The No. 22 Discount Tire Ford Mustang team hasn’t had the year it has hoped for thus far, defending its three consecutive XFINITY Series Owners’ Points championships, but Brad Keselowski’s NXS Crew was at its best form of the season this weekend in Texas.
Brad piloted the Discount Double Deuce to a second-place finish, leading 145 of 200 laps along the way.
“We had a really strong car and we made a major stride forward with this team and this program which feels really good,” Brad said. “I am very happy about the speed we had and being able to lead a lot of laps and am disappointed to not be able to bring it home there at the end. All in all, it was a good weekend for the 22 Discount Tire Ford XFINITY team.”
BK started his NXS run by snagging the Coors Light Pole award—his first in the series since 2014. At a speed of 186.909mph, he tied with fellow Michigander Erik Jones, and the top spot went to the No. 22 team, which ranked higher in Owners’ Points.
Once the green flag dropped, it was only out briefly. Choosing to start on the outside line, Brad quickly realized it wasn’t the way to go, and dropped to fourth. On lap six, he began to climb back up, passing Regan Smith for third, before a lap eight caution for Brandon Hightower spinning on the apron.
Restarting third on lap 13, Kes zipped past the No. 19 of Daniel Suarez, and 10 laps later, he passed the No. 20 of Jones for the lead. As the run ensued, the Double Deuce’s lead continued to grow until it rolled down pit road under green on lap 49 for scheduled maintenance. Swapping four tires and fuel in 12.3 seconds, the 22 Crew kept their driver out front when the cycle completed.
The second yellow flag flew on lap 71 when Ray Black Jr. spun out. Crew chief Greg Erwin elected to call Kes back in, where they put on a fresh set of rubber and topped off the tank in 12.5 seconds. The quick stop set them up for a lap 76 restart from the lead, where Brad gapped the field by over four seconds when the next debris caution waved on lap 91. Once again pitting for a set of Goodyear Eagles and fuel in 12.3 seconds, the speedy pit work sent BK out first for the lap 96 restart. As another long run broke out, it ended when Matt DiBenedetto made hard contact with the wall on lap 134.
Kes pitted again for new tires, and the 22 Crew topped off the tank with Sunoco racing fuel, and provided wedge and air pressure adjustments in 11.8 seconds. The speedy stop locked up another P1 start for the No. 22 on lap 142, which stretched through lap 166 when Brandon Hightower’s motor expired. Erwin called BK back in for their last set of sticker tires, where the 12.6 second stop placed them back out front for the lap 171 restart.
Taking the green flag with 30 laps to go, Kyle Larson pinched Kes down to the apron, while sucking the air off his Ford Mustang, causing him to drop back to second. After regaining composure, Brad came back to take a run at Larson, but it wasn’t enough.
“Whatever car got out front with the way the aerodynamics are is going to control the pace,” BK said on chasing down the leader. “It is so hard to pass because the aero is so important and the cars are so equal that way. I thought maybe we were a touch faster, but without the track position, you lose too much grip behind the guy to do anything.”
Still, the strong finish has Roger Penske’s No. 22 atop the Owners’ Points Standings and in excellent position to advance to the championship round.
Brad will control the reigns of the car one more time this season, next week at Phoenix International Raceway for the Ticket Galaxy 200, airing live on Saturday, Nov. 12 at 7:30p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network.
A Texas Sized Performance for Team BKR
With both drivers removed from Chase contention, the Brad Keselowski Racing duo of Daniel Hemric and Tyler Reddick stormed into the Lone Star State to show their abilities. Qualifying P2 and P5, respectively, their F-150’s had some single lap speed — but later proved to have long run speed as well.
Daniel Hemric scored a third place result, marking his 10th Top 5 of the season. Keeping himself in the Top 5 all race long, he led 38 laps along the way to another strong 1.5-mile performance.
“First off, I have to thank all my guys on pit road. We’ve been working really hard back at the shop and trying to perfect our pit stop stuff, so hats off to those guys for keeping us in contention,” Hemric said. “We had a really fast Blue Gate Bank Ford F-150, but about 10 or 15 laps into a run, our truck’s handling would make a big swing and give up a lot of front grip and then overall grip. I thought we would have good short-run speed on that final run, but I gave up grip even earlier that run than what we thought it would. I’m really proud of everyone at Brad Keselowski Racing for giving all the effort they could. I just really wish we could win one of these things.”
His teammate Tyler Reddick posted a great result as well, coming home in fourth, and finishing both Texas races this season in the Top 5.
“I’m really proud of our Cooper Standard guys because they did a great job on pit road all night to get us up to fourth by the end of the race,” he said. “I just made the wrong call at the end of the race and freed our Ford F-150 up a little too much for the short run to the finish. I had a tough time being able to commit to the throttle, and in these trucks, that’s so important. Both of our trucks ran up front at Las Vegas, and after that our expectations were pretty high coming into Texas. This is a really good Cooper Standard Ford F-150 that we ran tonight. We won with it at Las Vegas and finished well here tonight. We’ll just have to work on it a little more.”
The Truckers take to the track next on Friday, Nov. 11 at 10p.m. ET for the Lucas Oil 150 from Phoenix, live on FOX Sports 1.