RACE SNAPSHOT

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At No. 6 are a series of events where the pressure created by the new Chase format boiled over with BK in the middle of the drama in Charlotte and Texas.

No. 6: Chase Drama

After several seasons under a 10-race playoff format that had 12 qualified drivers accumulate points throughout with the highest total declared the winner, NASCAR decided to overhaul the Sprint Cup Series postseason format prior to the 2014 season.

The new 10-race playoff featured 16 drivers and four rounds. Each of the first three rounds of the playoffs featured a three-race stretch after which four drivers were eliminated and the points reset. The new format culminated in a one-race finale with four remaining teams vying for the coveted Sprint Cup.

The new Chase for the Sprint Cup brought plenty of drama to the postseason in NASCAR’s top series, just as NASCAR intended.

The new format made it so that a poor finish in any of the three races in each round could be enough to sink a driver—but it also provided the drivers with a way out. A win in any of the three races would punch their ticket to the next round—so drivers raced fervently for victories each and every weekend.

As the postseason rolled along, more drivers were eliminated and the drama only swelled, both on and off the track—and Brad Keselowski found himself getting under the skin of several competitors, resulting in two post-fight fracases.

CLASH IN CHARLOTTE

Before the new Chase format debuted, Brad predicted that Round 2—the Contender Round featuring races in Kansas, Charlotte and Talladega—would be the most treacherous of the three-round fight to the finish.

“The contender bracket, that one scares the (expletive) out of me. Kansas and Talladega are just two tracks where they have been wreck-fests,” Brad said before the postseason began. “The only way you can really feel comfortable with that bracket is if you go to Charlotte and win the race. I think that bracket will break some hearts and that is the most concerning thing to us.”

The Contender bracket was off to a rough start for Brad after a blown tire at Kansas Speedway ruined a promising day and dropped him to the cellar of the points standings.

With a restrictor plate race at Talladega Superspeedway—essentially NASCAR’s version of a crapshoot—looming in the final race of the round, Kes approached Charlotte as a must-win situation, and he wasn’t the only driver with that outlook.

Brad started in position No. 17 for the Bank of America 500, making it an uphill battle from the beginning.

The No. 2 Detroit Genuine Parts team made tweaks throughout the night and had the Light Blue Deuce in position to fight for the win.

But beginning with a restart at lap 272, things got intense over the final stretch of the race.

Brad was running alongside Denny Hamlin at the front of the pack, and was clipped in the right rear by Matt Kenseth, who was attempting to make a pass on the high side. After the contact, Kes fell back in the field and Kenseth fell off the lead lap.

Not long after, and just ahead of a green-white-checkered finish, Kenseth took exception to the earlier contact and bumped the nose of Brad’s No. 2 while the race was still under yellow. The contact caused Brad to fall back to a P16 finish, and it also played a role in him making contact with Denny Hamlin. Kenseth finished in P19 and Hamlin finished ninth, as all three took a hit in the Chase standings.

“Through the whole sequence of events – I think the 20 car got in back of me on one of the restarts (at lap 271)– it was just a racing deal and I wasn’t mad at him,” Brad said, explaining his side of a wild night race at Charlotte. “But when the last yellow (flag) came out he got the wave around and when he came by he swung at my car and tore the whole right front off of it. When we restarted fifth with no right front on it, we fell all the way back to 16th and it ruined our day. That gave us a big Chase hurt, which is unfortunate.”

After the race, the stress of the Chase was on full display.

During the cool-down lap, Hamlin showed his displeasure and brake-checked BK. Kes responded by bumping the left-rear of Hamlin’s No. 11.

“I don’t know what that was all about and he swung and hit at my car. So I figured if we were gonna play car wars under yellow and after the race, I’ll join too,” Brad said immediately after the events unfolded. “Those guys can dish it out, but they can’t take it and I gave it back to them. And now they want to fight. I don’t know what’s up with that.”

Next, as the field drove down pit road and back to the garage, Brad traded paint with Kenseth, and the two ran into the rear of Tony Stewart, who retaliated by reversing and slamming into the nose of the No. 2.

BK then drove through the garage, where he was met by Hamlin, both drivers still in their vehicles. As Kes tried to drive away from Hamlin and back to his hauler, he briefly spun his wheels, leaving burnout marks in the garage.

Shortly after, Hamlin exited his car and attempted to confront Brad, but he was held back by his crew members. Kes walked away from the situation and back to his hauler.

As he walked down the alley between his and teammate Joey Logano’s hauler, he was confronted by Kenseth. The two wrestled for a few seconds before No. 2 crew chief Paul Wolfe pulled Kenseth away. Pushing and shoving between crew members of the No. 2 and No. 20 teams ensued for nearly a minute before the fight dissipated.

The incident was a signal that the Chase was truly on.

LONE STAR SHOWDOWN

Brad went on to pull of a miraculous win at Talladega and advance to the Eliminator Round, where the drama only increased. With eight drivers remaining, each felt that their shot at a title was so close, but still so far away—and that each spot in each race mattered that much more.

