Brad Keselowski ended up in Victory Lane at Michigan International Speedway—but rather than to celebrate his own win, the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford driver was in there to congratulate Kyle Larson on his first career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory.
BK finished third, leading 14 laps in the Pure Michigan 400, and he was surrounded by youth up front. The rest of the Top 4 had an average age of 22: Larson age 24, Chase Elliott at age 20 in second and 22-year-old Ryan Blaney in fourth.
“On the long runs, I thought we really had top speed. But on the short runs, we didn’t have anything for the 42 and 24. Those guys were just really flying there, and they deserved to duke it out for the win,” Brad said. “I look forward to racing Kyle and Chase and Ryan Blaney and all of those guys for years to come, and hopefully there will be exciting finishes like this one was.”
Kes qualified 18th, making it an uphill battle all day long for the Rochester Hills, Mich. native at his home track. The White Lite was scored in position 15 when the first caution flag of the day, a competition yellow, flew at lap 20.
Another quick caution came at lap 27 when Kyle Busch spun out. The defending NSCS champion finished in P18, one lap down. Kes briefly fell back to 17th on the ensuing restart, but about halfway through that run, spotter Joey Meier proclaimed on the radio that the Miller Lite Ford had woken up. Sure enough, just a few laps later, it had sliced all the way to the top 12.
A 91-lap green-flag run wore on, and Paul Wolfe and Kes follwed a unique, aggressive gameplan at Michigan. Brad moved into the lead at lap 67 after the rest of the field came through for green-flag pit stops. He spent four laps up front to set the 2 Crew on a long-pit strategy all afternoon.
With the sun shining, the White Lite looked stronger and stronger as the day went on. Brad again long-pitted just past the halfway point. He retook the lead at lap 109 and held it for nine laps before coming in at lap 117.
That stop earned him two spots up to ninth, and then a quick caution followed at lap 118. Kes jumped to sixth on the following restart, and by lap 135, he had passed Blaney and Denny Hamlin up to fourth place. And once again, when the rest of the competitors went in, Brad kept moving forward, leading one more lap before pitting for just two tires and cycling out to third.
“We used a bit of fuel strategy. Nothing extreme. We just had a really good long-run car, so I thought, ‘Why pit?'” Brad said. “We stayed out on those long runs and kept gaining spots. We went from 18th to fourth or fifth there, which is really good. That’s what you need to do at this level.”
One final caution flag flew when Michael Annett cut a tire, setting up a thrilling restart with nine laps to go. Elliott, Larson and Brad all stayed out, while the rest of the field changed tires on pit road. But even with fresh rubber behind them, it was a three-way battle for the lead. Elliott and Larson both spun their tires, prompting Brad to push Larson into the top spot while taking second for himself.
“At the end there, I gave Kyle a push, it looked like Chase spun his tires a little but and then next thing you know, we’re off to the races,” BK recalled. “I got up to second and I thought, “Oh man I’m going to run at Kyle for the win.” But I just wasn’t as fast as Chase—he was able to get buy me and then Kyle was able to drive away.”
As Brad explained, the No. 2 just didn’t have the speed to catch Larson, and Elliott passed him back to third. Meanwhile, Larson drove away for a comfortable first career victory.
“We both spun our tires really bad. The 2 car, he pushed me really good,” said an overwhelmed Larson in Victory Lane. “He probably could’ve pulled underneath me and gone by, but he stayed with me and got me the lead, so thanks to him. Had a lot of fun.”
BK congratulated Larson in Victory Lane moments after the race winner recalled the No. 2’s role in the finish. Brad left MIS with mixed emotions: happy for Larson to have captured his first win, disappointed to again fall just short of a hometown win, and proud that the Miller Lite Ford showed Top 3 speed with just two races remaining until the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
“I think we were a third-place car most of the day…we kind of finished where we deserved,” Brad said. “All-in-all a really strong day for the Miller Lite team—a lot to be proud of and heck of an effort. It seems like every time we come here, I want to win so bad and we just end up running third or fourth every time. Which is really good in the Sprint Cup Series, its just not the win we’re looking for. So good and bad, I guess.”
