It wasn’t the first time I’d done that. A few years before, I’d done a similar thing with Miller a few times, and it was always kind of fun. There were no cameras there or anything. It was just, “Hey, let’s go do this.”

What made our journey at Watkins Glen a little different was that we decided to film it on Facebook Live. At the time, I’d been trying out Facebook Live a little bit, and thought it might be fun to go out and meet some fans, and share the experience of what that was like.

Since then, we’ve done quite a few of these Facebook Lives on race weekends, and they’ve been great. Today, I want to spend this blog entry explaining why I do them, and sharing what I’ve learned about our fans from doing them. (And in case you were wondering, this isn’t some sort of paid ad for Facebook.) I want to pass along why these experiences have meant so much to me, and why I think they’re important for me to keep doing.

GOING LIVE

I’m always looking for ways to engage our fans. I’ve done blogs in the past where I’ve talked about why I’m not the biggest autograph fan—I understand that to some people, an autograph is the Holy Grail, but it’s not to me.

When I thought about what kind of experience would be relatable to me if I was a fan camping at a race track—well, that’s the question I started with, and I kind of moved forward from there. That’s how we wound up at Facebook Live.

I would say probably two-thirds of the race weekends, I do an appearance that fans are invited to, but not every weekend. I realize that there are some shortfalls in terms of fans having access. So Facebook Live felt like a really good fit. It was a way to make sure that I felt able to meet with race fans each and every weekend, and show the gratitude I have for them, and everything they do.

I’m so thankful to all the 2 Crew fans for their support, I wanted a way to show my appreciation.

Most of the time, when it comes to driving out to the campgrounds, we don’t have a plan. Practice is over early, or we’re going to go out to dinner, or we just got back for dinner and it’s still early enough. It’s pretty much as simple as saying, ”Let’s go do something fun and cool.” It’s actually more fun to head out without a plan, and just do it to do it.

Paige is my cameraman, and in the beginning, she was very, very nervous about holding the camera the wrong way, that kind of thing. But she’s gotten a lot more confident as we’ve gone along, and I think she’s enjoying it, too. People want to talk to her, of course, and that’s been fun and interesting to see. I think it’s cool to have her filming it instead of someone else. It feels a little bit more personal to our family.

When we started, we would ride through the campgrounds, and it was a little bit easier to be incognito. That’s the one thing that’s changed since the beginning. People are starting to catch on. Now fans kind of know that we might be out, so they’re on the lookout, sending me tweets to visit on social media, which is fine. Now we have to find more clever ways to disguise ourselves, and scout things out to find the fans who are showing their support for the 2 Team.

It’s important to me that we always stop at someone’s camp who has our stuff hanging up. I want it to be about fans that support us. I want to be able to give back to them and show them that we care. One of the best parts of the whole deal is having it be a surprise when we show up, and so far, it’s been a surprise to each and every person.

Great fans we met at a Daytona FB Live.

Another great part is joining fans when they’re enjoying themselves, and simply being part of it. At one of our visits in Daytona, quite a few of the guys and girls had been having a good time, and it’s possible they might not have been completely sober. Those are always kind of fun because people really let their personality show. There was another time—also in Daytona—where a guy got super excited, and started swearing a lot. I definitely appreciated how excited he was, but I was a little bit nervous about all the swearing online.

Of course, any time someone gets excited in general, it’s great. If you have a chance to make someone’s day and you’re able to do it, it’s a good feeling. It kind of makes my day, too.

More recently, we had a chance to bring Scarlett with us for the first time. That wasn’t exactly planned, either. We didn’t have a babysitter! It was so sunny and bright out, and Scarlett had already taken her nap, so she was in a decent mood. So we figured, “Yeah. Let’s see how it goes.” I think she did great.

WHAT I’VE LEARNED

I’ve learned a lot of things from doing these Facebook Lives. One of the most surprising is how many of our fans are from Canada. I don’t know if that’s just my demographics or what, but even at our past Facebook Live at Richmond, there was a #2Crew group from Canada.

If I had to pick the biggest takeaway from doing Facebook Live, though, it would have to be the sense of perspective I’ve gotten. I’ll explain what I mean.

When I’m at a racetrack, I’m there to win. My job is to perform. I’m not getting paid to have a good time. What’s going through my head are things like, “How do I get in the corner better? How do I make my car not so loose off? What can I do to get in the pit stall a little better, so the pit crew has a great day?” That’s how we, as drivers, frame a weekend.