Just like in the Contender Round, Brad’s start to the Eliminator Round was marked by bad luck. A broken part at Martinsville Speedway ended BK’s hopes for a solid finish and ensured that the 2012 Champion’s quest for a title would be anything but mundane.

The following week at Texas, one of the wildest moments in NASCAR history took place.

On the first of two green-white-checkered finishes, Brad restarted behind in Row 2 behind Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon, Hendrick Motorsports teammates. During the reset, Gordon slid up the track, opening a window for Kes to drive through and attempt to take the lead.

Gordon quickly realized his mistake and tried to close the door on Brad, but instead he rubbed his right-rear tire against the No. 2. Seconds later, Gordon’s tire went down, pulling the trigger on another GWC restart, and ultimately resulting in Gordon’s P29 finish.

Brad went on to finish third, and immediately after the race, Gordon drove over to the 2 Crew’s pit stall and confronted Kes.

The two shared some words, and the argument appeared to be dissipating as Brad walked away from the No. 24 driver—until Kevin Harvick came into the picture.

The No. 4 driver and eventual Cup champion pushed Brad back toward Gordon, allowing the No. 24 driver to grab the collar of BK’s fire suit. When this happened, a brawl ensued.

Several crew members from Brad’s team, Gordon’s team and Kasey Kahne’s No. 5 team, were in the middle of the melee, along with reporters, NASCAR officials, photographers and others. Both BK and Gordon came way with facial lacerations and bruising.

The incident was the talk of the sport from then on out and all the way through the postseason banquet. But Brad, though embarrassed by the post-race fight, always was adamant that what he did on the track was the correct move with the championship on the line.

“The opportunity was there for the other individuals to get out of it scot-free and they didn’t capitalize on it. I hated it ruined their day, but I don’t feel bad or feel the need to apologize for laying it all out there and trying to win a race,” Brad said after the season. “A baby seal doesn’t want to get eaten by a whale, but a whale’s got to eat, you know? And then when he (gets eaten), should he be mad at the whale, or should he be mad he wasn’t the fastest swimmer?”

Brad certainly never took to the track looking for a fight, and he was never proud that he and his crew were involved in such extra curricular activities.

But there is no doubting that, no matter how ugly they might have been, the incidents in the Chase involving BK were some of the most exciting and attention-drawing moments, not only of this season, but in the recent history of the sport.

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From a P26 start, Brad battled his way through tough car conditions all weekend to gain a shot at victory over two green-white-checkered finishes in the AAA Texas 500 in Fort Worth. Although BK wasn’t able to cash in that opportunity to win and advance to the championship round of the Chase as Jimmie Johnson raced to the win, the Deuce ended up with a solid third-place finish. That finish, along with the misfortune of other drivers ahead of him at Texas has put Kes back within striking distance of the Top Four in points going into the final Eliminator Round race at Phoenix next week.

After the race, Brad recapped his day on the track, explaining his team’s work at establishing a rhythm through a race that featured 13 caution flags.

“It was one consecutive loop of yellow after yellow and we couldn’t get momentum but (crew chief) Paul Wolfe and the guys did a great job of never giving up and adjusting and having good strategy at the end,” Brad said. “We almost made a win out of it despite that. In the end, Jimmie (Johnson) was just stronger than we were.”

THE PASS

After the race, BK and Jeff Gordon were at the center of one of the most heated brawls in recent NASCAR history. The incident all stemmed from a pass Brad made on the first of two GWC restarts at the end of the race.

Kes restarted on the inside of the second row with Johnson in front of him, Harvick in Row 2 to his right and Gordon in the front row on the outside. Gordon drifted up the track, leaving a window in the middle for Brad’s No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion. With clean air in his sights, BK moved through the opening but rubbed against the right side of Gordon’s No. 24 Chevy.

“There was a gap, (and) it closed up. By the time it closed up, I was committed, and I stayed in it. That almost won me the race. It hurt somebody else’s day. That’s a shame. But the reality is there was a gap,” he said. “I’m not Dale Earnhardt or Senna. They would sit here and tell you they would go for that same gap. I’m not them, but I’m inspired by that, and I’m going to race that way.”

Brad drove on to duel with Johnson for the race lead, but the contact with Gordon caused the No. 24’s tire to fail, which brought out another caution.

On the second GWC attempt, Brad couldn’t match the speed of Johnson and also took some incidental contact from Kevin Harvick, forcing him to settle for a third-place finish. After the race, Brad explained the move he made to pass Gordon on the first attempt.

“I’m here to win races for Roger Penske. That means when there’s a gap, I have to take it,” he said. “If it requires a tiny bit of rubbing, that’s OK. I’m not trying to dish out something that I couldn’t take myself. But these guys have their own code, and they race differently than that. That’s their right.”

Penske also came to the aid of his driver, releasing a statement that he fully backs Brad’s actions and expects him to make the type of move he made in pursuit of his second Cup championship.

“Brad Keselowski is a champion who competes to win in every race, which is what I expect of him,” Penske said in a statement. “While the actions by others following the race in Texas were unfortunate, Brad has my 100 percent support as we now move on to Phoenix for the next stage of the NASCAR championship.”

