Brad had faced a similar situation just three weeks earlier at Talladega, where he raced to victory to clinch a spot in the Eliminator Round. It was one of a slew of obstacles BK and his team overcame over the course of an incredible season just to get to Phoenix with a chance. But the No. 2 crew ran out of magic and despite a solid fourth place finish on Sunday, BK was ousted for the Chase one race short of the Championship.

In the end, it was the 31st place finish at Martinsville in the opening race of the Eliminator Round that proved too much to overcome as the Deuce came up seven points short of making the quartet that advanced to next weekend’s Championship Race at Homestead. Kes lamented that moment in his season and the fact that it was a fluky broken part, not a tactical error that ultimately cost he and his team a chance at the championship.

“We just couldn’t overcome the Martinsville hurdle. We had a decent day, but we needed a win to overcome the week we had at Martinsville where we broke the gear,” Brad said afterward. “We broke down twice at Kansas and Martinsville, and neither one of those were anything I know what to do any different. That makes it feel like it wasn’t meant to be.”

Kes bounced back from that setback at Martinsville to notch a top-five finish last week at Texas, putting him just five points outside of the Top 4 entering Sunday’s race. But thanks to strong finishes by every other member of the Eliminator Eight, BK was left on the outside looking in, and finished the Eliminator Round in seventh place despite back-to-back Top 5 results.

“We knew we needed to have a winning day to guarantee our fate. I thought a top-two or three might get us in there, but I knew it was going to be doubtful,” he said. “We were a little bit short. I’m obviously a little disappointed. I’m not disappointed with the effort, just disappointed it didn’t work out.”

Instead it was Sunday’s race-winner Kevin Harvick along with Denny Hamlin, Ryan Newman and Brad’s Penske teammate Joey Logano who moved on to the Championship Round. Whichever of those four finishes highest at Homestead will be crowned 2014 Sprint Cup Champion. None of those four men have won a Sprint Cup title, setting up an epic finish to an eventful season.

THE RACE

The weekend got off to a great start for the No. 2 ream as Brad ran third fastest in Friday’s first practice session, then posted an excellent qualifying effort of 25.338 seconds that left him six one-thousandths of a second from sweeping the pole awards at Phoenix after he won the pole for March’s race.

The time was however good enough for the second spot, which put him on the front row to start for the 13th time this season. It also marked his 27th start from the Top 10.

But despite that great starting position and speed shown all weekend by the Deuce, the car struggled to get going early in the race and dropped back to P4 early on. Brad reported poor handling in the Miller Lite Ford in the opening laps, but managed to maintain a Top 5 spot. He ran in the Top 5 for most of the day despite myriad obstacles.

He was running fifth when the first caution of the day came out at Lap 30 and on the No. 2 crew’s first pit stop of the afternoon, crew chief Paul Wolfe called for air pressure and chassis adjustments to tighten up the handling of the White Lite.

The Miller Lite Ford crew was on point all day, constantly making adjustments to combat the changing conditions of the desert race track. Their work allowed Brad to maintain a spot in the Top 10 from wire-to-wire and he spent most of the afternoon running in the Top 5. They also had the Deuce at its best on long green flag runs.

Unfortunately, those were few and far between as the yellow flag flew on 12 different occasions throughout the race and of the 312 laps run at Phoenix, 58 were run under yellow. There was even a four-minute red flag period late in the race.

Shortly after that red flag at Lap 216 and another short green flag run, the ninth caution of the day came out at Lap 238 and the No. 2 crew opted for a strategy play they hoped would pay dividends later in the race. While many of his fellow competitors took two tires on their pit stop under yellow, Brad and Wolfe decided to put four fresh Goodyear tires on the Deuce.

Though the call cost them spots in the short term — briefly sending Brad back to P10 for the restart — with much fresher tires, he gained three spots in three laps before another caution flag came out. After acting the subsequent restart, BK was able to move all the way up to third during the 41-lap green flag run that followed.

As the race came down to the wire, Brad ran close to the leaders but could tell that he would need some luck to get the win he needed at that point to advance, due to the strong performance of his fellow Chase competitors.

He was running third when another yellow came out at Lap 289 and restarted right behind second place Jeff Gordon, but Gordon had a slow restart and Matt Kenseth followed Harvick to grab third from BK.

One final caution came out at Lap with the Deuce running fourth allowing Brad to restart behind Harvick with 12 laps to go. But the No. 2 just did not have the speed to keep up with the No. 4 car, which dominated the race, leading 264 of 312 laps on the way to the win.

“All we could do was hang in the top five there and you never know what happens at the end. We did that,” Wolfe said. “We had a decent car, had enough speed to run second but just nothing to challenge for a win today.”

BK had to settle into fourth from there and did not have an opportunity to challenge for the victory, or even a Top 3 result over the final 10 laps.

“We weren’t the best car today,” Brad said afterward. “Kevin was really, really strong all day long. We just weren’t strong enough to win. We were strong enough to run second or third, and ended up fourth. A lot to be proud of, just not enough.”

The elimination stings for BK, as it comes at the end of arguably the best season of his career, in which he led the series with six victories and re-established himself as a perennial Cup contender after an off year in 2013.

“Overall, disappointing not to get to race for a championship, but we’ve had a great season — something to be proud of. We’ve had fast cars and been a contender every week,” Wolfe said. “To have a season like we did

[in 2013] that really sets you back, you’ve got to look in the mirror and see what you can do differently — each individual person and as a team. We did that and everyone came out really focused this year and were able to adapt well to the new rules package, which is important. On a consistent basis, we were one of the cars to beat every week, and that’s probably stronger than we were when we won our championship in 2012.

Though he’d likely trade those six victories for a chance to win the Cup at Homestead next week, Brad said he and his team feel good about their achievements over the course of the 2014 season.

“It’s been a good effort. It’s been a great year. It’s nothing to hang our head on. We controlled the things we could control for the most part and that’s just how this deal works,” Brad said. “It doesn’t feel good to have won the most races and not being in it at Homestead. But it still feels like it has been a great season, winning six races. Nobody is going to win any more than that, and that’s something we’re proud of.”

