Brad Keselowski dominated the Coke Zero 400 last year for his first career win at Daytona International Speedway—one of the biggest wins of his Monster Energy Cup Series career. And he’s looking to replicate that performance in one of NASCAR’s most significant weekends.
As is his custom, Kes grabbed the American Flag for a last year’s 4th of July weekend celebration, and he’s excited for the opportunity to once again do a Star Spangled burnout at the sport’s most famous track.
“It’s awesome to be able to celebrate our country’s independence down in Daytona Beach at one of the most important tracks to NASCAR,” BK said. “It’s a Saturday night race, which everyone seems to enjoy, both drivers and fans.”
Bouncing off an unexpected P3 finish last week, his best ever at Sonoma Raceway, Kes looks to keep the hot streak alive under the lights in Daytona. And as the defending winner of the Coke Zero 400, Kes wants nothing more than to extend his restrictor plate legacy. Qualifying fifth in 2016, it only took nine laps for the No. 2 to become No. 1—a spot he held for 115 of 160 laps, including the last one.
While it was the Michigan driver’s fifth career restrictor plate win, it was the first on Daytona’s 2.5-mile circuit.
“I doubted myself here, and we came here for the 500, and quite honestly, we ran like dog crap,” BK said a year ago. “My team worked on it. I didn’t give up on them. I believed in them and they went to work and put together a better car and it really showed today with a great effort for our whole team. I’m really proud of everybody.”
Back behind the wheel of the Detroit Genuine Parts Ford this weekend, which he brought to Victory Lane in last year’s Coke Zero 400, Brad hopes to keep the strong results alive with the scheme. Since last year’s DIS breakthrough, BK wheeled the car once at Richmond in the spring, scoring a P2 finish and a Stage win while leading over a quarter of the race.
While Brad will be looking for just his second win at Daytona, he’ll be in search of his sixth restrictor-plate victory. With four wins to his name at Daytona’s sister track, Talladega Superspeedway, the 2012 Champion says there is less to carry over than most think, recognizing the nuances that separate the two tracks.
“I think Daytona and Talladega have long been two different tracks,” Kes says. “It is wider and a lot harder to block and control the pace at Talladega. That is not a bad thing.”
Most importantly, Brad’s goal this weekend is to display our nation’s colors. As the race falls on Fourth of July weekend, the ever-patriotic driver embraces his chance to proudly wave the Red, White, and Blue under the lights at Daytona.
“I like to think that I’m a pretty patriotic guy,” he says.
The 17th race of 2017 marks the transition to the NBC family of networks, as NBC will broadcast the Coke Zero 400 live. Tune into the action on Saturday, July 1, at 7 p.m. ET and see if BK can go back-to-back in Daytona’s summer race.