THE BRAWL

At the conclusion of the race, Gordon, who finished in P29, drove to Brad’s pit stall and confronted the driver of the No. 2 Ford.

Immediately, the No. 2 and No. 24 crews began arguing as Gordon approached Brad, who explained his side of the incident and began to walk away, at which point the argument appeared to be dissipating.

But Harvick, who finished second, approached BK from the other side of his car and pushed him back into the fray, allowing Gordon to grab ahold of the collar of Brad’s fire suit. After BK was pushed back into the mass of people, the brawl was on. Members of several crews were involved, either fighting or attempting to break up the melee. Both Brad and Gordon came away with facial lacerations and bruising.

Following the events, Harvick told the media why he pushed Brad back into a fight that didn’t involve any members of his No. 4 Budweiser Chevrolet team, or even any of his teammates at Stewart-Haas Racing.

“I didn’t get in the middle of anything,” Harvick claimed. “I just turned him around and told him to go fight his own fight.”

Brad, who is still on NASCAR probation due to his involvement in post-race incidents at Charlotte Motor Speedway last week, explained why he did what he could to avoid the frenzy.

“I came here to race, not fight. If I wanted to be a fighter, I would have joined the UFC or have a management team like he does,” Brad said. (Kevin Harvick Inc. manages multiple UFC fighters) “I came here to race, 100 percent. That’s what I did today…The people that want to see fights are not true race fans. They need to watch UFC … because that’s not true racing. I know in my heart that I raced 100 percent and did what should be done to be a professional race car driver.”

THE RACE

It was an arduous weekend from start to finish for the 2 Crew, as Brad started the race in P26 after a rare rough qualifying time. It was just his third start outside of the Top 10 in the last 16 races. Additionally, his best run in any practice session was 14th in Happy Hour.

Despite the early weekend struggles, it didn’t take long for the 2012 champ to move into the mix on race day. He reported tight handling going into Turns 1 and 3 early on, as well as a loose condition on exit, but the 2 Crew made air pressure adjustments on its first stop of the day after a lap 41 caution.

The changes began to kick in on the next run, and by lap 50, Brad cracked the top 15, though the Deuce still needed more to become a Top 10 car. The No. 2 continued to struggle with turning, and constant yellow caution flags made it even more difficult for him to find rhythm throughout the race. Still the 2 Crew kept up with constant chassis and air pressure changes to adapt to the changing surface in Texas.

“Yeah, we just weren’t as fast as we wanted to be. Pretty much all weekend that was the case. It was a scratch and claw fest. We needed some breaks to get back in it and every time I thought we were going to catch one it would kind of fall short,” Kes explained. “Whether it was coming in and putting tires on and driving all the way to fifth and needing to get to fourth to be in one of the front two lanes and the yellow came out. That jammed us up.”

Brad clawed his way into the top 10 by lap 146, and eventually took the lead for the first time after Wolfe and Co. made a bold move on lap 251 to stay on the track instead of pitting. The move put Kes in the lead for 18 laps, but Johnson sprinted back into the lead by lap 269.

One of many yellow flags flew at lap 321, setting up a critical restart with nine laps left. It was then that Brad rocketed from fifth past Harvick to third, which put him in position to race for the lead after Clint Bowyer wrecked to start the green-white-checkered process.

On the first attempt, Brad passed Gordon and was neck-and-neck with Johnson when the yellow flag came out again just before the two reached the white flag.

On the final restart at lap 339, Brad pushed his nose past Johnson, but didn’t quite have the power he needed to complete the pass. Moments later, Harvick gave Brad a bump in his right-rear, causing him to bobble up the track and fall to third. Afterward, Kes didn’t take exception to the hit he took from Harvick on that final restart, and he didn’t apologize for the similar bump he gave to Gordon.

“I am doing everything I can to win this championship racing at 100 percent and that is something I am not going to be ashamed for,” Brad said. “If I was out there wrecking guys to do it, that would be one thing, but a little bit of rubbing is how this sport was created and probably how it should move forward. I don’t mind getting raced that way and I don’t mind racing that way. I got a little rub there at the end too from the 4 car and that was just good racing. I am proud of our effort but just wish I would have been able to make two more spots out of it.”

Even after taking second, Harvick couldn’t catch the No. 48. In the end, as Brad said, Johnson simply had the race winning car. He led 191 laps on the night and joined Hendrick Motorsports teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. as the second straight non-Eliminator Round qualifier to win a race.

“Even with a little bit older tires he was just stronger,” Brad said of Johnson. “I didn’t have the turn I needed to really run with him and he did a great job holding us off. That was just the story of the night.”

THE CHASE

While Brad fell just shy of grabbing the victory that would’ve locked his place in the four-man finale at Homestead, third-place finish put him in excellent position to grab a spot during the final Eliminator race at Phoenix.

ELIMINATOR ROUND POINT STANDINGS

1. Joey Logano (4,072) +12

2. Denny Hamlin (4,072) +12

3. Ryan Newman (4,070) +10

4. Jeff Gordon (4,060) —

5. Matt Kenseth (4,059) -1

6. Carl Edwards (4,059) -1

7. Brad Keselowski (4,055) -5

8. Kevin Harvick (4,054) -6

With no automatic bids awarded so far in this round and all eight drivers close enough in points to fall below or rise above the fourth-place cutoff line, the action is sure to be as hot as ever at Phoenix International Raceway for the Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500.