NEXT UP

Brad will get one more chance to add to his win tally for the season next Sunday in Miami as he runs the Ford EcoBoost 400 in pursuit of a series best seventh win of the season.

BK has only one Top 10 in six career at Homestead and that came last year when he finished sixth to mark an upbeat end to a disappointing 2013 campaign. Prior to that, his only Top 20 finishes at Homestead-Miami were a 15th place result to finish his 2012 championship season and a 13th place result in 2010 at the end of his first full season in the Cup Series.

“There are quite a few challenges to this race, but I think that is a good thing as this team does its best work while facing challenges,” No. 2 crew chief Paul Wolfe said. The Miller Lite Ford team is hungry. We want to end the season with another win.”

The weekend at Homestead begins on Friday with practice at 12:30 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1. Qualifying follows at 6:15 p.m. ET Friday evening on ESPN 2.

Saturday will be a jam-packed day for Brad, who will also be driving the No. 22 Team Penske Hertz Ford Mustang in the Nationwide Series race this weekend in an effort to lock up a second consecutive NNS Owner’s Points title for Roger Penske.

In addition to his Nationwide responsibilities on Saturday, BK will have two Cup Series practice sessions in the White Lite. The first will begin at Noon ET and be broadcast on FS1, and the second directly precedes the NNS race, at 3 p.m. ET on Saturday and will air on Fox Sports 2.

The No. 2 team will also be doing all they can all weekend to help teammate Joey Logano be in the best position to secure the Sprint Cup Championship and Brad hopes both he and Logano can end Sunday’s race victorious.

“We will look to use this weekend as a chance to end the year on a high note,” BK said. “The other part of this is that Team Penske is in the Chase so our team will support Joey and the No. 22 Ford team to the best of our ability.”

Coverage of Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship Race, the Ford EcoBoost 400 begins with NASCAR Countdown at 1 p.m. ET on ESPN. The green flag for the final race of the season is scheduled for 3:16 p.m. ET.

RELATED LINKS

• Keselowski falls short at Phoenix (NASCAR.com, Nov. 10, 2014)
• Keselowski is out of the running for the Sprint Cup Championship (LA Times, Nov. 10, 2014)
• Jeff Gordon, Brad Keselowski come up short in Chase (The Sporting News, Nov. 9, 2014)
• Keselowski’s title hopes come to an end in Phoenix (Fox Sports, Nov. 9, 2014)
• Keselowski falls short after early Chase success (USA Today, Nov. 9, 2014)
• Keselowski eliminated from Chase for the Sprint Cup (SB Nation, Nov. 9, 2014)

The post Brad’s Championship Bid Ends at Phoenix appeared first on BradRacing.com | The Official Web Site of Brad Keselowski www.bk30beta.www.bk30beta.bradracing.com.

Following a frustrating weekend at Sonoma’s road course, BK and the No. 2 team return to an intermediate track where they’ve found success in recent years. Since Kentucky was added to the Sprint Cup schedule in 2011, BK has been among the best in the sport on the intermediate one-and-a-half mile track.

He recorded a seventh place finish in the inaugural Cup Series event at the track back in 2011 and followed that up with a trip to Kentucky Victory Lane during his 2012 Championship season.

Plans for back-to-back wins last season went awry last season when, after starting in the Top 10, he got caught up in a wreck just 50 laps into the race. He took the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion to the garage for repairs and returned after 100 laps to salvage a 33rd place finish.

But that misfortune hasn’t soured BK’s fondness for the Bluegrass state speedway, where he’s also visited Victory Lane twice in the Nationwide Series.

“Kentucky has been a good track for this team in my experience,” Brad said. “We’ve won here, which adds to our confidence going into the race. The team builds Ford Fusions that do very well here, and that makes my job as a driver a lot more fun.”

Prior to finishing 22nd at Sonoma, Kes had the Deuce on a roll with runner-up finishes at Dover and Pocono, and a third place run at Michigan in the previous three races, his fifth, sixth and seventh Top 5 results of the 2014 season. Only Dale Earnhardt Jr. has more this season.

Additionally, Brad has led at least one lap in 14-of-16 races so far this year and his 507 total laps led this season are third-most in the series. Those steady results helped him leap up to fifth in the points standings.

“The Miller Lite crew has been very consistent lately, and other than Sonoma we have been running quite well,” Brad said. “Kentucky is the ideal place for us to get back on track in the Miller Lite America Ford and back into Victory Circle.”

By the time the green flag waves Saturday night, Brad will know the track surface at Kentucky like the back of his hand.

He and the No. 2 crew participated in testing at Kentucky last month and Crew Chief Paul Wolfe believes the extra track time will benefit the team’s ability to execute.

“We had a productive couple of days at Kentucky last month during the Goodyear test,” Paul said. “I think that bodes well for us this weekend. On top of that, this track surface requires a lot of mechanical grip as well as good aero-balance, and those are two areas that we do a pretty good job.”

In addition, Kes will spend nearly every waking moment this weekend circling the track in one machine or another as for the third year in a row he is running the triple-header of Camping World Truck Series race on Thursday, Nationwide Series race on Friday and Sprint Cup Series race on Saturday.

“Driving all three races is nice in terms of getting extra track time,” BK said. “The more information I have as a driver, the more useful I am to the team.”

Kes had three practice sessions on the surface Thursday, two in his Brad Keselowski Racing No. 19 Draw-Tite Ford F-150 for the truck series and one in the Team Penske No. 22 Discount Tire Ford Mustang for the Nationwide Series, then qualified his truck in 14th and drove it to a fifth place finish in the UNOH 225 on Thursday night.

He was back at the track bright and early on Friday for another Nationwide practice run and two Sprint Cup practice runs. He’ll also qualify both cars on Friday afternoon ahead of Friday’s Nationwide Series John R. Elliott HERO Campaign 300

Wolfe expects that all the time Brad has been spending on the track this weekend to play to the advantage of the No. 2 team on race day.