Because of that, it’s very, very easy for us—and by “us,” I mean all drivers—to lose sight of what’s really going on. And what’s really going on at these races is a lot bigger than our competition.

For fans, a race weekend is much more than a race. When you see people in the campground, they’re sometimes there for three straight days. The racing only takes up maybe four or five hours of that time. They’re there to have an experience with their families. They’re there to have an experience with their friends. A race weekend is thousands and thousands of people all coming together for a very unique event, sharing something special, and maybe forgetting their troubles for a while.

It reminds me of this great Saturday Night Live Family Feud skit from around the Super Bowl. The skit has people who support the Falcons and Patriots facing off against each other. When asked to name one thing she’d bring to a Super Bowl party, Tom Brady’s wife, Gisele, says, “The beautiful spirit of togetherness that makes all of us part of the tapestry of humanity.” Thanks to her teammate Bill Belichik, who’s hacked the computer scoreboard, it’s the number one answer.

Funny enough, that’s exactly what I like most about seeing people come together for a race, and enjoy a weekend of fun. The campground visits are a chance for me to see things in a broader perspective that’s more than just a driver’s view, more than just a competitor’s view.

Finally, it’s also a chance to get to know the people who support me, and show how much I value their support. In any business, having a personal touch to what you do seems like a pretty good idea. It’s kind of like the guy that owns one restaurant and knows every one of his customers, versus the guy who owns a chain and never sees his customers.

I’m never going to be able to get to the 50,000 or 70,000 fans who show up for a race weekend. I’m never going to be able to sign an autograph for everyone. I’m never going to be able to meet everyone of them at a trailer and give them a case a beer. But if I can do it for one, or two, or three, and show people that I care, and that it could be them, I think that’s a good thing.

Now some of you reading this might be wondering: What is it exactly that I’m looking for when we visit a campground? What makes us stop? How do we decide which fans we visit with on Facebook Live?

It’s more of an art than a science, really, but I will say this: A couple of weeks ago, we saw someone flying an American flag above their campground, and right below it, a flag with the 2 on it. Now I’m not saying I’m Batman, but when I saw that—that American flag/2 flag combo—it was pretty much like someone putting out the Bat Signal to me.

So get your flags out, and fly them high. We’ll be on the lookout soon at a track near you…

THE VIDEOS

Please note that each of these Facebook Live videos was filmed live. Some of them contain content that is not suitable for minors.

WATKINS GLEN, AUGUST 4, 2016

BRISTOL, AUGUST 20, 2016

DAYTONA, FEBRUARY 18, 2017

DAYTONA, FEBRUARY 20, 2017

DAYTONA, FEBRUARY 23, 2017

LAS VEGAS, MARCH 10, 2017

TEXAS, APRIL 8, 2017

RICHMOND, APRIL 29, 2017

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Before we jump in, I should say that I was actually part of the exploratory group that helped come up with these changes. It was made up of 15 or so people, all representatives from different branches of the sport—drivers, team directors, tracks, media, and of course, NASCAR. All of us were faced with the same question: What do we need to do to allow the sport to thrive in the future?

For me, the new changes are a big step in the right direction. I’ll explain why.

CHALLENGES WE FACE

To point NASCAR toward a future that makes sense, we had to be honest about where things are for us as a sport. They’re pretty good, but we have a lot of challenges that we can’t ignore if we want to not only stay relevant, but grow.

For a long time, NASCAR used to be easily the largest spectator sport. With 36 races a year averaging 100,000 in attendance, NASCAR was putting up massive numbers. That’s really changed—not just for NASCAR, but across the sports world. You’re seeing smaller arenas get built because fans want a more intimate experience, and the viewing experience at home is pretty high-quality. Spectator sports are not as strong as they used to be.

Not having as many fans at races creates a whole other challenge for our sport, primarily because seeing a race in person used to be a big way to draw new people in. If you go to a track and hear the roar of an engine, or see a car going so fast it looks like it’s vibrating, your brain connects to racing in a way it can’t from watching TV. You might watch the next race from home, but after being at a race, you know what you’re looking at in a different way.

Without that, you miss out on that sense of speed. You can’t convey on TV what it takes to be a talented race car driver.

