After running his 15th XFINITY Series race of the year, Brad Keselowski walked away with his 12th Top 10 finish.
Brad piloted the No. 22 Discount Tire Ford for the final time this season, crossing ninth in the Ticket Galaxy 200 at Phoenix International Raceway. Kes was vying for his first NXS win of the year, but it wasn’t in the cards in the desert.
“The Discount Tire Ford Mustang was really strong at the start of the event, but we just couldn’t keep the handling where we needed it for the duration of the race,” he said.
Qualifying his No. 22 Discount Tire Ford in 11th, crew chief Greg Erwin decided to make an adjustment to the machine which NASCAR deemed to be unapproved, sending them to the end of the longest line at the start of the race.
Once the green flag dropped, his charge to the front began. Working his way up to P32 by the end of the second lap, he continued on to claim 25th by lap 10. By the time the first caution for debris flew, BK worked his way all the way up to 15th. Pitting for four tires and fuel, the 22 Crew’s quick work boosted them up five positions to 10th.
Restarting on lap 55, it didn’t take a whole lap for the next incident to occur when Alex Bowman made hard contact with the wall, allowing Brad to take Bowman’s lost spot, advancing to ninth. Going green on lap 64 from the narrow inside line, he instantly dropped to P10, before losing another spot to Blake Koch one lap later.
The long run longevity of the Double Deuce kicked in as he reclaimed the spot from Koch on lap 73, as well as taking ninth from Aric Almirola on lap 77, and eighth from Ricky Stenhouse Jr. nine laps later. Another yellow came out when Jeff Green hit the wall on lap 93, allowing Erwin to call Brad back in for routine servicing, where the 22 Crew gained another two positions in the pits.
Setting up for a lap 100 restart from P6, series regular Darrell Wallace Jr. passed the No. 22 on the start, before Ray Black Jr. wrecked and brought out another yellow on lap 105. Restarting from seventh on lap 113, fellow Ford driver Ryan Reed passed BK as well, relegating him to eighth. Five laps later, Stenhouse passed the Michigan native, dropping another spot back to ninth. The run ensued for 20 laps when Brendan Gaughan’s car made heavy contact with the wall, ultimately ending his championship bid. Visiting pit road for the final time of the evening, Erwin decided to spice up his call by electing to only replace right side tires, and fill the Mustang with just enough fuel to make the distance.
The two-tire call gained Keselowski some valuable track position, shooting the team up to fourth on a lap 147 restart. Following the trend of previous restarts, Brad continued to give up a position, this time to Reed, before a red flag was thrown on the next lap. As Koch attempted to pass BK on the frontstretch, he chopped off Wallace’s No. 6, slamming it straight into the inside wall. The wreck collected a handful of other drivers, scattering the track with debris.
After the red flag was lifted, they resumed racing on lap 153, where Koch completed the pass on Brad, falling back to sixth. By the end of the Ticket Galaxy 200, he also lost ground to Austin Dillon, Stenhouse, and Ty Dillon to come home in ninth.
It wasn’t the win he had longed for, but looking at the big picture for The Captain, Roger Penske, Kes completed his mission by advancing the No. 22 to the final round of the Owners’ Championship by 14 markers.
“We did what we needed to do and Ryan Blaney will have a great chance to win another Owners’ Championship for the team next weekend,” BK said.
Brad’s season in NASCAR’s second-tier series has come to an end in 2016 as he hands the reins of the Double Deuce to protégé Ryan Blaney to claim Penske’s fourth consecutive Owner’s Title. Tune into the Ford EcoBoost 300 from Homestead-Miami Speedway on Saturday, Nov. 19, at 3:30 p.m. ET as both the Driver and Owner Championships will be decided live on NBC Sports Network.
Tough Night for BKR Trio in Phoenix
Entering the Lucas Oil 150 with a triple shot at victory, it didn’t go the way Brad Keselowski Racing had planned as they walked away with a best of P12 from Tyler Reddick.
Starting 13th, Reddick’s No. 29 Cooper Standard Ford F-150 didn’t have the initial speed they had desired. Finally cracking the Top 10 on lap 32, his machine stalled out there, leaving crew chief Doug Randolph to make a track position call.
“Doug made a great call in the middle of the race to get track position, but it just didn’t work out for our Cooper Standard Careers For Veterans team,” Reddick said. “We stopped and put on four tires with just a few laps to go. You never know what’s going to happen and you don’t know how many restarts you’re going to have, so that was certainly worth the gamble. We got the balance on our Ford F-150 pretty close by the end of the race, and there really wasn’t more we could do, balance-wise, to improve our speed.”
Daniel Hemric came home right behind his teammate in 13th, and unfortunately for the No. 19 team, they never had a sniff of clean air.
“Tonight was really a struggle for our Blue Gate Bank Ford F-150 team,” Hemric said. “I was way too free at the beginning of the race and we made changes in the right direction, but it felt like the rear end couldn’t keep up with the front all night. I had no rear grip and at the end it felt like the left-rear tire was locking up. I’m still really proud of this Brad Keselowski Racing team and all the hard work they’ve put in all season. These guys give it their all every weekend, and I couldn’t ask for anything more than that.”
With the third truck in action piloted by Austin Cindric, it was another night of learning for the 18-year old Ohio native who brought back a 15th place result.
“I definitely learned a lot,” Cindric said. “It was bit of humbling night, to be honest. That one was tough, and certainly not how I wanted to end our year. I’ve got to thank PIRTEK for their support and everyone at Brad Keselowski Racing for all of their hard work this season on our No. 2 Ford F-150. We just needed to be better on restarts because we were super loose, and that’s when the mistakes would happen.”
The Camping World Truck Series will decide their champion on Friday night when they take to the high banks of Homestead-Miami Speedway for the Ford EcoBoost 200 at 8 p.m. ET, live on FOX Sports 1.