“Since he is driving all three races, we should have a good handle on what he will need in the race come Saturday night,” Wolfe said. “Overall, other than last week, this team has been executing very well. Brad seems to do pretty well here at Kentucky too.”

So far, so good in practice on Friday. The No. 2 It’s Miller Time for America Ford Fusion was second fastest in the morning practice session with an average speed of 182.143 miles per hour over a 29.647-second lap that left him just over two hundredths shy or rookie Kyle Larson for the top spot in the session.

BK managed to nab that top spot in the Happy Hour afternoon session as the Red, White and Blue Deuce was even better under the hot Kentucky sunshine posting an average speed of 183.101 mph over a lap of 29.492 seconds. The time was just nine hundredths of a second off the Kentucky Speedway track record set by Dale Earnhardt Jr. last season.

Kes and others will be gunning to set the 12th new track record of the season in knockout qualifying which begins at 5:30 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1.

After his busy Friday, Brad will bide his time before the race on Saturday by paying a visit to Ford Racing display in the Fan Zone at Kentucky Motor Speedway on Saturday, June 28 at 4:05 p.m. ET.

The main event of the weekend, the Quaker State 400, will take place under the Saturday night lights at Kentucky Speedway. Race coverage begins at 6:30 on TNT with Countdown to Green and the green flag is slated to fly at 7:46 p.m. ET.

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But even through a break in the schedule, BK couldn’t keep his mind off the track.

The 2012 Sprint Cup champion kept both his mind and his body in racing mode over the Easter holiday break. He spent time dreaming up his ideal NASCAR schedule and also took advantage of a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series test at Charlotte on Monday and Tuesday to prepare for some upcoming truck races on his calendar.

Brad can’t be blamed for wanting to keep his focus on the track after the stellar start to his 2014 season. At the quarter mark, BK is in prime position to return to the Chase for the Sprint Cup. He currently sits seventh in the points standings after kicking off the year with two third-place finishes at Daytona and Phoenix and a thrilling final-lap victory at Las Vegas.

The racing gods weren’t as kind to BK over the last handful of races, as a series of misfortune relegated the No. 2 car to five straight finishes outside the top 10 despite excellent driving and pit work that allowed him to lead a lap in four of the five races. Kes also boasts six top-five qualifying efforts, including one pole and four P2 starts.

Crew chief Paul Wolfe noted that the consistent speed in the Team Penske Ford Fusions has been one of the biggest revelations of the season so far:

“We’ve had fast Ford Fusions and we had a pretty good start through the first few races,” Wolfe said. “We’ve made big gains in our qualifying performance this year and we feel pretty good about that. The last few races we’ve struggled to get our results to match our potential. Our Fusion has had speed, we just haven’t executed well enough, which I think frustrates the team a little. The good news is we have great equipment and the tools that we need and this team is more than willing to do the work necessary to get back to the front.”

A visit to RIR gives Brad an opportunity to hit the reset button in more ways than one.

The No. 2 Ford gets a makeover this weekend for the debut of the No. 2 Detroit Genuine Parts Ford Fusion. The car’s blue-grey color is expected to stand out under the lights during the second night race of the year.

Then there’s a little matter of personal history between Brad and Richmond.

The Rochester Hills, Mi. native has dominated the 0.75-mile track in the Nationwide Series. He swept both Nationwide races at Richmond last year and also took the spring Nationwide race at RIR in 2010. Those three victories are the most he has at any track in one series. Add four other top-five results and you could say Kes has an affinity for America’s Premier Short Track. At least on the Nationwide side of things.

With two top-ten finishes in nine attempts, Brad has yet to find the same groove in his Cup Series Car at Richmond. Though it’s not for lack of trying. A flat tire and power issues doomed him to a 33rd-place finish a year ago despite making multiple charges into the top 10 and consistently recording lap times faster than the leaders.

“In my mind, Richmond is real short-track racing,” Brad said. “It’s a very fast short track and things happen in a hurry. This is another one of the tracks that require a driver to manage tires. The other thing that I think of when I think of Richmond is pit stops. It’s true at every track, but here with the laps being so quick a bad stop will really hurt your race.”

The memory that likely sticks out clearest in BK’s head comes from back in September as he attempted to qualify for the Chase and defend his championship. Richmond hosts the final regular season race of the year and he needed a win and a lot of help from the rest of the field to qualify. In a sense, he needed a miracle.

Brad almost made it happen as he led 142 laps and ran among the top five for more than 300 of the race’s 400 laps. But unfortunate timing of a caution just after he had hit pit road under green put him a lap down and doomed the No. 2 to a 17th-place finish. With that fresh in his mind, BK remains optimistic about getting over the hump at RIR:

“I like racing at Richmond and we are better there than our results show,” he said. “This weekend is a welcome opportunity to demonstrate what we are capable of and we will do all that we can to get our Detroit Genuine Parts Ford to Victory Lane.”

Brad got the weekend off to a fast start during the two hour practice session on Friday morning at Richmond. He ran 77 laps, capped by an excellent run of 21.396 seconds, the second best of the field during the session. He’ll be back on the track twice more on Friday, at 1 p.m. ET for final practice, and then at 5 p.m. for qualifying. Both sessions can be seen on Fox Sports 1.

Late Friday night, 15 minutes after the conclusion of the Nationwide Series race, Brad will make an appearance at the No. 2 Miller Lite merchandise unit. It will be the first of two visits for BK to his merchandise hauler. He’ll also stop by at 4:20 p.m. ET on Saturday, just hours before the race.

The green flag flies on the Toyota Owners 400 at approximately 7:14 p.m. ET with pre-race coverage beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET on FOX.

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Still, when I look back at 2012 — the year I won the championship — I had a lot of run-ins. I made some people mad, but I also drew a line in the sand and said, “I’m here.”

I had a lot of success with that approach. 

In 2013, I got away from that, mostly because I thought the way I did things in 2012 somehow tarnished winning the championship. But with a little bit of hindsight, there’s a part of me now that says maybe that’s what made me so strong in 2012. I wasn’t afraid to fight off controversy. I wasn’t afraid to put my neck out there on the line a little bit, and go for it. I wasn’t afraid to show people that this is where I’m at, this is my passion, this is what I do and who I am, and I’m going to be the best at it.