There are other challenges that we face at the tracks, too. The coming generation of fans aren’t working in factories the way the generation before them did. They’re much more noise-sensitive, and watching a race in person can be a bit shocking if you’re not used to noise. They’re also not as car-crazy as their parents and grandparents once were. “The car is the star” used to be one of our easiest parts to convey to the sport and its fans.

Finally, there’s more competition in the sports world than ever before. Finding a way to connect to millennials in general is tough. You can play soccer, baseball, basketball and football in elementary school. You can play a lot of that stuff. You can’t play racing.

LIVE SPORTS REIGN SUPREME

But the biggest shift across the entire sports landscape has been in spectator sports shown live on TV. Of the 100 most-viewed shows last year, 88 of them were live sporting events.

Yes, there’s still sitcoms and all that, but 10 or 15 years ago, the biggest TV shows were shows like Seinfeld or Survivor. That’s not happening anymore.

The biggest shows now are things like Football Night in America. They’re spectator sports on TV, live sporting events. So that’s really changed the dynamics. And while our spectatorship has gone down and our TV numbers haven’t necessarily gone up, the value per person to advertisers has gone up dramatically. If I’m an advertiser who wants to advertise on TV today and I want to reach an audience where people are going to be watching, I’m buying a sporting event.

As a result, NASCAR—and all sports—are able to demand rights fees that are higher than ever. Back in the 1990s, somewhere around 10 million people watched the broadcast of the Daytona 500. The rights fees were around a couple million dollars. Well, about the same amount of people watched it last year, but the rights fees for Daytona were worth about $100 million.

Because TV is able to afford higher rights fees, instead of catering to on-site spectators the way sports did 30 or 40 years ago, sports are catering to TV. That’s how sports are being consumed. That’s where the money is.

THE CHANGES

Everything I just described is why NASCAR is in the position we’re in. To continue to thrive, the sport needs to be more TV-friendly than ever before.

So it’s being changed in that way.

As was announced Monday, we’re essentially going to put TV timeouts into motorsports. But the way NASCAR is going to do it, to me, is going improve the sport in a number of ways.

Each race will be divided into three parts: two stages and the finish. The top driver for the first two stages—which will basically provide the TV timeouts—will be awarded a stage win and one playoff point, while the race winner earns five playoff points, which will carry over to the postseason, adding a whole new incentive to races. Additionally, the Top 10 finishers for each stage will earn additional championship points.

If you win both stages and the race itself, you’ll wind up with the equivalent of a hat trick or a perfect game, with 40-odd points for the race win, and another 20 to 30 for the stage wins. Maybe NASCAR can have a contest to see what winning two or three of the three race stages will be called.

It’s going to be a huge change, and what I like about it is that it gives us more moments within each race to care about. Right now, you can fall asleep early in the race, wake up at the end and see the ending, and if you only care about who won, guess what: You saw everything you needed to see. You saw the end, the only moment that mattered.

That doesn’t work. We need fans to want to watch the entire race, and now, they’ll have really clear reasons to do that.

As a driver, I like it, too. Every top driver has had races they’ve led for hundreds of laps, only to have a questionable caution come out late in the race and change the outcome. Before, if I was a race leader and debris caution came out of nowhere, all I was thinking was, “Man, what was the point of racing so damn hard? It didn’t mean anything.”

Now, it’ll mean something more, because I’ll have won at least one stage, maybe two.

It will give fantasy racing fans more to care about, too. With live scoring, people’s fantasy racing teams will be picking up points as the race goes on. Especially for the next generation of fans, who have so much competing for their attention, this change is a positive one. It gives them reasons to keep paying attention.

Finally, stage  scoring will also make NASCAR the first motorsport to showcase live scoring instead of being scored solely off the finish, which is a nice point of distinction.

The other big change that goes hand-in-hand with stages is that all playoff points won during the regular season will carry over throughout the postseason. So instead of having everyone’s point totals reset when the playoffs begin, stage and race winners will have the extra bonus of keeping those points throughout each stage of the playoffs, all the way to Homestead.

I love this, too. It makes winning during the year worth more throughout the entire season, and can prevent top contenders from being knocked out of contention by one blown engine during a critical playoff race.

Now, we have to be careful about our core fan. We don’t want to alienate our diehards, who already appreciate all of the different dimensions of NASCAR, and don’t feel like they need anything new.

For those people, TV timeouts might feel like a bit of a tough sell, and I get that.

