Pocono 400

It was a great weekend at Pocono Raceway for Brad and Team Penske, but the spotlight shined brightest on one of BK’s protégés.

Former Brad Keselowski Racing driver Ryan Blaney won the big event on Sunday at Pocono, his first career Cup Series win, in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Motorcraft Ford. And in a little bit of turnabout, Brad found himself in Victory Lane with the young driver.

After his XFINITY Series win Saturday night, Brad was interviewed by Blaney in Victory Lane—and the following day, Kes returned the favor, taking Jamie Little’s microphone and headset to interview his protégé after his first Monster Energy Cup Series win in the Pocono 400.

BK and his No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion had their own shot at the win late at The Tricky Triangle, but had to settle for a Top 5 finish, and seeing Blaney succeed made it well worth it to Brad anyway.

“Congrats to Ryan Blaney and the entire Wood Brothers team. That is one of the iconic teams in NASCAR and to see the mesh of an old school team with a new, young driver like Ryan Blaney is really cool to see,” Brad said. “Ryan has been a part of this sport for a long time, along with his family and they deserve it. It was awesome to interview him in Victory Lane. He’s got a real positive future in front of him.”

Blaney drives the No. 21 Ford, the lone Cup Series vehicle for Wood Brothers Racing, which has a technical alliance with Team Penske. Additionally, Blaney is a part of the three-man stable of drivers for Team Penske’s NXS program, alongside Brad and Joey Logano.

The genesis of those partnerships came through BK, who gave Blaney his start as a NASCAR driver in 2012 behind the wheel of one of his Brad Keselowski Racing trucks. The young driver came through with four wins in four years with Team BKR, helping him to vault up the ranks of the elite teams in the Camping World Truck Series. Now 23 years old, and in his second full season in the Cup Series, Blaney spoke after the race about his relationship with Brad and how much it meant to have his mentor in Victory Lane after his first win.

“I wouldn’t be here without Brad, to be honest with you,” Blaney said. “He’s the one that gave me my start in 2012. I started driving his trucks then and it led to the Penske deal, led to the Wood Brothers deal. I would be nothing if it wasn’t for him taking a chance on me. He’s been a huge person I’ve looked up to. For him to do that really, really makes me feel good. It’s really cool to see his support still. He’s a great person.”

It was a similar story with Brad, who was given his first chance by Dale Earnhardt Jr. And just like Kes was for Blaney on Sunday, Dale Jr. was there to congratulate Brad in Victory Lane after his first Cup win at Talladega in 2009.