QUAKER STATE 400

It took a tow truck to bring the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion to Victory Lane in the Quaker State 400, but Brad Keselowski’s fourth win of the season, and his third at Kentucky Speedway, counted all the same in the books.

BK put on perhaps his best display of fuel-saving brilliance yet, as the White Lite shut off right when he crossed the start/finish line for his second consecutive win. Kes successfully followed up last week’s dominant victory at Daytona to become the only four-time winner in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series so far this season. He didn’t even have enough fuel left to do a burnout on the newly repaved Kentucky surface, but he was nonetheless happy to be celebrating his 21st career win.

“I feel terrible for the fans. I didn’t get to do a burnout. Had no gas—the car wouldn’t run,” Brad said. “But we’re back here in Victory Lane. Great Saturday night. I don’t know if I’ve ever had that happen and I don’t want it to happen ever again—I’d rather drive it into Victory Lane. You take ’em anyway you can get ’em…This was a hard-fought battle and I’m really proud of everybody on the 2 crew to get win No. 4 and take that first place.”

Friday rain washed away the chances for Coors Light Pole qualifying, relegating the field to start by Owners’ Points, with Brad lined up in second. With polesitter Kevin Harvick choosing the outer line, it forced the Deuce to the inner line, where the low downforce package forced any driver to lift off the throttle. Dropping back to P4 right from the start, Kes picked one back up as he drove around the No. 19 of Carl Edwards.

Lap 11 saw Ricky Stenhouse Jr. lose the handle of his Ford in the treacherous third turn, as he smacked the wall. That set up a lap 15 restart from third for BK, once again the higher line prevailed and set Brad back to fourth, where he remained until the lap 25 competition caution. Changing two right-side tires and adding fuel, the 6.1 second stop kept the Deuce right where it entered in preparation for a lap 32 restart from fourth.

Immediately after the restart, six-time champion Jimmie Johnson left the racing groove, and wrecked his No. 48 Chevrolet. Restarting fourth once more on lap 37, Brad had trouble generating the power he needed, and he was run over by Martin Truex Jr. The untimely aero bump from the 78 sent the No. 2 all the way back to ninth.

Methodically, Brad began working back up towards the front. Passing Joey Logano on lap 41, and Kurt Busch three laps later, he already advanced to seventh when Logano’s tire blew, sending him hard into the wall at lap 52. Crew chief Paul Wolfe decided to start the strategy game early, and leave his driver out on the track as a tire wear experiment—and to regain some precious track position.

BK had his best restart of the evening to keep first place on the lap 60 restart. He held the top spot for three laps, but ultimately was passed by Truex, Harvick, Matt Kenseth and Ryan Blaney back to fifth place—where he remained until he was saved by a Matt DiBenedetto wreck and subsequent caution at lap 79. Kes took the opportunity to pit for four sticker Goodyear Eagles and fuel, setting up for a 15th place restart as all the other leaders only took two slicks.

The lap 88 restart didn’t last long as Rookie of the Year contenders Chase Elliott and Blaney made contact entering the tough turn three, and both backed into the wall. The incident allowed Brad to jump up to 12th for the lap 92 restart, where carnage once again ensued a lap after green.

Taking the green once more on lap 103 from P10, Keselowski made quick work of Ryan Newman and Greg Biffle, jumping back up to eighth. With the field surviving a restart, the cars became spread out and prepared for a long run, as a round of green-flag pit stops found Kes on lap 147. During the cycle, Regan Smith’s No. 7 experienced tire problems, and made hard contact with the SAFER barrier. When it all shook out, the 2 Crew’s fast pitwork allowed the team to jump up another spot to seventh.

“I was in trouble early on and Paul Wolfe and the team kept working on it,” BK said. “When it came to night time, the car got a little bit better for us. The track came in and with some adjustments from Paul and the team, we got where we needed to be.”

Setting up for the lap 158 restart from seventh, it didn’t last long before the lap 161 caution for a Clint Bowyer spin. The lap 166 restart from P7 saw Brad pass Edwards once more, and Jamie McMurray the next time by, breaking back into the Top 5. Following the evenings trend, another yellow waved on lap 172 as A.J. Allmendinger crashed his No. 47 for the second time in the race. The subsequent lap 177 restart from fifth kept him there when the final yellow flew on lap 194.

Wolfe made the race winning decision to pit for two tires and as much fuel as the Miller Lite Ford could take. Nervously, the strategist came across the team radio saying they are close, but should be able to make the finish. However, that decision was made with the prediction that another yellow was likely in the final 73 laps, given the 11 that had flow prior.

Brad was set to restart fifth and on the inside line when Truex, who led 46 laps on the evening, was penalized during his trip down pit road, sending him to the back and Brad to fourth—and more importantly to the outside. Kes used that positioning, the handling his team gained him through adjustments, and a brilliant aero move on Harvick, to take the lead.

“We came down pit road with about 73 to go and left pit road fifth, and I thought, ‘Well who knows how these things will go.’ Then the 78 got that penalty, moved us into the outside line, which we saw all night was the preferred line. I was able to clear the two inside cars and get into Turn 3 behind Kevin, about half a car length back. I had a pretty good idea that I could create an aero wake behind his car and loosen him up without touching him, and I was able to make the move and get by him,” BK explained.

Restarting on lap 199 from fourth, Brad’s stellar restart saw him claim the lead by turn three. Showing no signs of letting up yet, he set the fastest lap of the race on the 202nd circuit at a speed of 186.008 mph. He had built a massive lead when the rest of the field headed down pit road for fuel with less than 20 laps to go. With about 10 to go, he and Wolfe began talking strategy.

“We knew we couldn’t make it,” Wolfe said after the race. “We knew we were short, but as we got out there and got the lead on that final run, Brad started saving. He’s one of the best in the business at saving fuel. With 10 to go, he was like, ‘Make the call—what do you want me to do.’ We know what our strengths are, and that’s saving fuel. So I told him to into a level-10 fuel-save-mode.”

Perhaps the best fuel-saving duo in NASCAR, Brad and Paul were in their element. Brad let up and briefly let Kenseth pass him for the lead at lap 260—but the No. 20 hit pit road the next time by, setting up a crawl to the checkers between Kes and Edwards. Brad used every bit of his three-second cushion, allowing Edwards to get all the way to his bumper with two laps to go. From the cockpit of the No. 19, it looked like Brad was just toying with his longtime rival.

“I’ve got to give credit where credit is due: Brad played that perfectly. That was really frustrating,” Edwards said with a laugh. “He baited me in there and then he just went and blocked. But he won the race. He did a good job…It’s hard to swallow that one. We thought we had it, but he played it perfectly. I thought he was out off of 4 with 1 to go. He went exactly at the right time off the corner. He won the race.”

But Brad’s side of the story was a bit different. He didn’t intend to let Edwards get so close—he actually ran out and began to stumble with two laps to go.

“The next-to-the-last lap, it ran out of gas, and I was in trouble,” Brad said. “I didn’t think I was going to make it back around. So I just started it back up and I held the gas pedal down and it ran—it blubbered just enough to stay in front of Carl and literally, it shut off at the start-finish line taking the checkered flag. Couldn’t have timed it any more perfect than that—heck of a way to finish a race.”