At the same time, they won’t be too long, and what we lose for those pre-scheduled breaks in the action, we’ll gain in live action that actually means something. Hopefully, we’ll see fewer eyebrow-raising cautions in the final minutes of races, and the stage additions will just keep everything flowing.

But I’m curious to know what all of you think about these changes. Do they sound like improvements to you? Would you rather have things stay the way they are? Post your comments here or on social media with the hashtag #NASCARChanges. Let me hear what you have to say!

(If you want to read up on the changes, here’s the official post from NASCAR.)

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“This is a big day in the history of BKR,” Brad said. “To be recognized as a true partner to Ford and Ford Performance and what they are trying to do speaks directly to the hard work our team has put in over the last several years. It is an honor, frankly, and it is really what BKR is all about – providing young, talented drivers with championship-caliber equipment to continue to hone their craft and showcase their talents. We have been fortunate to have had a lot of success together with Ford across the three major NASCAR touring series and to now elevate that relationship in an official capacity is a testament to what we set out to do.”

BKR has shown in recent years that it’s already one of the top developmental programs in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Both of Brad’s full-time drivers last year, Tyler Reddick and Daniel Hemric, landed rides in the XFINITY Series for the 2017 season. However, both are now under the Chevrolet banner: Reddick at Chip Ganassi Racing and Hemric with Richard Childress Racing. In the future, Ford hopes to build a pipeline from the Truck level to the Monster Energy Cup level.

That begins with BKR and with Briscoe, a 22-year-old Indiana native who is coming off of a 2016 championship in the ARCA stock car racing series, where he captured six wins. He has been racing since 2001 in a variety of series, including quarter midgets, sprint cars, Peak Stock Car Dream Challenge and K&N Pro Series West.

Briscoe and BKR will represent the first stage of Ford Performance’s new program. The BKR effort, as well as other to-be-announced driver development efforts at different levels, will develop talent for all Ford teams in NASCAR. Current teams will be consulted as part of the selection process, but drivers in the program will have contractual obligations to Ford.

“We’re making a commitment to win long-term in NASCAR,” said Dave Pericak, global director, Ford Performance. “We have been increasing our engineering support and our technological development at the team level, and now we’re looking to work with our teams to find the best available drivers coming up in the sport.”

In addition to their role within the NCWTS race program and related marketing efforts, drivers in the new Ford program will also assist the company as test drivers within the Ford product development program.

“Starting this program with BKR makes sense since it has made a significant investment in its NASCAR Camping World Truck Series operation and it is reflected in its success on the track,” said Pericak. “As we at Ford look to develop new winning drivers for, ultimately, our Cup Series teams, the BKR model is a proven step in that ladder. We are enthusiastic about the role BKR will play in our efforts and we look forward to working very closely with the team in driver selection, engineering, and other mission critical areas.”

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Brad Keselowski Racing announced on Thursday that PIRTEK, the industry leader in fluid transfer solution sales and service in the United States, will serve as a full-time associate partner for driver Austin Cindric during the 2017 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season.

PIRTEK will also join Team Penske as an associate partner in 2017 for select races in the NASCAR XFINITY Series. The partnership will include driver appearances, business-to-business opportunities and licensing rights for both Brad Keselowski Racing and Team Penske.

“We’re pleased that PIRTEK is expanding their NASCAR involvement with Brad Keselowski Racing,” Brad said. “I’m confident that Austin and our team will deliver a quality performance as they compete full time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2017.”

PIRTEK Service and Supply Centers stock, customize and install hydraulic and industrial hoses and fittings of all kinds. The PIRTEK range of products and services is designed to meet the diverse requirements of customers of all sizes from a broad cross-section of industries. More importantly, within each of these industries, there are literally hundreds of opportunities and applications for which the PIRTEK range of products and services are in demand.

“Expanding our NASCAR involvement and growing our partnership with Brad Keselowski Racing and Team Penske was a natural evolution,” said Pirtek CEO Glenn Duncan. “Everyone at PIRTEK was excited about our first foray into NASCAR and we’re looking forward to continuing our relationship with Austin. Our partnership with Brad Keselowski Racing and Team Penske is certainly the right avenue for us.”

