There are all sorts of streaks in play for Brad Keselowski on Saturday afternoon as he runs in the NASCAR XFINITY Series for the second straight weekend, and the No. 22 Hertz Ford Mustang driver will be looking to notch another as he takes on New Hampshire Motor Speedway in the Lakes Region 200.
Last week at Kentucky Speedway, BK notched his first NXS victory of the season when he swiped from youngster Erik Jones with a late race pass in the Kentucky 300. The win continued a tremendous roll that the No. 22 team has been on in races when Brad has taken the wheel. This Saturday, at the Monster Mile, he’ll be looking to make it back-to-back win and keep the good times rolling for the Team Penske XFINITY Series team, which currently holds a commanding 43-point lead in the NXS Owner Points Standings.
BRAD HAS FINISHED EIGHTH OR BETTER IN 16 STRAIGHT XFINITY SERIES RACES.
If BK can drive the Hertz Double Deuce to Victory Lane this weekend it would mark not only his second straight win overall in XFINITY competition, but it would be his third straight NXS triumph at Loudon. At this time last year, Kes led 152 laps en route to victory, which came as the lead leg of a XFINITY-Sprint Cup sweep—one of two during the 2014 season for the Team Penske driver. He was similarly dominant in his previous NXS start at the 1.058-mile New Hampshire track, back in 2012, when he led 131 laps before parking the No. 22 car in the winner’s circle.
Those two wins make New Hampshire one of eight tracks where Brad has multiple XFINITY Series wins.
That history of success has BK and the No. 22 team entering the Lakes Region 200 in a similar position to that which they enjoyed for last week’s Kentucky 300. At Kentucky Speedway, Brad parlayed familiarity and a history of success into yet another win in the Bluegrass State. The Double Deuce driver can draw from a similar type of confidence this week at the Magic Mile, another of his best tracks on the NASCAR circuit. In six XFINITY Series starts at Loudon, he boasts a perfect six Top 10 finishes dating back to 2008, and NHMS is one of 18 tracks where BK boasts more than 1,000 laps led in the NXS.
When he hits the track in the yellow and black No. 22 on Saturday afternoon, he’ll be looking to notch not only his seventh consecutive Top 10 at Loudon, but he’ll be vying to finish eighth or better for the 17th straight time in the XFINITY Series. That streak includes seven wins and dates back to November of 2013.
“Our Hertz Ford has become one of the premier teams in the NASCAR XFINITY Series and as I’ve mentioned previously, it is something that I take pride in. Team Penske has 50 victories in NXS competition, 41 of those have come since 2010 which says a lot about the strength of this team and how important it is to our organization.”
The No. 22 team continued their impressive season on Fast Friday, when BK topped the boards during the first practice session, beating fellow Cup series veteran Denny Hamlin with a time of 29.271 seconds. Only Austin Dillon, and other Cup regular bested that time in Practice 2, with a lap time of 29.140 seconds.
GREG ERWIN PICKED UP RIGHT WERE FORMER CREW CHIEF JEREMY BULLINS LEFT OFF, HELPING VAULT THE NO. 22 TEAM ATOP THE OWNERS’ STANDINGS.
However, despite a solid start to the weekend at Loudon, Kes did see one of his most splendid streaks come to an end early Saturday during XFINITY Series qualifying. After posting the fourth best time in the final round of knockout qualifying, BK locked himself into a P4 starting spot behind a Joe Gibbs Racing front row of polesitter Hamlin in the No. 20 car and fellow cup veteran Kyle Busch, who is again piloting the No. 54 Toyota. The fourth place run snapped a streak of four straight poles for Brad in the NXS at the Magic Mile, which dated all the way back to 2010.
Still his average start of 3.4 in the XFINITY Series at NHMS is his best in any series at any track currently on the NASCAR slate, and Kes is confident he can put the Hertz Double Deuce in position to win again at the end on Saturday, just as he did last week when he started in P4 at Kentucky and raced to victory.
“Coming here riding the momentum of last week’s big win is great and it definitely enhances the probability of us notching another win this weekend,” Brad said. Loudon is another one of our strong tracks and I always look forward to this race.”
The Lakes Region 200 is set to go green around 4:15 p.m. ET on Saturday and will air on NBC Sports Network.