Brad Keselowski faces an unenviable scenario for the next two races, but the No. 2 Wurth Ford Fusion driver has chosen a champion’s resolve over unnecessary nerves going into Texas Motor Speedway.
A wreck last week at Martinsville Speedway put Brad at just 4,013 points, trailing fourth place by 24, going into the second race of the Eliminator Round: the AAA Texas 500. The Team Penske driver was in the exact same position last year with the exact same number of points after Martinsville, and even with finishes of third and fourth at Texas and Phoenix, he was left eight points shy of advancing to the Championship Round at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
But while BK is aware of his situation in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, he isn’t worried about this weekend being a “must-win.” He knows that all the 2 Crew can do is work hard and execute on Sunday, and let the chips fall where they may.
“This No. 2 Wurth Ford team is focused on the task ahead of us, and we’re committed to doing the work,” Brad said. “We’re going tap into the Penske ethos of ‘Effort equals Results’ and see what happens.”
Following that mantra, Brad will be putting in some extra work on the track this weekend. He’ll be running in the XFINITY Series as well, piloting the No. 22 Discount Tire Ford Mustang, a car that has all-but locked up its third consecutive NXS Owner’s Points title for Roger Penske. That race will go green around 3:45 p.m. ET on Saturday.
Every little bit of track time will help Brad in his quest for his second Sprint Cup Series championship. It will also help that Brad and his crew chief are on the same page mentally. Paul Wolfe said after last week’s race, where the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford dominated and led 143 laps before the wreck, that all the 2 Crew can do is focus on what they’ve done well and try to emulate it going forward.
“We’ve got to take the positive out of it, and that’s we had the best car here for sure, definitely, on the long run, and we had a great day on pit road which was a struggle for us earlier in the year,” Wolfe told FOX Sports at Martinsville. “So all those things are positives, and we’re going to build off of that and go to Texas and hopefully put together another car like we had today.”
The 2 Crew has been strong historically at Texas Motor Speedway. Brad finished second in this race in 2012, which sent him on his way to the Cup championship that season. That finish started a string of five Top 10 finishes over his next six starts at the 1.5-mile Fort Worth track. He has logged back-to-back Top 5 finishes there: the third-place finish a year ago, and a fifth-place finish earlier this season. Kes has long contended that the 1.5-mile tracks are the key to winning a championship in this Chase, and now he and his team will be put to the test.
“Our program is in a good place right now, though I want to be a little faster on the mile-and-a-halves for sure,” BK said. “Historically, Texas has been good for us, so we know we can find the speed that we need to run up front there and ideally position ourselves to make it to the next round.”
Brad’s Penske teammate, Joey Logano, is in the same position. Logano was the hottest driver in the Chase and rode a three-race win streak into Martinsville. He combined with BK to lead 350 laps at The Paperclip, but he was wrecked by a vindictive Matt Kenseth. The race looked like it could be a 1-2 Penske finish, but now both drivers are backed against a wall.
“I look at Texas as a track where we haven’t been where we want to be with the No. 2 car, but my teammate, Joey Logano, has been really fast,” Kes said. “So we know we have the potential, so we’ve just got to find it, and we’re going to do that by going to work.”
That work paid dividends early on Friday. The Wurth Ford was the fastest car on the track during the first practice session. Kes bested Kevin Harvick, Carl Edwards, Logano and several other contenders with a time of 27.403 seconds. He was the only driver to post an average speed in the 197 MPH range. However, as Brad said on NBC Sports after practice, success really only counts come Sunday.
“We need to win probably two of the next three to win the championship. That’s going to be really tough to do, but I feel like we have the team to do it,” Brad said. ” So far so good. But we were really fast in practice and qualifying trim at Kansas at well, and it didn’t translate to the race. It’s a little too early to tell. The proof is in the pudding when it comes race time.”
Brad won the pole at Kansas, and he’ll look to do the same in qualifying at 6:45 p.m. ET. BK started third at Texas earlier this year. The 2 Crew will have two more practice sessions at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. ET on Saturday to get the Fusion dialed in for race day.
Brad will sport the Wurth Racing colors in Fort Worth. His last win came under the Wurth banner at Auto Club Speedway this past March. He ran the NXS/NSCS double that weekend as well. The AAA Texas 500 will go green around 2 p.m. ET on Sunday and will air on NBC.