Cindric, 18, made four starts for the team in 2016 with PIRTEK as a partner, highlighted by a second-place qualifying effort at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada). Cindric also won from the pole in K&N Pro Series East starts in 2016 at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International and Virginia (Danville, Va.) International Raceway and he was victorious in his ARCA Racing Series debut in 2016, winning with PIRTEK as a partner at Kentucky Speedway.

“I’m honored to continue to represent PIRTEK because I’ve seen firsthand that it’s an iconic brand in motorsports across the globe,” said Cindric. “It’s awesome to see their NASCAR program growing and I’m thrilled to be a part of it.”

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1 – Brad scored one Coors Light Pole Award at the Sprint Cup level in 2016 at Pocono Raceway in June. His best start at the 2.5-mile Pennsylvania racetrack equated to a P3 finish in the rain-delayed race.

2 – For the second time in his career, Kes set a back-to-back win streak. This time it was in Daytona and Kentucky, and that summer success carried the 2 Crew to the Chase.

3 – Through the entire 36 race Cup schedule, the Deuce was saddled DNF in just three races. The exceptions to the incredibly consistent season were a slide through the grass at Kansas, a blown motor in Talladega, and a late-race crash at Homestead. Running at the finish 33 times is a testament to the team.

4 – In 2016, Brad came home with four Sprint Cup victories. After winning at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March, he followed that up in Talladega, and then went back to back at Daytona and Kentucky.

5 – In addition to the four Cup wins, BK managed to place in the Top 3 an additional five times at Pocono in June and July, Watkins Glen, Michigan, and Martinsville.

6 – Daniel Hemric, driver of the No. 19 BKR F-150, finished his only season with Team BKR sixth in the Camping World Truck Series standings.

7 – The duo of BK and Joey Logano led Team Penske to seven victories at the Cup level. In addition to Brad’s four wins, Logano wound up with three on the season, giving them as many as any other pair of teammates in the Cup Series.

8 – Ending the season winless in the XFINITY Series snapped his eight-year streak with a least one race victory in NASCAR’s second series. It ties the likes of Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards, with Mark Martin being the only driver with a streak of nine years or longer.

9 – Tyler Reddick finished his final season with Team BKR ninth in the Camping World Truck Series standings.

9.6 – Kes earned an average start of 9.6 in the Cup series this season, the second-best mark of his career.

10 – Brad led more than 10 laps in 10 races this season, including the most laps in a race three times.

12 – When the checkered flag flew in Homestead for the final race of the season, Kes and the 2 Crew were ranked 12th in Drivers Points.

15 – Through both the Cup and XFINITY seasons, Brad combined to drive 15 unique paint schemes in 2016.

16 – In almost half of the races, including all three in the Chase’s Round of 16, Brad came home with impressive Top 5 results.

19 – Team BKR claimed 19 top 5 finishes in 2016, with 11 coming from Hemric, and eight from Reddick.

21 – Brad now boasts 21 total wins in the Cup series, tying him for 35th all-time and slotting him 11th among active drivers.

22 – Keselowski also managed 22 Top 10’s on the season, the third most in his career.

75 – After the 2016 season, Kes now has 75 Top 5 finishes for his career.

249 – Though winless in the XFINITY Series this season, Brad spent 249 laps pacing the field in that series.

269 – Brad has totaled 269 Cup Series starts for his career.

549 – BK spent some time out in front of the field this year, logging 549 laps as the top car. This ranks him eighth amongst competitors.

2,267 – Still 12th in standings, Kes racked up 2,267 points along the way.

4,833 – Kes has led 4,833 laps in the Cup series for his career.

10,337 – In the Cup Series, BK churned out 10,337 laps – the third most of anyone, behind Kasey Kahne and Kurt Busch.

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That’s my first memory of being a Lions fan: Watching them play on Thanksgiving day. It was a pretty big deal for my family, and really, for anyone who lived in the Detroit area. We all loved watching, and when the Lions didn’t have success, making fun of them became a pastime, too.

Mainly, though, the team brought us all together. My brother, Brian, and I have a unique relationship in so many ways. I’m a Michigan fan. He’s a Michigan State fan. You get the idea. But one of the few areas where we overlap is when it comes to rooting for the Lions. We’ve gone to a couple of Thanksgiving games together.

This year, we’ve had a pretty good season so far. So while the getting is good, I wanted to talk about my love for the Lions, and why I’m optimistic about what’s to come.