So with that in mind, let’s talk about Kurt Busch and last weekend at Martinsville.

THE ABSOLUTE PITS

What most people probably don’t realize is that everything that happened Sunday actually started with a slow pit stop. We made some changes to our pit crew to start the season, and while we’re all working hard as a team, we’re still working out the kinks. I feel we have fast enough speed in our cars to run for the championship in 2014. When we find our consistency on pit road, we’ll have all the pieces.

We came out of our pit stop about two seconds slow. When that happened, it put me out of sync with the cars I was running around. So I didn’t know who was where or where I was supposed to be. The 31 car — who had been behind me when we entered pit road — came out three or four cars in front of me. And right in front of me was Kasey Kahne.

When you see Kasey Kahne in pit road, your natural assumption — him being the level of driver he is and his team being the caliber that it is — is that you’re racing him for position at that moment. That was not the reality of the matter. Kasey had trouble before that sequence and got torn up. He was running at the very back of the pack. And rather than exiting pit road with me, he was actually just turning into his stall.

There was barely time to react. I hit the brakes and turned right, but I’d already made pretty severe contact with Kasey.

Then Kurt hit me pretty hard. Pit road speed is about 35 mph there, which is relatively slow. When you see contact in front of you, usually you slow down, or you’re able to slow down to 15 or 20 mph. When I hit Kasey, I was probably going 15 or 20 mph. So when Kurt hit me, I thought it was really strange that he had hit me so hard — hard enough to tear the right front suspension off the car.

The Blanco Deuce was broken so bad we had to head back to the garage. After I got out of the car, I caught a replay of what had happened.

I misjudged the situation and ran into the back of Kasey, which I pretty much already knew. What I hadn’t seen before was that in the stall right behind Kasey’s, the 9 car was dropping the jack to take off just as Kasey was turning in. That’s why the 5 car stopped even harder than I thought he would.

Then I saw how Kurt had hit me.

DO AS LITTLE HARM AS POSSIBLE

As a race car driver, if there’s an accident, it’s our duty — not just for ourselves but for our fellow competitors out there — to try to diminish it, to lessen the impact as much as possible. Imagine you’re at Talladega. If there’s a wreck at 200 mph in front of you, and you are capable of slowing down to 100 mph, you do it. Self-preservation alone just dictates that, but it’s kind of an unspoken rule between drivers. (At Bristol a couple weekends back, Kasey didn’t lift after David Ragan wrecked, and Dale Jr. had some words for him afterward.)

The post The Road Warrior appeared first on BradRacing.com | The Official Web Site of Brad Keselowski www.bk30beta.www.bk30beta.bradracing.com.

Unfortunately the elements — both natural and unnatural — including plenty of rain, some smoke and fire, and plenty of malfunctions, proved to be too daunting for the No. 2 crew to make a return trip to Victory Lane. But after salvaging a Top 15 finish despite involvement in a late race wreck, Brad and his team left Bristol with something important: the lead in the Sprint Cup points standings.

Brad 14th place finish earned him 31 championship points, moving BK ahead of Dale Earnhardt Jr. into first place in the standings after four races. He leads Earnhardt Jr. by 10 points heading into this week’s race at Fontana.

“Our worst finish of the season was good enough to get the No. 2 Team Penske Ford into the points lead,” Brad said afterward.

The weekend started out about as well as it possibly could have for Team Penkse. On Friday, both Brad and Joey Logano continued their string of strong showings in the new elimination qualifying format. Logano posted the fastest lap in Round 1 and Brad also advanced to the final round with relative ease.

In the final round, BK turned a lap that would’ve set a new track record at Bristol. However, Denny Hamlin had broken the old track record moments earlier in his No. 11 car, and Kes and the No. 2 came up just .003 short of Hamlin’s time. Still Brad’s runner-up qualifying finish put him on the front row for a third consecutive race and he had Logano right behind him in fourth position.

Heavy rain delayed the start of the Food City 500 by nearly two hours, but once the race got going, BK used his front row position to his advantage and overtook Hamlin for the lead on the second lap of the race.

By lap 15, the No. 2 car had already begun lapping the back of the field, showing its speed. However, Kes reported turning issues while weaving through traffic that would later slow him down. He managed to keep the lead for 40 laps, before ceding it to Logano on Lap 42, after which he fell back to fourth.

NASCAR’s mandated competition caution at lap 50 allowed the pit crew to make a small chassis adjustment and switch out all four tires. Brad restarted in sixth position and maintained his presence in the top 10 despite persistent problems with the No. 2’s turning.

Rain once again began to fall on the track on Lap 117, bringing out the third caution of the day. Under this caution, the Miller Lite Ford crew had perhaps their best pit stop of the day as Brad left the pits in third position after coming in running in sixth.

The rain began to fall more steadily after the pit stops, forcing NASCAR to red flag the race on Lap 125. The ensuing downpour created a second delay in the race that lasted three hours and 18 minutes.

The race resumed under the lights with Kes running third, but by lap 180 the Miller Lite Ford Fusion began experiencing vibrations and dropped back a few positions. A second competition caution allowed for further adjustments to the chassis and Kes stayed in the middle of the lead pack, but couldn’t advance.

“We had a good car today. Our Ford Fusion didn’t have the speed today that it had in practice the last couple of days, but we were working on it and making steady gains,” he said. “I felt as though we would have been able to challenge for a top-three.”

Kes was running in sixth position with less than 50 laps to go when his opportunity to challenge for a fourth straight top three finish quite literally slipped away.

Just in front of him, Kevin Harvick’s No. 4 began to smoke and dropped some oil as it slammed into the wall. Jamie McMurray, who was running fifth right in front of BK slowed his No. 1 car to avoid contact with Harvick’s car. With his tires covered in oil from Harvick’s leak, Brad wasn’t able to do the same and wound up hitting the wall, and then McMurray.