Brad is yet to win at Phoenix, though he has four Top 10s and three Top 5s in 10 NSCS starts at the track. He also has nine Top 10s and eight Top 5s in Nationwide Series competition at the one-mile tri oval. He won the pole and finished third at Phoenix earlier this season.

The final race of the Eliminator Round and the penultimate event of the season is set for a 3 p.m. ET green flag and will be broadcast on ESPN.

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After another setback last week in the opening race of the Eliminator Round at Martinsville, BK once again likely needs a win in the next two weeks two advance in the Chase. But Brad and the No. 2 crew continue to take the odds stacked against them in stride and show confidence in the work they’ve put in all year to pay off.

“The team is focused on doing the work and this No. 2 team thrives in adversity,” a determined Kes said. “I am looking forward to this weekend.”

Over the course of the 2014 season, BK has solidified his status as an elite Cup Series driver by accumulating a series leading and career-high six wins. Kes has shown consistency and the value of championship experience as he willed himself along in the Sprint Cup postseason.

But as BK gets deeper into the postseason, it’s being proven that in NASCAR’s new playoffs, anything can happen: for better or for worse.

The new format has caused the No. 2 crew some stress this season, but Brad remains on board with the structure of the new format and excitement it brings to the sport and its fans.

“This new format has delivered plenty of excitement so far,” Kes said. “As I’ve mentioned before, the racing and the format ultimately are for the enjoyment of the fans. If our fans are happy with it and if we are gaining new fans because of it, well that’s what is important.”

The postseason couldn’t have started better for the No. 2 crew as they put together a string of dominant performances in the Challenger Round, where Kes finished in the top ten in all three races. That included a victory at Chicagoland Speedway in the first race of the Chase that advanced BK to the Contender Round automatically. At that point, Brad appeared unstoppable.

But the tables turned on him in the Contender Round, where a string of bad luck put him on the chopping block for elimination. But against all odds, Brad pulled off an unbelievable victory at Talladega to thrust himself into the Eliminator Round, which put him one round away from qualifying for the championship race.

However, the Eliminator Round quickly proved it would be a challenge just as big in last week’s first race at Martinsville. Kes was primed to carry the momentum from his Talladega win into a solid finish and ran in or near the Top 10 for most of the day. But when the Deuce broke a rear differential late in the race, it led to a pile up and the damage sustained cost BK dearly as the 2012 champ ended up with a miserable 31st place finish.

That puts BK in another tough position entering Sunday’s AAA 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. He currently sits seventh of eight drivers in the Eliminator Round standings with just two races left to get into the Championship foursome.

At the moment, Matt Kenseth sits in the fourth and final spot, and he’s already 26 points ahead of Kes. With that in mind, the pressure is on the No. 2 crew, and Brad knows very well that winning one of the next two races may be his only shot to contend for the title. The odds look slim for the deuce, but Kes and his crew are no strangers to tough situations like these.

“You always feel like you can get your way out of a jam and in this case it is with a win,” he said this week. “We were able to do that in the last round. I am optimistic we can do that in this round and the reality is it will probably take that. I completely understand that and am ready for that challenge and hope we have the speed to make it happen. (We need) the speed and execution and I hope I don’t screw it up if we do. I am ready for that challenge.”

After several weeks in different shades, Brad will be taking on that challenge in the familiar White Lite base look of the Deuce, the Miller Light Ford Fusion for the first time since Kansas.

“We are running very well and this Miller Lite Ford team is very competitive this year,” BK said. “We’re winning races; our Fusions have great speed.”

That has been especially true at intermediate tracks like Texas. Much of his Sprint Cup Series success has come on such tracks. He won in Las Vegas with 59 laps lead, Chicago with 63 laps lead and Kentucky with a mind-boggling 199 laps lead.
  
But Texas in particular has been a challenge for BK throughout his career. In 12 career Cup Series starts at TMS, Brad’s average finish is just inside the Top 20 (19.5). However, that number may well be deceiving. In the last four races at Texas, BK has three Top 10s including a second place finish during his run to the championship in the 2012 Chase.

He finished ninth and then sixth there in 2013, but in the most recent race at TMS this past April, he finished 15th.

To place better in the final race of the year at Texas, Brad will have to rally from behind. That’s because Friday’s preparations for Sunday’s race didn’t go well. After running 24th in opening practice, Kes failed to get the Deuce into the second round of qualifying on Friday evening. He’ll start Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 from 26th, last among Chase drivers, making his margin for error much smaller than his other Eliminator Round foes.

“We weren’t fast today when it counted but I am very optimistic we can be fast on Sunday when it does count,” BK said. “We are working through all those things. We came here and tested and didn’t quite have the speed we wanted in qualifying trim then either, but had decent race speed and hopefully that will be the case come Sunday.”

