Brad Keselowski’s bad luck at Bristol Motor Speedway continued Saturday night.
The No. 2 Autotrader Ford Fusion suffered a cut tire just five laps into the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race, leading to a third consecutive finish off the lead lap for Kes in Thunder Valley, as he crossed 29th.
“Tonight was one of those races that no driver likes to have here at Bristol, but they can happen from time to time,” Brad said.
Starting mid-pack in P17, it only took five laps for the beating and banging to begin on the World’s Fastest Half-Mile. The Autotrader Ford made slight contact with a competing car, slicing a tire and sending BK into the wall. None of the damage was severe enough to warrant a caution, but it was enough for crew chief Paul Wolfe led to bring Kes to pit road under green, putting him several laps off the pace.
“When you have to pit under green that early in the race and lose that many laps it makes for a long night,” Kes said.
Due to that green flag stop, the No. 2 team wasn’t able to set itself back up on the lead lap over the duration of the race.
Typical Bristol attrition set in for the rest of the field, allowing Kes to jump from dead last in 40th, to a 29th-place finish.
“Credit goes to my Autotrader Ford team as they never gave up,” BK said, “but we were in a big hole after that and could not claw our way out of it.”
The Team Penske crew has an extra weekend to recover from the Night Race as they prepare for Darlington Raceway’s throwback events. Since returning to Labor Day weekend, Brad has shown some stellar progress at the 1.366 egg-shaped oval. Claiming the Pole in 2015 and leading 196 of 367 laps along the way, he came up just short of a win.
Check out the Bojangles’ Southern 500 on Sunday, September 3 at 6 p.m. ET, live on NBC Sports Network to see if the iconic Miller Genuine Draft scheme can get back on track.