“Our night took a serious turn for the worse when (Kevin) Harvick’s car started smoking and then it put down a lot of fluid, which caused both (Jamie) McMurray and I to get into the wall and then I hit McMurray too,” BK said.  “It was a shame as I was doing my best to go where the fluid wasn’t, but we just didn’t get there.”

That sequence ended the race for Harvick and McMurray, but fortunately, it did not spell the end of Brad’s day. Thanks to diligent work from his pit crew, not only did Brad get to finish the race, he remained on the lead lap while making four trips down pit road under caution.

“The Miller Lite crew did a terrific job of keeping me on the lead lap,” Brad said.

Remaining on the lead lap kept BK in the Top 15, ahead of dozens of previously lapped cars, including that of points leader Dale Earnhardt Jr. and BK managed to maintain his place on the lead lap and was running 14th when NASCAR accidentally signaled for a caution on Lap 500.

The race went on to end under caution after 503 laps. Afterward, BK recapped the aggravating finish to a day that began with promise.

“It is frustrating to make it that far in the race, especially after the rain delays, to end up 14th,” he said. “We’ll figure how we can use what happened tonight to make us better and move on.”

FORD FINDS ITS WAY

Though the night didn’t go as planned for the No. 2 team it was another encouraging step forward for Ford Racing as a whole.

Sunday’s win by Carl Edwards in the No. 99 Ford Fusion was the second consecutive win for Ford, following up on Brad’s win at Las Vegas last week, a great start to the 2014 season. Last year Ford went to Victory Lane just six of the 36 races and Brad noted this week that some late changes in the 2013 rules package put Ford teams in a tough spot last season.

“When Ford came out with their

[new] car two years ago, they were the first ones out the door, and there was a little bit different understanding as to what the rules were at that time than what they were at the start of the 2013 season,” BK told USA Today. “We can point to probably a half-dozen races where that had a severe negative effect for the Ford performance.”

Now Ford is on level ground and it’s showing in the results on the track. Ford cars have exhibited speed in qualifying, as evidenced by the back-to-back front row sweeps by Team Penske at Phoenix and Las Vegas, as well as Brad’s front row spot at Bristol.

Fords are also running well on race day. At Bristol, four of the Top 5 finishers including all of the Top 3 were Ford. The previous week at Las Vegas, Brad led three Fords in the Top 5. At Phoenix, Team Penske’s Fords finished third and fourth respectively and at Daytona, Ford had three cars in the Top 8, led again by BK in third. Kes credited the updates Ford was allowed to make coming into the 2014 season were a significant step forward for Ford Racing, allowing Ford drivers to compete with their Chevy and Toyota counterparts.

“That’s probably the biggest [thing] that stands out is kind of getting back on an even playing field with that front fascia, but then again, there’s more to it,” he said. “There are a lot of small things that add up – the Roush Yates Engines shop has made some gains this year, which we’re proud of, and Team Penske has made some gains on the car side. I felt like we finished 2013 very strong, and, with those small improvements, we’re even better yet for 2014.”

Brad is certainly better yet so far in 2014, which is why he leads the Sprint Cup standings by 10 points after four races. Sunday’s run at Bristol was his lowest finish of the season, but with one victory and three top-three finishes already under his belt in 2014, this has been BK’s best start to a Sprint Cup season in his career.

NEXT UP

The Sprint Cup Series heads back out West this weekend for Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California next Sunday.

Fontana is not a track that has been kind to BK in the past. In five career Sprint Cup runs at Auto Club Speedway, BK has never finished higher than 18th. Last year Kes had a great qualifying run at Fontana, but was forced to the rear of the field after the No. 2 team had to change out the car’s engine in the lead up to the race. Then with BK running in fifth place late in the race, the Blue Deuce began to overheat, forcing Brad to settle for a 23rd place finish.

He’ll hope to have better luck this weekend at Fontana, when he debuts the Red No. 2 Wurth Ford Fusion. Wurth is entering its third year as a partner with Team Penske and will serve as the primary sponsor on the No. 2 car for four races this season.

The weekend at Fontana begins with the first practice session on Friday at 3 p.m. ET. Qualifying follows at 7:30 p.m. ET. Both can be seen on Fox Sports 1.

Morning practice at Fontana on Saturday begins at 12:30 ET and final practice follows at 3:30 p.m. ET. Both those session can also be seen on Fox Sports 1.

They’ll set the stage for Sunday’s Auto Club 400. Race coverage begins Sunday afternoon at 2:30 ET on FOX, with the green flag slated to fly shortly after 3 p.m. ET.

RELATED LINKS

• Ford speeding to catch up in NASCAR’s elite series (USA Today, March 17, 2014)
• Carl Edwards beats rain, field at Bristol (NASCAR.com, March 16. 2014)
• Carl Edwards wins at bizarro Bristol (ESPN.com, March 17, 2014)
• Nothing goes as expected at Bristol, including Carl Edwards winning (Charlotte Observer, March 17, 2014)
• Carl Edwards Wins at Bristol After Long Rain Delay (The Sporting News, March 16, 2014)

The post No. 2 Loses Hood But Gains Points Lead at Bristol appeared first on BradRacing.com | The Official Web Site of Brad Keselowski www.bk30beta.www.bk30beta.bradracing.com.

BK’s dramatic final lap pass on Dale Earnhardt Jr. at the Kobalt Tools 400 last weekend, continued a brilliant start to the season for the Miller Lite Ford team, piggybacking on third-place finishes in each of the first two races of the year to put Kes just one point behind Earnhardt for the lead in the series standings.

The early win and run of three straight top-five results, along with consecutive front row qualifying efforts, make this the best start yet to a Sprint Cup season for Brad and his prospects to extend that run are bright as the season shifts to a track where he’s had success.

Entering this season Brad had a combined zero wins at Daytona, Phoenix and Las Vegas but Kes has been to Victory Lane at Bristol, where he won back-to-back Sprint Cup Series visits in the fall of 2011 and spring of 2012. Last season he finished the spring race at Bristol in third place and he’s hoping to continue his success in Thunder Valley this weekend.