It didn’t get much better for Kes on Saturday, as he ran 25th in the first practice of the day, though he did improve to 14th in Happy Hour final practice. The bottom-half starting position is less than ideal for the No. 2 Crew, but Brad made it clear that his team is in the middle of a championship run, and can’t afford to let their obstacles develop into shortcomings on the race track.

“This is as a championship-caliber effort at Team Penske,” he said. “This is who we are, and this is what we do. I am going to make the most of this opportunity to win races and to win this championship.”

Coverage of the AAA Texas begins with NASCAR Countdown at 2 p.m. ET on ESPN. The green flag at TMS is scheduled to fly at 3:18 p.m. ET.  
 

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After a late-race pit mishap, BK’s Blue Deuce was the sixth car to take the checkered flag, his 13th Top 6 finish of the year. Brad saw it as a decent day at Texas Motor Speedway, and while the finish was respectable, Brad was still left hoping for a little bit more.

“We had an okay day,” Brad said. “I had a lot of confidence heading into this race, but we just missed something on race day. I thought we had decent speed at times with the Miller Lite Ford. I don’t think we were too far off the rest of the field, though. In fact, I think we could’ve finished second.”

As Kes alluded to, a victory was almost out of the question, given the unrivaled speed of Sprint Cup points leader Jimmie Johnson. Brad’s familiar rival in the No. 48 led 255 of 334 laps, leaving the rest of the field racing for No. 2.

“His car was so much faster than the field it was pretty embarrassing to be honest,” Brad said of Johnson. “We were all racing for second place today.”

After starting in second, BK had hopes of winning and ended up spending a solid chunk of time in front of the field on the wide, 1.5-mile oval. He led 30 laps, second only to Johnson and Carl Edwards, who started in first and finished 37th after engine troubles.

“This is a great team, whether we’re in the Chase or not. And we’ve got something to prove every weekend,” says #InRaceReporter @keselowski

— NASCAR on ESPN (@ESPNNASCAR) November 3, 2013

Can @keselowski get his 2nd win of the weekend @TXMotorSpeedway? 2 cowboy hats is better than 1! -KC pic.twitter.com/GTiFoYEDUO

— Miss Sprint Cup (@MissSprintCup) November 3, 2013

With Edwards on the pole, Brad started on the slow outside line and was immediately shuffled back. Johnson, Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth all slid past BK before he settled into fifth place ahead of Dale Earnhardt Jr. As it turned out, he would see more of all five of those drivers as the race went on.

An early caution on lap 15 brought the field into pit road and BK was able to slide pass Kenseth on the restart, but that move didn’t stick. He soon reported that the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion was not turning well through the center of the TMS corners.

Even with the tight handling, Brad stuck right around the Top 5. Still early in the race, Kes and crew chief Paul Wolfe began testing different strategies to fix the tight-handling condition in the No. 2.

On a lap 74 stop under yellow, BK entered the pits in fourth and took just two tires, which helped to loosen up the Blue Deuce just a bit. Tire strategy was vital throughout the day on the rough TMS surface.

That strategy also sent Brad to the front of the field for the first time. After holding the lead on the lap 80 restart, he had to fend off the pole-sitter Edwards during several laps of thrilling side-by-side racing. However, after winning the Nationwide Series race the night before in a similar battle, BK was able to beat the No. 99 without much trouble.

Brad stayed out front on just two new tires for 15 laps before Johnson passed him on four fresh tires. From there, the No. 2’s handling continued to tighten up and Brad was passed by Logano, Kenseth and Earnhardt, making it clear that the Blue Deuce was in need of an adjustment and some fresh rubber.

Through two rounds of green-flag stops and a caution flag around lap 190, Wolfe and Co. continued make track bar, air pressure and wedge tweaks, but none proved to be the right remedy for the Deuce.

Still, BK was able to stick right around the race’s leaders. Right around lap 200, Brad was running in fourth behind Busch and Logano, with the two running clearly faster than the No. 2 at that point.

Busch, a longtime rival of Brad, began to overheat due to debris on his grill and fell back behind Logano. He then slid back behind BK, in need of a draft from the Blue Deuce to remove the debris.

Brad showed his gamesmanship, allowing Busch to take the draft, remove the debris and take his engine temperatures back down.

LOL. It worked! Brad Keselowski helped BFF Kyle Busch get his debris off!! “Funny how the world works,” says @2spotter.

— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) November 3, 2013

Peace in the Lone Star State! RT @NASCARONFOX: .@keselowski, yes Keselowski, helps @KyleBusch remove the debris off the grille. #NASCAR

— Kentucky Speedway (@KySpeedway) November 3, 2013

@keselowski Thanks for the assist. #Championship behavior.

— Mike Proctor (@DocyProcy) November 3, 2013

Classy @keselowski letting KyBusch use his bumper to clear debris #NASCAR

— Ric the Magnificent (@NASCARNAC) November 3, 2013

@NASCARONFOX @keselowski @KyleBusch that is why keselowski is a champion. Classy move on his part.

— Tripp DeRamus (@trippderamus) November 3, 2013

good Sportsmanship by @keselowski !! Class !!