BARRY & HEARTBREAK

When you tell people you’re a Detroit Lions fan, they give you that sideways look like, “Why would you do that to yourself?”

For me, the answer started with two words: Barry Sanders.

Man, did I love Barry. He made so many amazing plays, but what I also liked about him was that he was so quiet and humble. When he played for Detroit, Barry actually lived in the town where I’m from, Rochester Hills. That was kind of cool. I never saw him around town, but a few of my friends did.

Back then, the Lions played in Pontiac, Michigan, and Pontiac is literally right next to the area where I grew up. You could see the stadium from my dad’s race shop. It was practically across the street—we could actually watch the players practice from there.

As I got older, I began to understand that heartbreak and Detroit football went hand-in-hand.

In 2000, the Lions looked like they were going to make the playoffs easily, but toward the end of the season, they kind of unraveled, and lost two or three games in a row. Everything came down to the last game of the regular season against the Chicago Bears, and the Lions had to win it. The Bears were 5-11, a terrible team with nothing to play for. We lost by a field goal. I’ll never forget it, because as the ball was kicked, the announcer said, “Here it is, the Lions season, up in the air. And there it is. It’s over.” The next few days on the radio, they just lambasted the whole team. Everyone got fired.

Then there was the last Thanksgiving game I went to, back in 2012, when the Lions played the Houston Texans. In the third quarter, Houston’s Justin Forsett ran for a touchdown, but he had clearly been down. Our coach, Jim Schwartz, threw a challenge flag, but the rule was that every scoring play was reviewed automatically. So it wasn’t a situation that he could even challenge. That would have been fine except there were two other rules. First, if you threw a challenge flag when you weren’t supposed to, it was a foul. And second, if a team committed a foul like throwing the challenge flag when you weren’t supposed to and it delayed the following snap, the officials weren’t allowed to use replay to review a play. You can’t make this stuff up, right? Houston wound up winning by a touchdown in overtime, and the fans were pissed. It was another instance of having that perpetual feeling of, “Man, the world is against us.”

But the absolute worst day in my life as a Lions fan was when we found out that Barry Sanders had retired. That really hit everybody hard. I remember the community being like, “Oh, my God. This is the end of everything.” Every Lions fan.

(Then the Matt Millen era became a reality, and that was even worse.)

THE CARDIAC CATS

If Barry was the guy who made me a Lions fan, Calvin Johnson was the guy who got me excited about watching them again. I was a huge, huge Calvin Johnson fan. He was a lot like Barry in terms of his personality. He didn’t need to be showy. He just delivered results again and again and again. I’ve always had a lot of respect for that. It’s funny that the two superstars in our history have had these same kinds of personalities. They were the perfect fit for a hard-working town like Detroit.

Can you imagine what we’d be like this year if we had Calvin, too?

This year’s team has been unbelievable. I know that Cardiac Cats is a stolen nickname, but how many games have the Lions won on the final drive? They’ve had eight fourth-quarter comebacks, which apparently is the most in the NFL since 1950, maybe ever. What’s so amazing about it is that it’s kind of the antithesis of what they’ve been known for, which is playing well until the end, and then giving it up.

I’ve been so impressed with Matthew Stafford, and honestly, I really didn’t know how to place him among the league’s quarterbacks before this season. But he’s shown incredible heart and desire this year, more than I remember him showing before. He’s been running the ball and giving up his body when plays break down. The way he’s stepped up and led this team is something I didn’t see coming, and it’s awesome.

The team’s still got some really tough games in front of them: New York, Dallas and Green Bay. But we’ve got a two-game lead, so that’s good. We’ve been here before, but they probably only need to win one game to win the division. That’s not going to be easy to do, but for the first time in a long while, I think we can do it.

There’s definitely a lot to be optimistic about as a fan. Because of the team’s relationship with Ford, I’ve been able to get to know the team’s new general manager, Bob Quinn. He’s a huge race fan, and he and I have a kind of ongoing dialog, which is really cool. He’s a really good guy, and it’s been fun to see their success, and have somebody you can kind of relate to.

Because of my own schedule, I haven’t gone to see the team as much as I would have liked, but I did have a chance to go to training camp back in 2015. At the time, Golden Tate had asked me about one of Ford’s new Mustangs, and what it would take to get a racing model. “Win the Super Bowl,” I said, “and I’ll make a call to Bill Ford for you!” I think I even told him I’d pay for it.