“While I enjoy racing everywhere we go, Bristol is one of those places that standout for most drivers,” Brad said. “I have to say that I like the idea of getting our Ford Fusion into Victory Lane this Sunday.”

Brad’s weekend at Bristol is already off to a hot start. BK had the top lap time for much of Friday’s first practice and wound up finishing sixth-best with a lap of 14.851 seconds at an average speed of 129.203 miles per hour.

Qualifying is slated for 4:30 p.m ET on Friday as NASCAR switches back to the short track qualifying structure that the No. 2 team dominated at Phoenix.

For Brad and Team Penske it has been all about preparation this year with the new Chase and qualifying formats, as well as a new rules packages to adapt to.

“This No. 2 Miller Lite team has been diligently preparing for this season since late last season, and we’ve also been intensely focused on each event,” Brad said. “Our recent successes demonstrate that we are making the effort in the proper areas and that we are executing on race day.”

Rewarding individual race wins is at the heart of the new Chase format, something the No. 2 team can now bask in after a fruitful trip to Las Vegas. Crew chief Paul Wolfe understands this point very well and noted that although some of the stress to win has been lifted, the Miller Lite Ford team is even more motivated to continue their winning ways.

“After last weekend’s win at Las Vegas we feel as though a little of the pressure to win has been removed,” he said. “But the desire to win has been increased.”

The No. 2 crew now has the freedom to take risks, much like Earnhardt Jr. did with his big fuel gamble at Las Vegas because he had the Daytona victory in his back pocket.

“The weekend at Las Vegas gives us momentum and freedom to race for wins moving forward,” Brad noted.

But BK, Wolfe and their team will be hard-pressed to take bigger risks going forward than they already have this season. Last week, the pair decided not to pit under caution with the rest of the field late in the race in Vegas, which ended up paying off and allowing Brad to pass Earnhardt on the final lap. Wolfe refuses to shy away from bold moves, and that certainly won’t change after last week’s win.

“As we saw last weekend, the thing that has made the No. 2 Miller Lite team successful over the last few years is being aggressive, and we’re going to be aggressive this year,” Wolfe said. “We’re just getting started.”

Brad plans to carry on this early-season success, further buffered by a Nationwide win last weekend as part of a Las Vegas sweep. But he’ll only be behind the wheel of the No. 2 Ford Fusion this weekend, handing over the keys to the No. 22 Discount Tire Ford in the Nationwide Series to teammate Ryan Blaney.

Brad won’t get as much time on the Bristol surface as he had while running a Nationwide car the last three weeke, but if there’s one track Team Penske knows well, it’s Bristol. Penske has 10 Sprint Cup victories at the World’s Fastest Half Mile, more than at any other location, which bodes well for Kes. And as BK’s practice runs on Friday afternoon exemplified, the No. 2 continues to be one of the fastest cars on the track, which Wolfe believes will allow Brad to work his short-track magic at Bristol. 

“Brad is remarkably adept at Bristol,” Wolfe said, “and our

[Team Penkse] Ford Fusions have had the speed required to run up front.”

After Brad qualifies on Friday at 4:30 ET on Fox Sports 1, he’ll head off to the Bristol Motor Speedway Hospitality village for an appearance on behalf of Miller Lite at 6 p.m. ET. BK will also be making two Sunday morning appearances around Bristol, stopping at the Earhart campground at 10:10 a.m. and then the Ford display in the Fan Zone at 10:30 a.m.

When he’s not running around Bristol, BK and his team will have two more chances to tune-up for the race on Saturday. The first comes in the form of an early morning practice session at 9 a.m. on Fox Sports 1. That will be followed by  “Happy Hour ‘Final’ practice at 12 p.m. ET. on Fox Sports 2.

Coverage of the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway begins at 12:30 p.m. ET Sunday on FOX with the green flag slated to fly shortly after 1 p.m. ET.

The post Brad Goes for Back-to-Back at Bristol appeared first on BradRacing.com | The Official Web Site of Brad Keselowski www.bk30beta.www.bk30beta.bradracing.com.

Since the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series implemented a new Chase for the Championship format this season that puts more emphasis on winning than ever before, Cup drivers have been forced to take on an “If you’re not first, you’re last” mentality in every race. That mentality has left Brad feeling less than satisfied after strong third place runs in the first two races of the Sprint Cup season.

But all of that changed at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday when BK used a final lap pass on Dale Earnhardt Jr. to win the Kobalt 400 and all but guarantee his place in the 2014 Chase for the Championship. It also completed BK’s first ever weekend sweep of the Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series races and he became the first to do it at Las Vegas since Jeff Burton in 2000.

“I’m proud to get the Miller Lite Ford in Victory Lane,” Brad told Fox Sports’ Krista Voda as he wiped Miller Lite from his face in Victory Lane after Sunday’s race. “That’s a big deal. We’re very happy and locked into the Chase early, so I don’t have to hear that crap all year about not being in the Chase.”

Brad also noted after the race that the win, his second Cup Series win since Team Penske made the switch from Dodge to Ford, had some extra meaning on the same day that the Ford family mourned the death of William Clay Ford, the last surviving grandchild of company founder Henry Ford. Brad paid homage after the race.

“It was kind of a sad day for Ford with the loss of William Clay. That’s a big deal where I’m from in Detroit,” he said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.”

The victory was Brad’s 11th of his Sprint Cup career, in his fifth full season and seventh overall season in the series. It marks the earliest he has ever won in a season in his career and a stark contrast to the 2013 season. Last year, Brad went the first 30 races of the season without a win before capturing the Bank of America 500 in Charlotte last October. With that in mind, Kes couldn’t stress enough how much an early win impacts the rest of the season.

“I’m glad to be back here in Victory Lane,” he said. “It is truly special to get a win early in the year when it’s just such a relief for everyone on the team, and me included, getting that win in early and being able to enjoy the races and opportunities that we have instead of being stressed out about them. I think, if anything, it actually lends itself to better racing.”

Brad’s victory capped a huge weekend for Team Penske. It started when No. 2 crew chief Paul Wolfe returned to the pit box after missing last week’s race in Phoenix for the birth of his child.