— AuntLue (@auntlue) November 3, 2013

Once Busch’s temperatures were back down, Busch took third place back at lap 217. A few laps later, BK was still plagued by tight handling and allowed Earnhardt to take fourth.

Another round of green-flag stops came with just less than 100 laps remaining and a “short pit” and fast stop from the No. 2 crew paid off in a big way. After the field cycled through its green-flag stops, Brad came out in the front of the field once again.

He held the top spot until there was just 77 laps to go, giving him 15 more laps out front before he was passed by Johnson right before the fifth caution came out.

Still, BK entered the pits in second place but slid all the way back to ninth after a minor mishap on pit road cost the No. 2 team a few valuable seconds and, thus, a chunk of valuable track position.

As BK attested, that mishap ended his chances at upsetting Johnson.

“We were leading at one point and the yellow flag came out. We decided to pit and after our stop we came out ninth,” BK recalled. “That pretty much ended our shot of being able to derail Jimmie (Johnson), if there even was one. But that is the way it goes and we will work and try to get better.”

As Brad also alluded to, with the tight handling of the No. 2, catching up to Johnson still would have been a tall task, even with strong track position.

While running in dirtier air further back in the pack, BK’s handling only worsened. Still, he showed the speed that was present in the No. 2, even behind its unenviable handling as he worked his way nearly back into the Top 5.

With a few more laps to work with, Brad might have made his 10th Top 5 of the year. However, as the 334 laps concluded, the Blue Deuce crossed in sixth, giving him his 15th Top 10 and 13th Top 6 finish of the season.

He finished ahead of all non-Chase for the Championship drivers for the third time in four races. The result also moved Brad back to 14th in the NSCS standings, at the lead of all non-Chase drivers.

NEXT UP

Next up is the penultimate race in the 2013 NASCAR season: the Advocare 500 at Phoenix International Raceway.

BK finished sixth at Phoenix last year, a result that allowed him to finish just 15th in the final race at Homestead to take the Sprint Cup title.

That was his best NSCS result to date at Phoenix. However, BK has had an abundance of NNS success at the one-mine tri-oval. Including a second-place finish earlier this year, Brad has seven Top 5 finishes in the NNS at the Arizona track.

The Advocare 500 will go green at 3 p.m. ET on Sunday.

RELATED ARTICLES

• AAA Texas 500 Results (Jayski, November 3, 2013)
• Jimmie Johnson has same points lead, better feeling as Chase nears end (Sporting News, November 4, 2013)
• Jimmie Johnson ‘in another class’ (ESPN Dallas, November 3, 2013)
• Jimmie Johnson wins AAA Texas 500, seizes Chase lead (USA Today, November 3, 2013)
• Jimmie Johnson Wins AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, Extends Chase Lead (SportsMedia101.com, November 3, 2013)
• Johnson dominates AAA Texas 500 (NASCAR, November 3, 2013)

The post A Strong Finish at Texas appeared first on BradRacing.com | The Official Web Site of Brad Keselowski www.bk30beta.www.bk30beta.bradracing.com.

Brad Keselowski took the Miller Lite Ford Fusion for a 27.537-second lap in Friday’s qualifying session for the AAA Texas 500, nearly good enough to get the pole for Sunday’s race. He was knocked out of pole position by one of the last drivers to qualify, Carl Edwards, who beat BK’s time by a mere two-thousandths of a second.

“A really good lap by the Miller Lite Ford team,” BK said after qualifying. “I knew the 99 car (Carl Edwards) would be a tough bullet to dodge, but it was close. This will give us a good starting spot and a good pit selection. I feel really good about our chances on Sunday.”

After taking his ninth Top Five finish of the season last week at the narrow “paperclip” short track at Martinsville Speedway, Brad will take the Blue Deuce to the wide-open Texas Motor Speedway in search of Top Five No. 10 and victory No. 2.

And as the series makes a stark change in venue, BK feels confident about competing for his first win at TMS in the AAA Texas 500. This week, Brad talked about how the rough surface in Texas plays right into his strengths on the track.

“For whatever reason, my driving style tends to lend itself more to the bumpy, rough racetracks,” he said. “Texas definitely fits that mold.”

In the AAA Texas 500 last year, Kes put on one of the best shows of the entire 2012 season, battling with rival Jimmie Johnson through a thrilling finale near the end of the Chase for the Championship.

The conclusion of that contest featured several yellow flags, eventually allowing Johnson on four fresh tires to pass Brad, who took just two fresh ones in his final pit stop. Although the win eluded BK on that day, the strong result helped to set up his Cup title run over the final two races.

One key member of that Cup run will be making a homecoming over the weekend. Rear tire carrier Larry Robinett is a native of Garland, Texas. As BK aims for his first win in Robinett’s home state, he’ll be doing so with plenty of firsts at the track in his rearview.

Kes made his first Sprint Cup series start at the 1.5-mile track in 2008, where he turned a 37th-place start into a 19th-place finish. The following year, BK made his first NASCAR start with Penske Racing at Texas, finishing 35th. Brad’s results at the track have been mixed since then, but he has only improved with time.

