The No. 2 Detroit Genuine Parts Ford Fusion was the strongest machine on the track at Richmond International Raceway on Sunday afternoon, but Brad Keselowski fell just shy of his third win of the season.
Kes used elite long-run speed to lead 110 laps in the Toyota Owners 400, and in the process, he captured his first Stage Win of the season. But a string of yellow flags late in the race left BK just a few laps short of his second career RIR win. Instead, his teammate Joey Logano took the checkered flag with Brad 77 hundredths of a second behind, in a one-two finish for Team Penske.
“I felt like we would’ve been fine, but that last restart, there were six or seven cars that stayed out. We got behind one that was really slow and didn’t really go on the restart, so we lost two or three spots by the time we could get going. By then, Joey was gone,” Brad said. “What we needed was about 10 more laps. Wish this was a 410 or I’d take a 500. But it was a really good effort. I’m happy for my teammate and for Team Penske to get a one-two. Certainly wanted to win, but really pleased with the speed and the effort today.”
The DGP Ford wasn’t elite all weekend. Brad was 24th in the first practice and qualified just 15th—his worst starting spot of the year and his only start outside of the Top 7. Things only got worse in Saturday’s morning practice session, where Kes was 33rd. But some adjustments by the 2Crew allowed him to post the 14th best time in final practice—and crew chief Paul Wolfe certainly found something on race day.
After an early pit stop, Brad charged his way to sixth place for the conclusion of Stage 1. He kept climbing from there, taking the lead for the first of six times on the afternoon at lap 164, swiping it from Matt Kenseth, who had led every lap to that point. Kes held it through the conclusion of Stage 2 for his first Stage Win of the season, earning him a coveted point for the playoffs.
Over the second half of the race, the Detroit Genuine Parts Deuce showed its dominance. Though Brad was bumped from the lead several times due to a rash of caution flags, he came back to the lead over the long run. Unfortunately, when four caution flags came in succession between laps 345 and 378, Kes was left without enough real estate to capture his third win of the season.
The final restart came with just 19 laps to go. Kes was on new tires, but he was held up by several cars that stayed out on old rubber. He still made his way all the way from eighth to pass Denny Hamlin for second with 10 laps to go. But Logano was in the lead with a 2.2-second cushion, and it proved to be just enough. As the Detroit Genuine Parts Ford was coming in for the long run and making a charge to the lead, the checkered flag flew with a 1-2 finish for the Team Penske stable.
Despite the runner-up finish with a car worthy of the win, Brad came away happy with the way his team performed and rolled out an elite machine on Sunday despite struggles early in the week.
“We had a ton of long-run speed, but we weren’t really good enough to pass cars on the short run, we were just good enough to hold our own and then go on the long runs. We just kept getting all of those yellows at the end, and we just couldn’t make anything of it with the Detroit Genuine Parts Ford,” Brad said. “We were a lot better than we were in practice. Didn’t quite get all the breaks we needed to fall our way, but that’s how it goes sometimes.”
CUP ROUND-UP: PENSKE POWER
While Brad didn’t get the win, he did, rightfully, have the best points day in the field as the only driver to crack 50. BK remains in fifth in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series standings, six points behind Logano, who became the seventh race winner of the 2017 season.
Brad trails point leader Kyle Larson by 71. Larson finished just 14th, but had a solid scoring day, finishing in the Top 5 of both stages to earn 38 points.
Brad and Joey remain at the top as the only two drivers with six Top 5 finishes this season. The Team Penske duo also boasts the most Top 10s, Logano with eight and Brad with seven.
“You know, there is obviously going to be a teammate dynamic, and there’s things that he does really well and things that I do differently and seem to do well. But we of course push each other to be the best, but I think it’s really healthy,” Brad said of his relationship with Logano. “It is. And I’m happy to see him win accordingly.”
Penske isn’t the only Ford stable looking strong. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished fourth and Kevin Harvick fifth to make four Fords in the Top 5.
NEXT UP
It’ll be another week and another chance at victory for Brad, as the Cup slate heads to the track where BK has won more than any other: Talladega Superspeedway.
Brad boasts four career wins at the monstrous 2.66-mile Alabama tri-oval, including one in this event just last year. This time around, Kes will be riding with a new primary sponsor on board: Fitzgerald Glider Kits.
Tune in to FOX at 2 p.m. ET on Sunday to see if BK can bring another new sponsor to Victory Lane in the GEICO 500.