Brad Keselowski and crew chief Paul Wolfe had their No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion out in front in the second half of the Cheez-It 355 at Watkins Glen International, and they had drawn up a two-stop strategic plan that would give them a shot at victory—but the caution they needed to make it all work came one lap too soon.
BK led 27 of 90 laps at The Glen, the second most in the field, but the 2 Crew’s battle plan didn’t quite play out the way they hoped, forcing them to settle for a seventh-place finish.
“We had a strong No. 2 Miller Lite Ford today and finishing seventh kind of hurts a little on this one – I thought we had a winning hand today – it just didn’t fall our way,” Brad said afterward.
Kes began the race in the 11th position, but he wasted no time making his move to the top. He swiftly passed three cars to slide up to eighth place by the fifth lap. Brad then passed Jeff Gordon at lap 12 to move into seventh.
That’s where he ran when fellow Ford driver Greg Biffle blew a tire and started spitting debris on the 3.4-mile upstate New York road course. Wolfe saw this and immediately radioed to Brad, bringing him down pit road for the first time under green. The quick action from the 2 Crew had Brad back out on the track filled with fuel and fitted with four fresh tires just in time for the yellow flag to fly.
Pit stops can be tricky at The Glen, as cars come in from the pit crew’s left, rather than its right, essentially creating a backwards stop. The No. 2 team has had its share of issues on pit road lately, but Brad and his team handled it perfectly this time, bringing some praise from BK over the radio.
“Helluva job boys,” Brad said of his 2 Crew’s well-executed first stop, which eventually sent him to the lead.
While most of the field pitted, Brad coasted up to the front. He sat in second place for the restart, behind only Cole Whitt, who elected not to pit. However, Kes made quick work of the No. 35 driver on the restart to snag the lead at lap 29.
Another caution at lap 32 could have forced Kes to relinquish a short-lived lead. However, Kes was king of the restarts at The Glen, another marked improvement shown on the day. Brad beat Carl Edwards handily off the restart and held a safe lead up until the next caution.
Debris from Austin Dillon’s No. 3 Chevrolet caused a caution at lap 45, but Brad kept the first position out of the restart once again. However, a wreck behind the leaders on that restart brought on a nine-minute and gave Kes another roadblock. He once again came out of the caution on top, but this time was hounded by Kyle Busch.
The two longtime rivals battled through all 11 turns of The Glen, and BK beat him to the line at lap 57. However, on the following trip through the twisting track, the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford’s lack of rear grip forced Kes to relinquish the lead to Busch. Immediately afterward, Wolfe called Brad to pit road the next time around—a strategy that would keep him ahead of the curve when the next caution flag flew, or even if the race went green the rest of the way.
Unfortunately, Tony Stewart’s No. 14 Chevrolet suffered a mechanical issue, forcing him to stop on the track. This brought out the caution flag just before Brad was able to pit. The No. 2 Crew fitted him with four new tires, but while many teams either didn’t pit or stopped for fuel only, BK dropped to 22nd for what proved to be the final restart at lap 61.
Over the final 29 laps, Brad got all he could through The Glen’s esses. As the race winded down, many teams were talking of fuel mileage. The differing strategies caused several drivers to head down pit road or nurse their machines through the closing stage, but that wasn’t a worry for BK and Co.
“No issues. Go hard to the end,” Wolfe urged over the radio. “A few ahead will run out of fuel if it goes green.”
Brad heeded the advice of his crew chief and made up plenty of ground over the last 15 laps, passing Carl Edwards, Sam Hornish Jr, David Ragan, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson and others all the way to seventh place.
An ideal scenario would’ve been a green-white-checkered finish, which would’ve brought an early end for all the drivers short on fuel. However, most were able to nurse their way to the finish and no yellow flags flew over the final 30 laps.
On the bright side for Team Penske, Joey Logano pressured the leader Kevin Harvick into running out of fuel on the last lap. Logano slid by and claimed the checkered flag to sweep the weekend. The day prior, Logano and Brad captured a one-two finish in the XFINITY Series Zippo 200.
“Congrats to Joey and the 22 team, sweeping the weekend here is a big deal and it is great for Team Penske,” Brad said. “The crew was great today and we did everything that we could to position ourselves to be there at the end. The good news is once again our Ford Fusion had speed and I know it’s just a matter of time before we make our way back to victory lane.”
BK’s 27 laps led were second only to Harvick’s 29. His driver rating, 108.9, was the fourth best on the day. While it wasn’t the win he wanted, Brad posted his fifth straight Top 10 finish, truly showing that the 2 Crew is finally hitting its stride, and just at the right time. BK earned 38 points, slotting him at fifth place in the Sprint Cup Series standings.
NEXT UP
Only four races remain until the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Next up on the NSCS circuit is a trip home for Brad for the Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway.
BK, a Rochester Hills, Mich., native, is yet to win at MIS—a track that is firmly on his NSCS bucket list. He boasts five Top 10s and three Top 5s in 12 NSCS starts at his home track, and he’s riding a streak of three straight Top 10s there, including a sixth-place finish in June.
The Pure Michigan 400 is set for a 2:30 p.m. ET green flag and will be broadcast on NBC Sports Network.