The good times continued to roll on Friday, when BK nearly won his second straight pole in elimination qualifying. He was knocked out of the top spot by teammate Joey Logano, creating an all Penske front row for the second consecutive week.

Then on Saturday, Brad dominated the Nationwide Series Boyd Gaming 300, leading 144 of 200 laps on the way to victory. That victory sent BK, who had never won at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in any series before this week, into Sunday’s Cup Series race with momentum.

But it wouldn’t have been right to finish the sweep in Sin City without a bit of flair.

After doing everything he could to hold off a hard-charging Kyle Busch and win the Nationwide race on Saturday, Brad was in the other position on Sunday. Despite leading 52 laps over the course, he had to come from behind to lead his 53rd and the last of the race’s 267.

“It was definitely different being the hunter instead of the hunted,” he said. “I had fun with it both days, though.”

BK was only able to pull off the comeback thanks to an expertly executed strategy by the No. 2 team.

Though the race was decided in the final mile, Wolfe set the course for a victory earlier on in the race. Rather than follow everyone into the pits under the third caution of the race on lap 156, Wolfe and BK made the decision to keep the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion out on the track. The decision allowed Brad to gain the lead, but put him off-sequence with the rest of the field.

After the race, Wolfe explained his thinking.

“We were on a little different strategy from time to time with everybody, but the things that have made the No. 2 team successful over the last few years is being aggressive.” Wolfe said. “We’re going to be aggressive this year. That’s what we did today, and it paid off for a big win for us.”

After leading more the next 39 laps after the caution, Brad briefly dropped out of the top 10 during a green-flag pit cycle on lap 196. However it wasn’t long before the field cycled through the pits, putting the White Deuce back into the lead in less than 20 laps. After the race, BK heaped praise on his team’s strategy.

“Heck of a call throughout the race to get us out front, get us some track position,” he said. “Clean air, with these cars, is so important. At the end, this car was just really fast and I’m really proud of it, really proud of the team for giving me a car this fast.”

A caution on lap 222 proved to be the difference. Kes took the opportunity to make one final stop for fuel, which put him back on sequence with most of the field. But Earnhardt Jr., Carl Edwards and a few others gambled on fuel by staying out.

At that point, Wolfe knew victory was within reach.

“When we pitted there at the end when the 99 and 88 stayed out, we knew we were plenty to the good,” the Miller Lite Ford Crew Chief said. “Didn’t figure there was anyway they could make it but wasn’t sure yet where they were fuel-mileage wise.”

Though Brad restarted in seventh with less than 50 laps to go, he shot out on the restart and was chasing Earnhardt and Edwards within a few laps. BK and the No. 2 car overtook Edwards and the No. 99 with 20 laps left, which allowed Kes to put pressure on Earnhardt and ruin his fuel-saving tactic. Wolfe credited the pass on Edwards as the winning move and credited Brad with making it decisively.

“Being able to get around the 99

[Edwards] and put pressure on the 88 [Earnhardt] to run wide open was I think a key,” Wolfe said. “I think Brad’s determination you saw, it wasn’t a lap or two and he was able to get around that 99 and start putting the pressure on. I think that was very important overall.”

But Brad wouldn’t take all the credit, and acknowledged the move of Edwards, a fellow Ford driver, who made the decision not to block Brad and a noticeably faster White Deuce from chasing down the 88.

“Carl Edwards helped me out there. He gave me a little break so I could go run down the 88,” BK said. “That’s what we needed for a Ford to win. We needed to put pressure on Dale and not let him get into fuel-save mode because you could tell he was really close [to making it on fuel]. I appreciate that, so I want to say thanks to Carl and all the Fords that worked with us today.”

After passing Edwards, BK still sat about a second and a half behind Earnhardt Jr. on the track. But as Earnhardt Jr. attempted to save enough fuel to make it to the finish, Brad closed in, and with 12 laps to go, Kes had the No. 2 car on Earnhardt Jr.’s bumper. BK’s quick close caused Earnhardt Jr. to abandon his fuel-saving strategy to hold off the White Deuce.

He had nearly done it, as they took the white flag with Earnhardt Jr. holding a lead of .54 seconds. But the 88 ran out of gas on Turn 2, less than a mile from the checkered flag and Earnhardt Jr. pulled his sputtering machine to the bottom line of the racetrack.

Brad flew past on the high line to take the lead on his way to the checkered flag as Earnhardt Jr. coasted in for a second place finish. Ironically, it was Earnhardt’s Daytona 500 victory that allowed him to take the fuel gamble, in turn making BK a first-time Vegas winner.

“The chance that Dale and Stevie [Letarte, crew chief of the No. 88 team] took with the 88 car was way out there, and it was a good risky move on their part because they had nothing to lose because of this format,” Brad said.

He added that can’t wait to be in Earnhardt’s position later in the season.

“I think that shows some of the opportunities that come up and how they can be stress-free days,” Kes said. “I’m looking forward to being able to take those same opportunities because, believe me, I’m not scared to take them, and I know Paul’s not, so look out. It’s gonna be a lot of fun.”

NEXT UP

Perhaps the first opportunity for Brad, Paul Wolfe and the rest of the No. 2 team to take a chance like that will come next weekend as the series heads back East to Bristol, Tennesee for the first true short track race of the year, the Food City 500 next Sunday at Bristol Motor Speedway. 

BK is a two-time winner at Bristol, including the 2012 Food City 500, the first victory of his championship season. Brad dominated that race, leading 232 of the 500 laps on his way to victory. He also won the summer race at Bristol on 2011 and led 62 laps in last year’s Food City 500 on his way to a third place finish.

The weekend at Bristol kicks off on Friday with practice at Noon ET. Qualifying follows at 4:30 p.m. ET and both can be seen on Fox Sports 1. Action resumes on Saturday morning on Fox Sports 1 with a practice session at 9 a.m. ET, then switches over to Fox Sports 2 for final practice at Noon ET. Coverage of the the Food City 500 begins at 12:30 p.m. ET on Fox with the green flag scheduled to fly at around 1:15 p.m. ET.