Brad was one of 13 drivers to lead laps in the Pure Michigan 400 and Larson led the most at just 41—both testaments to the qualify of driving at Michigan International Speedway. Afterward, Kes talked about the second run of the experimental extra-low downforce package and saw it as a success, and a stepping stone toward what’s to come.
“I think this package is really strong. I like it a lot, personally,” Brad said. “It’s not entirely my decision, and it’s not perfect, that’s for sure. There’s a lot of stuff to still work on. But I think it’s a small improvement in showcasing driver talent in order to be able to win races. I thought the guys who drove up front absolutely drove their butts off. I saw Kyle and I saw Chase and everyone was sideways and sometimes smoking their tires through the corner, and I think that’s what this racing was built on. That’s a good direction to go toward. I’ve been a big fan of this package all along, and I hope to see it move forward, along with a some other projects that this sport is working on to continue to improve the quality of racing for our fans and for our sport.”
The third-place finish at Michigan pushed Brad 78 points ahead of Kyle Busch on the Chase Grid. Kes trails points leader Kevin Harvick, who finished fifth one week after grabbing his second win of the season at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Brad’s 15th start at the 2.0-mile Brooklyn, Mich. Track brought his sixth straight Top 10. BK still owns a best finish of second at his home track, but he now owns five finishes of fourth or better. He has now led laps in seven of his last eight starts.
The Cup Series now moves forward to one of the biggest events of the year: The Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. In a throwback Miller paint scheme, Brad will shoot for his first win in the historic race.
He had his career-best finish at Darlington just last year, where he brought the throwback Miller High Life Ford home in second place after winning the Coors Light Pole and leading 196 laps. He’ll look to add one more position to his result on Sunday at 6 p.m. ET on NBC.
HEMRIC 3RD, REDDICK 19TH IN CAREERS FOR VETERANS 200
It was a tale of two truckers at Michigan International Speedway. Brad Keselowski Racing saw a third-place finish from Daniel Hemric and a 19th-place finish by Tyler Reddick in the Careers for Veterans 200 Presented by The Cooper Standard Foundation and The Checkered Flag Foundation.
Hemric was running 15th early on in the day when crew chief Chad Kendrick made perhaps the call of the race. He brought the No. 19 Draw-Tite Ford F-150 onto pit road just moments before the caution clock expired at lap 32. After a two-tire change, the No. 19 crew sent their truck out in the lead.
“We kept making our Draw-Tite Ford F-150 better and better every time we visited pit road,” Hemric said. “My crew chief Chad Kendrick made a great call to short pit before the first caution clock, and that really set the tone for our aggressive strategy.”
Daniel led just two laps as he fought a loose truck on the two-mile track. He was in position late for a chaotic final restart. It was a spectacular four-way battle for the lead, and the No. 19 crossed in third. Hemric is second in overall points behind William Byron and seventh on the Chase Grid. He’s comfortably 54 points ahead of ninth place, but he still wants that elusive win.
“We took a truck that wasn’t quite as fast as we wanted it to be and we brought it home third,” Hemric said. “Our Chase hopes are alive and we’re doing everything we can to be in the final eight, but a win is the only way to guarantee us a spot.”
Reddick is also in need of a win after a lap-71 wreck ended his day at MIS. He fought a loose No. 29 Cooper Standard Ford all afternoon and moved from 17th all the way to second place. But a wreck with 31 laps to go stole his shot at the win.
“I thought our guys did a great job putting our Cooper Standard Careers For Veterans Ford F-150 in position to win,” Tyler said. “It was getting late in the race and we needed to make that move or we would have been further back and might not have had a shot at winning. We were coming off of Turn 4 and I saw a small hole and the spot was clear. I pulled up in line but the guy behind me didn’t lift. Earlier in the race when someone did that to me I did the same thing, so I completely understand.”
The rough P19 finish has Reddick at No. 11 on the Grid, 51 points behind eighth-place Timothy Peters. Two races, separated by an off weekend, remain for Tyler to win his way into the eight-man Chase field.
The Camping World Truck Series heads north to Canada next week. Austin Cindric will pilot the No. 2 Ford for Team BKR in the Chevrolet Silverado 250 at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 2.