The No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion team wasn’t having the day it was hoping for at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, but when it mattered the most, Brad Keselowski and Co. executed to perfection to all-but guarantee their spot in the Round of 12.
Brad was running outside of the Top 10 all day, mired in the 12-15 range, but a few good stops, a few good calls by crew chief Paul Wolfe, and some strong driving helped them steal a fourth-place finish, giving them a 35-point cushion going into next week’s elimination race in Dover.
“It was just a really great finish to kind of just a so-so day,” Brad said. “It takes a team effort to do that as well and that’s part of this sport and my guys did a great job.”
Starting the race from 11th, the 2 Crew knew they didn’t have the short-run speed, but at a track known for it’s long runs, they hoped the car would come in. Through the early stages, Kes faded through the field slightly, dropping a spot to Kevin Harvick on lap 36, complaining about having a car loose into the corners and tight off. A few laps later, Alex Bowman drove by as well, relegating Brad to P13.
Approaching the first round of green flag pit stops, BK remained out on track to pick up the valuable bonus point for leading a lap. Pitting on lap 80 for a set of fresh Goodyear Eagles and fuel in 13.2 seconds, the extra few laps out on the track cost him as he dropped back to 17th. Clawing his way back up, Brad drove around Greg Biffle on lap 85, and around teammate Joey Logano two laps later for 15th.
A lap 124 debris caution came in perfect time for the Miller Lite bunch as they were close to getting lapped by Chicagoland winner Martin Truex Jr. on his torrid pace. Using the yellow as an opportunity to visit pit road for the second time of the day, crew chief Paul Wolfe put another set of tires on the car, setting up for a 14th place restart.
And again, the Deuce faded on the short run. Within four laps of the lap 132 restart, BK dropped two spots to Kasey Kahne and Ryan Newman. The next yellow flew on lap 165 for debris on the backstretch, allowing Wolfe to work on the car a bit more, setting up for a 12th place restart.
Dropping one spot to Kurt Busch this go around, he remained there over the run before pitting under green at lap 235 taking another set of fresh rubber and an adjustment. A yellow came out five laps after pitting as Michael Annett hit the wall. Visiting the pits again for another new set of tires, Kes restarted 13th, but a jumbled green flag sent him back to 16th, before Michael McDowell’s tire blew out on lap 263.
Coming to the green on lap 268 from P12, he quickly jumped up to 10th – which ignited the Michigan driver. Before the lap 284 caution for Trevor Bayne wrecking, Keselowski made his way up to sixth as he passed Kasey Kahne, Jamie McMurray, Kyle Larson, and Kurt Busch.
“It was just a good call there towards the end to put tires on and then just being smooth and keeping it in one piece driving through traffic,” Brad said.
The lap 289 restart from P6 in the upper groove allowed him to jump straight to fourth place, when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. spun on the following lap. Going green once again from the outside of the second row, Brad tried to get a little more on the final run. He briefly passed Kyle Busch for third, but the 18 came back around shortly thereafter. But Brad still left very pleased with his second Top 5 finish of the Chase.
“The Miller Lite team worked really hard on our Ford all day long,” Brad said. “We weren’t near as fast as we wanted to be, but great execution on pit road, great execution with the pit calls and then the last few restarts went our way with being in the right lane on the restarts, which is so, so important on these double-file restarts, but also just staying out of trouble. We’re not as fast as we want to be. We almost went a lap down at one point, but we kept our head down and got through it.”
Entering the Dover elimination race with a 35-point cushion over the 13th-place cutline, it gives the 2012 Champion some peace of mind heading into the tumultuous race.
“It feels good to go to Dover and be able to sleep easy knowing that if you have a part failure or get caught up in a wreck or any of those silly things that can happen that aren’t your fault, you don’t have to worry about them so that’s good, but we still have some work to do to get a little faster.”
Four of the 16 drivers will face elimination next weekend when the Sprint Cup circuit goes to Dover International Speedway for the Citizen Soldier 400. The race airs on NBC Sports Network on Sunday October 2nd at 2p.m. ET.
Tough Day for Team BKR’s Chase Hopes
Entering the inaugural Truck Series Chase as a co-leader in regular-season points, Daniel Hemric’s championship hopes took a hit in Loudon.
A blown tire early in the going severed a brake line, forcing his No. 19 Blue Gate Bank F-150 behind the wall for upwards of 30 laps. The Brad Keselowski Racing crew took the time to make proper repairs in the garage, and sent Hemric back on track to pick up two positions – worth two valuable points after a P28 finish.
“We had a left-rear tire go down and come off the wheel early in the race, and that snowballed when the tire started coming apart,” he said “The tire wrapped around the brake caliper, started melting around the brake rotor and left-rear brake assembly, starting a small fire. That forced us to the garage for repairs and it created a lot of work for this Blue Gate Bank team, and put us down a lot of laps.”
Teammate Tyler Reddick had the afternoon that Hemric dreamed of, piloting his No. 29 Cooper Standard truck to a P4 result. Realizing that his F-150 was no match to the powerful Toyotas of the Kyle Busch Motorsports & Thorsport Racing stables, Reddick took what he was given and moved on from there.
“I was really happy that we were able to get a fourth-place finish,” Reddick said. “We still have a little bit of work to do but, fortunately, we don’t have to patch anything up, and I’m really happy about that. I was under attack there the last 20 or 30 laps and just had to hold on. Our Cooper Standard Ford F-150 fired off loose on the initial start and restarts, but would get tight on the long run. Our guys made great pit stops all day and we finished a tick better than we ran, so I’m happy about that. We had a really good Ford F-150 today and there’s time to make it even better before we run it again at Martinsville or Phoenix.”
Perched 21 points outside of the Top 6 in standings, Hemric took an interesting perspective. Rather than being discouraged by the tough start to the Chase, the guesswork of the playoffs is gone—he knows that he must win at Las Vegas or Talladega to keep his Championship hopes alive.
“This was not the way we wanted to start out this Chase, but we now know the position we’re in going into Las Vegas,” Hemric said. “We have to win, no doubt about it. We got into this Chase on points, but that’s not going to get us to the next round. I know how consistently our Blue Gate Ford F-150 team has performed all year, and I know we have what it takes to win.”
Tune in to the DC Solar 350 as the truckers battle for the second race of their Chase. The race from the Las Vegas Motor Speedway airs on FOX Sports 1 at 8:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, Oct. 1