Golden, that offer still stands.

WHEN LIONS WIN

One of the great things about the Lions’ success this season has been the impact on Detroit. Strangely enough, even though it’s the home of the automobile, Detroit’s not a racing town. It’s a football town and hockey town. You think of baseball too, but it’s definitely a very football-based area. Whenever they have any measurable success, you start seeing Lions banners up on the sides of warehouses and stuff like that. When the Lions are successful, the town just really embraces them. It moves the needle, more so than for any other sport.

The idea of the Lions reaching the Super Bowl actually has had some pretty far reaching implications, especially in my house.

Last year, when the Carolina Panthers reached the Super Bowl, my fiancee Paige wanted to go.

“Nah, I don’t really want to go,” I told her at the time. “We’ve been traveling all year. Besides, I’ve been to the Super Bowl once before. There’s a lot of people there. I can tell you what to expect before you even go there.”

Basically, I really undersold it to her. Instead, we agreed to have a house party for the game, which was great.

But after Detroit again won this week, Paige asked, “Now, if the Lions go to the Super Bowl, we’re not going, are we?”

“Wow,” I said. “I don’t know.”

“We couldn’t go last year for the Panthers,” Paige said. “So we can’t go this year for the Lions!”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,” I said. “First off, they’ve got to make it. But second off, it’s a once in a lifetime thing.”

She gave me a look.

“We’ll figure it out when we get there,” I told her.

But at least one of us, maybe both, knew that wasn’t true. Go Lions.

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As a whole, the 36-race season was one of his best to date. Combining speed and execution this year, Brad & Co. were able to pump out 22 Top 10 results — ranking him fourth behind the likes of Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano, and Kyle Busch. His 16 Top 5’s had the Michigan native tied for third with Penske teammate Joey Logano, with Harvick and Kyle Busch in a tie for first with just one more marker.

The Paul Wolfe-led team posted four victories. Starting off by notching a win at Las Vegas in the schedule’s third stop, Kes continued the run into the restrictor plate tracks of Talladega and Daytona, before grabbing win No. 4 at Kentucky.

The Start

The 2016 campaign kicked off with a modest start. NASCAR’s premier series opens with its biggest event: the Daytona 500, a restrictor-place race known for taking out cars in bunches. Brad managed to escape the carnage and head out of Florida with a middle-of-the-road 20th place finish. “

Speedweeks started off very well for the Miller Lite Ford team. Our car in the Sprint Unlimited was amazing. Unfortunately we just couldn’t get the same performance out of the Daytona 500 car,” Kes said.

The following week brought a new challenge to the 40 top racers in the form of NASCAR’s new aerodynamics package, which was highlighted by a massive downforce reduction. Put to the test on a rough and bumpy Atlanta Motor Speedway, Brad left the Georgia track with his second straight ninth-place run.

“I loved the way the cars drive with the lower downforce package,” BK said. “I understand that it takes more than my opinion to make the sport go round, but I thought it was awesome. I’m looking forward to the rest of the year with the potential this package has.”

After that, NASCAR headed west for their three-stop show, with the first coming in Las Vegas. Already a winner at t1.5-mileile speedway in 2014, Kes knew how to get it done in the desert, and he did it again. Leading 24 laps on the afternoon, it came down to a battle between the 2012 Champion and the defending Champion, with the former taking advantage. Utilizing his long-run car in the later stage of the race, the Deuce was able to cruise on by Kyle Busch’s No.18 machine, and to their first victory of 2016.

“This rules package—I love it. It’s awesome,” he exclaimed in Victory Lane. “The cars, you can be really fast at the start of the run or at the end of the run. We had awesome speed at the end of every run. It seemed like we just couldn’t put it all together with the cautions that came out. But at the end, we got that big long run. I couldn’t get it going on the first few laps of that run, and I thought the 48 and a couple others were going to drive right past me. Then it finally started to take off with about 25 to go and I got to second. And as soon as I got to the 18 I saw that his car had fallen off and mine hadn’t. Gosh, thank you so much! It’s just such a good feeling to get back to Victory Lane. It’s been way too long. I’m just thrilled to be here. I really am.”

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Check out the social media highlights of BK’s engagement!

The post Paige Said Yes appeared first on BradRacing.com | The Official Web Site of Brad Keselowski www.bk30beta.www.bk30beta.bradracing.com.

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