Camping World Truck Series starts at CMS. He finished second there in 2012, crossed 14th in 2013, and last year he came in third at the track in his No. 19 Draw-Tite Ford.
As he takes the wheel this weekend, he’ll be looking for just his second victory ever in the truck series and he’ll attempt to grab it with a sponsor that is very close and important to him, Cooper Standard’s Career for Veterans program, which he has been a proponent of since its inception last year.
The program, initiated by one of Team BKR’s biggest allies, Cooper Standard, helps military members find roles in the workforce after they’ve completed their service.Brad drove with Careers For Veterans on the side of his Miller Lite Ford Fusion a week ago at Talladega Superspeedway, and is proud to represent the program and give it the recognition it deserves.
“Charlotte will be the first race that I’ve driven the Cooper Standard Careers For Veterans Ford F-150 and it’s an honor to support that program this weekend,” he said.
So far this weekend at Charlotte, Brad is doing the program. The 29 showed Top 10 speed in both practice sessions on Thursday, allowing BK to post the 10th-fastest times in both the first and second warmups, which were won by a pair of Cup-caliber drivers in Kasey Kahne and Erik Jones. Reddick’s No. 19 has been even quicker, running ninth in the first practice and fifth in the second. Setting the Team BKR pair up for a Fast Friday.
Qualifying for the 200-mile race is set for Friday evening at 5:45 p.m. ET and can be seen on Fox Sports 1.
Then comes the main event of the evening, the N.C. Education Lottery 200. The 134-lap race will go green around 8:30 p.m. ET Friday on FS1.