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Brad Keselowski began the Chase for the Sprint Cup with a solid finish at Chicagoland Speedway on Sunday, but the result also left the driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion wanting more.

BK and the No. 2 crew pushed their Top 10 streak to double digits when the Deuce crossed in eighth place at the end of Sunday’s MyAFibRisk.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway. After starting from P3, the White Lite didn’t quite have the same speed on race day that it had in practice. Brad still pulled off his career-high 10th Top 10 finish in a row to begin the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series postseason in a good spot, but afterward he lamented how the weekend worked out and left the team with some work to do.

“It was a decent day,” he said. “We just couldn’t get the front end to work. It is disappointing because I thought we were better than this in practice, but it just didn’t work out.”

BK posted the third fastest lap during Friday’s lone practice session, and when qualifying was rained out later that afternoon he was locked into a P3 start: his third straight in the top three.

However, as the first race of the Chase got underway, the Miller Lite machine quickly fell back in the pack, to sixth in the running order. His precipitous drop stopped when the first caution came up almost immediately at lap two, as eventual race winner Denny Hamlin spun out his No. 11 car. But on the ensuing restart, the Deuce fell back even further to eighth. By the end of the ensuing run, Brad found himself running in 11th place, while the front end of the No. 2 Ford was giving him fits.

That condition persisted throughout the afternoon, and Brad lingered outside of the Top 10 for most of the event. BK made his first pit stop of the day under green at lap 53, and the White Lite cycled out to 11th from there, before the second yellow flag of the afternoon came at lap 124.

The 2 Crew made their second stop of the day at that point, and had BK off in 12th. He grabbed one position following the next restart, but any momentum he had was stymied when an incident involving Austin Dillon’s No. 3 car quickly brought out the next yellow. The run that followed that caution was also short-lived. Brad was running just one spot outside of the Top 10 when the green flag waived, but on a wild restart, he fell all the way back to 15th before another caution came out three laps later. However he wasn’t the worst for wear after that short green flag run.

The three-lap cycle delivered a big blow to defending Cup champion Kevin Harvick’s Chase chances. After restarting in the lead, Harvick found himself fighting for position near the front of the pack on that wild restart. When Jimmie Johnson in the No. 48 dove down to an attempt a pass, the two cars made contact, causing some damage to the No. 4’s rear quarterpanel. A few laps after the contact, Harvick spun out and hit the wall, the damage having caused his tire to be cut. The regular-season points leader finished 42nd, putting him in a major hole after just one race in the Challenger Round. Meanwhile Johnson survived the contact and crossed in position 11.

BK moved to 14th as Harvick bowed out, and from there the 2 Crew made their first championship-caliber strategy call of the day.

While other teams running near the No. 2, just outside the Top 10, made green flag pit stops, Brad and crew chief Paul Wolfe elected to stay out and bide their time as long as they possibly could, and that move paid off. Kes was running third behind Carl Edwards and Hamlin, when the caution came out. The Deuce pitted from third position and was third off pit road as well, allowing BK to restart in fifth.

The position was valuable, but even with some cleaner air the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford struggled with front-end handling, making it difficult on Brad. He lost fifth to the No. 24 of Jeff Gordon on the restart and dropped all the way to eighth before stopping under green once again at lap 243. As the race neared its end, the White Lite was hovering on the fringe of the Top 10 at P10 when the final yellow flag of the day came out at lap 259. That caution set the stage for a thrilling finale.

Strategies during the final yellow flag period of the day covered the gamut from staying out to come down pit road and taking four tires. Kes and Wolfe elected to strap four fresh tires on the Miller Lite Ford Fusion for the final sprint to the finish, positioning the Deuce in 11th for the final green.

The ensuing restart was Brad’s best of the day. He made a move to the bottom of the racetrack and climbed all the way up to fourth position in just one lap. Unfortunately for Brad and his team, the No. 2 car just didn’t have the speed to hold a spot in the Top 5 over the final laps. Kes did all he could to fend off the coming drivers, but the Deuce ultimately slid back and settled for an eighth-place finish.

“It looked like we were going to steal something on that final restart. We gained quite a few spots and probably weren’t quite a top-five car but almost stole a top-five,” Brad said. “We were racing real hard and just fell back. I just didn’t have the turn to run up front. I was trying to make something happen but, all in all, I guess it was a decent day.”

For Brad, the 10th consecutive Top 10 extended his career-best streak and made him just the sixth driver in the Chase era to log at least 10 consecutive Top 10s. The finish also marked BK’s 19th Top 10s for the season, second only to Harvick (22) and Joey Logano (21) in the Cup Series.

Meanwhile, Hamlin captured the win and became the first driver to secure a spot in the Contender Round. BK earned 36 points for his eighth place finish and sits in sole possession of ninth place in the standings, one point behind Ryan Newman for 8th, one ahead of Dale Earnhardt Jr. for 10th and 11 points above the Contender Round cutoff after the first of three Challenger Round races.

POST-CHICAGO CHASE STANDINGS

1. Denny Hamlin – 2,050 (1 Win)
2. Matt Kenseth – 2,050
3. Carl Edwards – 2,049
4. Kyle Busch – 2,049
5. Kurt Busch – 2,048
6. Joey Logano – 2,048
7. Jimmie Johnson – 2,045
8. Ryan Newman – 2,040
9. Brad Keselowski – 2,039
10. Dale Earnhardt Jr. – 2,038
11. Martin Truex Jr. – 2,035
12. Jeff Gordon – 2,031

— CONTENDER ROUND CUTOFF —

13. Jamie McMurray – 2,028 (-3)
14. Paul Menard – 2,027 (-4)
15. Clint Bowyer – 2,025 (-6)
16. Kevin Harvick – 2,009 (-22)

NEXT UP

The Chase rolls on next week to another strong track for the 2 Crew: New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Brad boasts eight Top 10 finishes in 12 career Cup Series races at Loudon, including a win in last year’s summer run at NHMS. He’s also bagged three Coors Light Pole Awards at New Hampshire, most recently before this race last year. He finished seventh from that pole spot last September, however earlier this year he parlayed a P10 start in July’s 5-Hour Energy 301 into a second place finish. Those results give the No. 2 Crew confidence they can bolster their Challenge Round position this weekend.

The Sylvania 300 is set to go off Sunday at 2:15 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network.