I LOVE NEW YORK 355 at The Glen

Brad Keselowski was so close to scoring his first Monster Energy Cup Series road course win at Watkins Glen, but it didn’t play out in the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford team’s favor.

Kes was one of three drivers to lead 20 or more laps of the I LOVE NEW YORK 355 at The Glen, but the battle of fuel strategy left the Miller 2 Crew just a few laps short of their first road course win. Brad was in contention all day but the one final late caution he needed didn’t show, and he was hit with a penalty for driving through too many pit boxes on the empty pit road, forcing him to settle for a P15 finish.

“Tough break today for the Miller Lite Ford team,” Brad said. “We weren’t the fastest car today but we raced real hard and with a lot of heart. That put us in position. I guess I drove through too many pit stalls leaving on our last pit stop. Gosh, it’s a bummer. I hate that I cost us a top-five to a 15th. Good effort all around.”

Starting the 355-kilometer race from P8, Brad quickly worked his way up inside the Top 5, and remained there for the duration of the 20-lap first Stage. The fourth-place stage finish netted the 2 Crew an additional six points for the race. Pitting for a fresh set of tires and fuel during the caution, it relegated BK to a 14th-place start in Stage 2 behind the drivers that visited pit road prior to the yellow.

Still not having the grip on his Deuce he wanted, it slowed down the three-time WGI runner-up’s progress through the pack. Cracking into the Top 10 fairly easy, it took all he had to muscle up to seventh when Stage 2 ended on lap 40, earning him another handful of bonus points.

Going green again on lap 45 for the start of the final segment, Kes restarted from seventh—but contact with Kyle Busch through his day through a loop. Busch attempted a pass on Brad’s left side through the tight quarters of the bus stop chicane, and the two longtime rivals made contact and spun out of line. Fortunately, both stopped short of the wall and avoided major damage. Busch was upset over the radio after the incident. Brad had this to say afterward.

“This is a track where you fight for inches and we both are probably not willing to give in on it,” Brad said. “Nobody is happy when you have contact. It didn’t help my day at all either, I can tell you that. I wasn’t looking to get into him and I don’t think he was looking to get into me. We got into each other and that hurt everybody.”

After finding trouble, Brad and Co. did all they could to recover. Obtaining a vibration from the incident, crew chief Paul Wolfe requested his driver come in to replace the likely flat-spotted tires. Pitting just a few laps before the pit window opened, it put the Miller Lite team in a tough position to make the rest of the race.

The race’s only non-stage caution followed, and Brad remained on the track after pitting recently and inherited the lead at lap 54. He held the top spot for 10 laps before the fastest car in the field, Martin Truex Jr.’s No. 78, won out at lap 64. Truex held the lead for 13 laps before he put in motion a bold strategy, saving fuel and allowing BK to retake the lead. Kes stayed out in front for another 10 laps, hoping a final caution would come out, but with four laps to go, Brad pitted from the lead.

After the stop, Kes cycled out inside the Top 10 with the time and power to secure a third straight Top 5 finish before spotter Joey Meier delivered bad news over the radio. Upon exit of his pit stall, BK clipped into a fourth box. Though pit road was empty at the time during the green flag run, the penalty stood and Brad was forced to perform a pass-through penalty, saddling the Miller 2 Crew with a P15 finish. Meanwhile, Truex went on to win his fourth race of 2017 and earn a congratulatory gift from BK.

With a tough finish at The Glen now behind him, Brad heads to his home state of Michigan for the Pure Michigan 400. BK’s hometown race airs live on Sunday, August 13 at 3 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network.