BK has now qualified in the Top 10 four times at TMS, including last fall’s AAA 500, which set up the thrilling battle with Johnson. That second-place result last fall, in which BK led 75 laps, was Brad’s best at TMS. He followed that up with a ninth-place finish this spring at Texas, his best in the early season at the track.

With those positive results cemented in his mind, he is looking forward to another strong showing this time around.

“We were really starting to make some headway with the old car there,” BK said. “I thought we could’ve won both races at Texas in 2012. We needed a little more speed in the spring with the Miller Lite Ford Fusion, but I feel like we are starting to come around with it.”

He’ll also be able to pull from several recent successes at tracks similar to Texas. BK led 43 laps at Atlanta Motor Speedway earlier this season and was poised to take the checkered flag before engine troubles ended his night early. Even more encouraging is his momentous victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway three weeks ago.

“Atlanta was shaping up to be a really good race for us before the engine issues,” Kes said. “Obviously we won at Charlotte earlier this month. So I’m confident in our intermediate program right now and I think we can win another one this weekend.”

BK also delved into how Texas runs similar to Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. He explained the banking and tire strategy at the three similar tracks, revealing that a setup between those two tracks will be the best recipe for success for the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion.

“I think you look at Vegas and California, one is a mile-and-a-half and the other a two-mile. Vegas is really, really fast. The tires don’t seem to fall off much there and California is fast,” Brad explained. “There is nothing wrong with that but there is a lot of tire falloff and it is very flat. You look at those two and I would say Texas is right in between them. There is a lot of falloff here but the track is very fast and has a lot of banking. The best cars here will be the ones that can balance the setup between Vegas and California.”

As he looks back at those tracks, Brad will also benefit from plenty of extra practice at Texas over the weekend, as he will be running triple duty over the weekend.

Originally planning to just run the Cup Series event at TMS, BK elected to also take on the Camping World Truck Series Winstar World Casino 350, in which he finished in 21st.

Kes also took Nationwide Series duty in the No. 22 Discount Tire Ford from Penske Racing teammate Joey Logano, allowing Logano to focus his efforts on his Chase run. The result was Brad’s sixth Nationwide win of the season, as he drove the double-deuce to Victory Lane in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge. It was also a Penske Racing record 12th win overall this year for the No. 22 team.

Brad has been strong all weekend in Cup practice. In addition to his second place qualifying effort, he was sixth in the first practice on Friday, third in the second practice and tied Chase for the Cup points leader Matt Kenseth in the third and final practice on Saturday morning. The efforts set up what could be a huge day to cap a big weekend at Texas for BK.

The AAA Texas 500 will go green shortly after 3 p.m. ET and the race can be seen live on ESPN.

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On the final raceday inspection, NASCAR and their sanctioning body decided that they didn’t like the setup of their rear-end housing assembly. Both Penske Racing teams were found to be working in the gray area, and as vice president of NASCAR competition Robin Pemberton claimed, it wasn’t in “the spirit of the rules.” As a result, neither car could touch the track surface until they were able to replace the rear-end housing, and pass NASCAR’s rigorous inspection process. Both race teams worked feverishly, and up to the last minute tweaking and adjusting the setup until they felt confident in their piece. Once they finally cleared and hit the track, during the pace laps, BK was able to relinquish one last word about the incident. “With adversity, you either define the moment or it defines you. This is an opportunity to define the moment.”

When adversity strikes, lots of negatives come out of it, but from it all, there is a positive. 

And define the moment he did. Through all the adversity of the night, Keselowski and his crew were able to walk away with a 9th place finish. Not what they came to Texas looking for, but it could have been much worse.

Post race, Keselowski simply became emotional. With all the media and reporters egging him on, BK gave them what they wanted. He had enough of all the drama relating him and his team, and let it out. “The things I’ve seen over the last seven days have me questioning everything that I believe in, and I’m not happy about it. I could tell you there is nobody, no team in this garage with the integrity of the 2 team. And the way we’ve been treated over the last seven days is absolutely shameful. I feel like we’ve been targeted over the last seven days more than I’ve ever seen a team targeted.” Right there, the reigning Champion said it like it is. Over the week leading up to Texas, BK had endured a faulty pit call by an official causing him to lose several important positions in Martinsville, taking him out of contention for the win. The list can go on, but the pre-race encounter was the icing on the cake.

Another piece from the night that stood out to me was Brad’s concern for one of his best friends — crew chief Paul Wolfe. “I’m very worried about losing my crew chief, Paul Wolfe,” said BK near teary eyed. Wolfe has helped Keselowski accomplish near everything in his career, and losing him would be equal to losing a steering wheel.

This moment stood out to me because at that moment, I truly realized that Keselowski would give you his real thoughts. Not these sugar-coated answers other drivers give. I was also able to appreciate how Brad wasn’t just worried about himself and making the 2013 Chase for the Sprint Cup, as he had a genuine concern in Paul and the rest of the crew. When adversity strikes, lots of negatives come out of it, but from it all, there is a positive. 

The post Say It Like It Is appeared first on BradRacing.com | The Official Web Site of Brad Keselowski www.bk30beta.www.bk30beta.bradracing.com.

