Brad Keselowski’s tremendous Top 10 streak will carry on into the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
Kes logged his ninth consecutive Top 10 finish, a career best, when he took the checkered flag in eighth place at Richmond International Raceway. BK was in the Top 5 for much of the evening, but a pit road speeding penalty set him back late—though he was able to recover in the closing run to keep his streak alive.
“Toward the end I thought we were probably a second or third place car and I was trying to get more than I should have on pit road and got us a speeding penalty,” Brad said afterword. “We drove back up to eighth but needed more laps to get to second or third but it was a good effort and we’re real happy to be in the Chase.”
Brad qualified third behind Matt Kenseth and Joey Logano, and those two dominated the Federated Auto Parts 400. Kenseth led six times for 352 laps, while Logano led five times for 25—though even together they couldn’t match BK’s dominance from a year ago, when he started on the pole, led 383 of 400 laps and claimed victory.
The No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion driver did all he could to defend is Federated Auto Parts crown, but he just couldn’t quite get the White Lite out in front throughout the night. He helped push his teammate, Logano, on the opening green flag to keep his lead, but four laps later, Kes himself was passed by Kenseth’s teammate back to fourth place.
He did, however, manage to hold off a charge from Kevin Harvick and remain in that position for the remainder of the run until the first caution flag flew at lap 39. He reported to crew chief Paul Wolfe before this stop that the Deuce was loose entering and exiting but tight through the center of Richmond’s turns.
The 2 Crew fitted him with four fresh tires and an adjustment and sent him off pit road right back in fourth place. On the ensuing restart, Brad immediately swiped third from Harvick and went to work on his fellow Team Penske driver. No. 2 passed Logano for the second spot at lap 49, but he couldn’t catch up to Kenseth, who stormed away through the 0.75-mile track in clean air.
“That 20 car was fast,” Brad said of Kenseth. “He was a rocket. We were just doing all we could to keep up and didn’t have enough to keep up.”
Still too tight in the center, the No. 2 team gave him another adjustment and four more tires, and he was off pit road in third this time behind Kenseth and Logano. But here came the first setback of the race for Brad, as the adjustments made by the No. 2 team were in the wrong direction, and the White Lite’s handling worsened, sending him sliding back to seventh.
Fortunately, a caution came just seven laps after the restart, allowing Brad to head back down pit road, where the adjustments were undone. Kes restarted 10th at lap 123, and the changes took hold quickly. On the following run, BK passed Logano, Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch and others back to sixth place.
An odd situation occurred for the 2 Crew on this run. Spotter Joey Meier’s headset got wet, disrupting his communication with BK and Wolfe. Knowing just how problematic this can be, especially on a short track like RIR, team owner Roger Penske got on the horn and filled in as spotter for Brad until a caution came at lap 211 and Meier was able to replace his radio.
After another four-tire stop here, Brad was off in fifth place and took fourth from Johnson off the restart. However, by the end of the run, he had yielded fifth to Logano and sixth to Johnson, again reporting a tight condition through the center of turns, which he creatively labeled “dump-trucking” over the radio.
Caution No. 5 came at lap 290, and after taking a four-tire change, Brad was aggressive coming off pit road, trying to put the White Lite back in strong track position, so he could challenge for the lead. But in doing so, he was caught speeding by NASCAR and dropped to 12th in the running order.
He regained two spots, overtaking Kyle Larson and Carl Edwards to the 10th position before the sixth and final yellow flag came at lap 376. After pitting from P10, Brad took four tires and was off in the very same spot with 18 laps to go.
As he so often does, Brad made the most of his final trips around the track, passing multiple cars as the race wound down. In the final eight laps, the No. 2 car passed Clint Bowyer and Johnson to finish eighth.
Brad’s Top 10 streak has now traversed more than two months, dating back to a sixth-place finish on July 11 at Kentucky. It has included three runner-up finishes and 409 laps led. Through the hot streak, he vaulted to fourth in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points standings, behind Dale Earnhardt Jr., Logano and Harvick. His 18 Top 10 finishes on the year are second only to Harvick and Logano, who boast 22 and 20, respectively.
Points now reset, with the Top 16 drivers starting the postseason with three points for each of their wins. The standings for the start of the Chase for the Sprint Cup are as follows:
T1. Jimmie Johnson – 2,012
T1. Kyle Busch – 2,012
T1. Matt Kenseth – 2,012
4. Joey Logano – 2,009
T5. Kevin Harvick, 2,006
T5. Dale Earnhardt Jr. – 2,006
T5. Kurt Busch – 2,006
T5. Carl Edwards – 2,006
T9. Brad Keselowski – 2,003
T9. Martin Truex Jr. – 2,003
T9. Denny Hamlin – 2,003
T12. Jamie McMurray – 2,000
T12. Jeff Gordon – 2,000
T12. Ryan Newman – 2,000
T12. Paul Menard – 2,000
T12. Clint Bowyer – 2,000
NEXT UP
Brad will look to begin the Chase exactly how he did last year: with a win at Chicagoland Speedway.
A year ago, Brad was the No. 1 seed for the playoffs, and he made an incredible move, splitting Harvick and Larson in a brilliant pass for the victory. He has a fantastic track record at Chicago: two wins (2014, 2012), four consecutive Top 7 finishes.
The Chase’s first round will go through Chicago, New Hampshire and Dover. A win at one of those three tracks guarantees a spot in Round 2. After Oct. 4’s race at Dover, the bottom four drivers in the point standings will be eliminated from championship contention.
The myAFibRisk.com 400 is set to go green shortly after 3 p.m. ET on Sunday