If the race this weekend goes anything like last year’s, we have a lot to be excited for. The race was dominated by Jimmie Johnson, Brad Keselowski, and Kyle Busch, who combine led all but 12 of the 335 laps. Of those, the Champion was able to lead 75 of the circuits around the track, but it wasn’t enough. Running the final laps of the race on two fresh Goodyear Eagles when second place Jimmie Johnson had four new sticker tires proved to be challenging, but somehow, BK was able to do it. Ultimately, his demise came when we saw caution after caution at the end of the race, and the 48 passed the 2. Brad did everything he could to win. He took Jimmie’s lane in turns 1 and 2, and even attempted a gentle bodyslam on the frontstretch.

In the process, BK unleashed one of his most prominent quotes: “I refuse to lose this championship.”

Coming off a win in the last 1.5 mile track race, Keselowski has high hopes coming back to the track where he has the most Sprint Cup starts. But a single win in a full season isn’t enough for a defending champion who only has three more weeks to hold the title. Throughout the season, Brad has been having career best finishes at tracks, including Daytona, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Loudon, Charlotte, and last week at Martinsville. If he wants to better his career best in Texas, there is only one way to do it: with a win.

In the process, BK unleashed one of his most prominent quotes: “I refuse to lose this championship.”

I expect to see him take another shot at the win, and taking every chance to get it. That could be a call from pit road, where Paul Wolfe needs BK to get on an alternate strategy, or even down to Brad himself attempting to save every drop of fuel he can. The theme of the Chase for the No.2 team has been a simple one: capture the checkers at whatever cost. We saw Kes run out of fuel in Kansas, we saw him speeding on pit road at the high banks of Talladega, we saw the late race charge to the front in Loudon, and we will always remember seeing the exchange for the lead late in Charlotte.

The 1.5 mile tracks are often called “cookie cutters,” but no two tracks are identical. The Texas Motor Speedway, located in Fort Worth, opened in 1996, and it has built a rich history since. Owned by race track empire Speedway Motorsports, Inc, the same operator that owns Atlanta, Bristol, Charlotte, and other venues, success would be ensured. Not to be overlooked, the track promoter Eddie Gossage provides one of the best shows for the fans. Scheduled for this weekend, the American rock band O.A.R. will be performing for the fans prior to the 500 mile showdown. The 1.5 mile oval provides excitement to race fans of all kinds, as the track hosts a pair of NASCAR Sprint Cup, Nationwide, and Camping World Truck Series races every year in addition to the lone IZOD IndyCar, ARCA, and Global RallyCross series races.

Always a fan favorite, it’s guaranteed that a great show will be put on this weekend. 

The post Looking for More appeared first on BradRacing.com | The Official Web Site of Brad Keselowski www.bk30beta.www.bk30beta.bradracing.com.

In my opinion, being able to run up front week after week — especially at the beginning of a title defense — is crucial.

Daytona

The year started off with great confidence and hope in a title defense for Brad, and during Speedweeks at Daytona he showed his prowess on the restrictor plate track. Eventually coming home in 4th place, Keselowski battled adversity throughout the day, first being involved in a wreck early where he had to come down and effect repairs on the front nose of the car, which in most cases is a detriment on such an aero-sensitive track, but Brad took it as a challenge by coming up through the pack and leading a total of 13 laps on the day, and with just a handful of laps to go he was battling side-by-side for the lead with eventual winner Jimmie Johnson.

Phoenix

The next week in Phoenix confidence was obviously high for the champ after a strong start, and the momentum continued with a strong run in the desert. For a track where Brad has not had stellar success at in his Sprint Cup career thus far, Brad was able to lead the most laps he has ever led at the track in one race with 16, and secure his best finish at the reconfigured 1 mile venue after Brad Keselowski and crew chief Paul Wolfe won a fuel gamble to finish fourth for the second consecutive race, and the luck was also there because after the race in an interview, Brad stated that the car ran out of gas as it crossed the finish line to take the checkered flag.

Las Vegas

In the third race of the season, the Kobalt Tools 400, Keselowski came in riding high. He started the weekend fast by sitting on the pole, and led 12 laps and had to persevere through some adversity in the race to get a good finish. The team overcame a late pit-road issue to finish third. After the race, Brad was very happy with the day, and said, “Never ever give up. Never give up. This team doesn’t and we didn’t. You get a good run like we did and that is a product of that effort. I thought we had some really good speed there at the end.”

Bristol

Coming into Bristol Brad was the only driver who had finished in the top five in all of the first three races of the season. “I would say that the old Bristol isn’t back. I quite honestly feel like this one’s better,” said Brad who mustered a third place finish in the race at Bristol in the Spring after winning two of the previous three Bristol races. In the race Brad also led 62 laps, bringing his season total to 103. On top of that, the champ was back on top, as the point leader over Jimmie Johnson.

So, after the first four races of the year, Brad Keselowski was the only driver to post four top five finishes, and he claimed the top spot in the points by 15 points over Jimmie Johnson after Bristol. Brad was on top of the world in his title defense, and this span of four races has been his best of the year, and why I call it his best moment in the year thus far.

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