RELATED LINKS

• Keselowski edges Dale Jr. to win at Vegas (NASCAR March 9, 2014)
• Brad Keselowski buries 2013 memories with Las Vegas win, Chase spot (The Sporting News, March 10, 2014)
• Keselowski edges Earnhardt on last lap to win in Las Vegas (CBS Sports, March 9, 2014)
• Brad Keselowski let it ride in Vegas (ESPN, March 10, 2014)
• Keselowski Cashes in on Earnhardt’s Gamble for Kobalt 400 Win (Las Vegas Review-Journal, March 10, 2014)
• Brad Keselowski wins in Vegas (Fox Sports, March 9, 2014)
• Keselowski wins in Las Vegas as Earnhardt Jr. runs out of gas (USA Today, March 10, 2014)
• Motivated Keselowski wins big (SB Nation, March 9, 2014)

The post Brad Completes Sweep with Cup Win at Vegas appeared first on BradRacing.com | The Official Web Site of Brad Keselowski www.bk30beta.www.bk30beta.bradracing.com.

Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the third race of the 2014 season, comes on the heels of third place finishes for Brad at Daytona and Phoenix, leaving him good position two races into the season.

“Our No. 2 Miller Lite Ford team has come out strong in the first couple of races and I am proud of the effort,” BK said. “It’s nice to be sitting second in the points early in the season.”

However, Brad knows that the new Chase format puts a strong emphasis on winning races and he and the Miller Lite Ford team will be looking to make those small improvements to turn all those threes into a winning hand.

“Now we just have to get that last little bit in order to win races,” Kes said. “We will continue working with winning in mind in order to ensure we position ourselves to be in the new championship playoff format. The best part is that we’re just getting started.”

Las Vegas has important implications beyond its own points. It marks the first 1.5-mile track of the season, the same length as five of the 10 Chase races.

According to Motor Racing Network, the winner of the Las Vegas race ended up finishing first or second in points seven times since 2003. So a top result at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway could help Brad set the tone for the next few races.

Last season Brad had his best run ever at LMVS, finishing that familiar third place. But Vegas is a track that had not been historically kind to Kes before. In four previous races around the Mojave Desert’s 1.5 mile oval, BK hadn’t cracked the Top 20 with his highest finish being 26th.

But rather than lingering on those tough days at Vegas, Kes will remember the solid run he had a year ago. He led 12 laps over the course of the race and rallied from 13th position after a pit stop issue at lap 166 to finish in the top five.

BK also gets a big boost this weekend with the return of crew chief Paul Wolfe. Wolfe missed The Profit on CNBC 500 to be with his wife, Aleah, for the birth of their first child. Wolfe was thankful that the team was able to get by in his absence, allowing him to share a special moment with his wife.

“This is a fascinating experience. You see other guys on the team go through it, you hear about the way it impacts people, but until it happens to you – you just don’t truly grasp what it means. Aleah and I are grateful to have a healthy baby. I am really impressed with how strong my wife is – wow – being there with her for the birth was a magical moment,” Wolfe said. “It’s hard to put all these feelings into words and while all parents have things in common, we all bring our own feelings to the experience. I am very happy and thankful too.”

Though the No. 2 team didn’t miss a beat with a third place finish in Wolfe’s absence, Brad will be glad to have his regular pit boss back in action after the No. 2 car dealt with some handling issues last week. Wolfe is also eager to return to the pit box and help put a Penske car in Victory Lane at Vegas.

“I am excited to get back to the track and continue to build on the strong start the 2 car has had, and work on getting that first win of the season,” he said.

Coming off a pole win in NASCAR’s first run with knockout qualifying last weekend, BK enters this weekend with a chance to start his second consecutive race in front. Last season, en route to his third place finish at Las Vegas, Brad received the pole position by default when qualifying was rained out and the order was determined by the final 2012 owners points.

Brad was only 17th fastest in qualifying with a lap of 28.499 seconds and a top speed of 189.480. But after he won the first knockout qualifying session last week William Hill gives Kes the fifth best odds to win the pole at Las Vegas at 10/1, tied with Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch. Brad likes those odds.

Not bad @MicahRoberts7: odds to win LV pole: Field (24 drivers) 5/1, @Keselowski 13/2, @KyleBusch 15/2, @kaseykahne & @joeylogano 17/2

— Brad Keselowski (@keselowski) March 5, 2014

The super speedway qualifying format is slightly different from last week’s shorter track qualifying and the Las Vegas session will be divided into three segments. The first segment will be a 25-minute free-for-all. The fastest 24 cars from that segment will advance to segment two, which is just 10 minutes long. The final round will be just five minutes long with the Top 12 cars from segment two competing for the pole. All the action can be seen on Fox Sports 1 beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET.

After qualifying, BK will have two more chances to tune-up in practice sessions on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. ET and 2:30 p.m. ET, both on Fox Sports 2.

Coverage of the Kobalt Tools 400 begins on Sunday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX with the green flag scheduled to fly shortly after 3 p.m. ET.

The post Kes Hoping Vegas Hand Includes An Ace appeared first on BradRacing.com | The Official Web Site of Brad Keselowski www.bk30beta.www.bk30beta.bradracing.com.

But the game has changed in 2014 and wins mean more than anything in NASCAR’s new postseason format. So although Brad Keselowski was pleased once again with having a competitive car, which he drove to a third place finish in Sunday’s The Profit on CNBC 500 at Phoenix International Raceway, he was nowhere near satisfied with his result in the desert.

“It feels good to run up front and be competitive,” Brad said. “But we know under this system wins are the only things that count. Last year you would have said second and thirds were great, but this year they are just so-so.”

The weekend at Phoenix did begin on a high-note for BK. Fresh off a string of solid performances at Daytona, Brad headed West with some extra motivation and it showed in his performance during Friday’s qualifying session.

NASCAR debuted a new elimination qualifying format in Phoenix and after running second fastest in the first session of qualifying to secure a chance at the pole, BK nabbed the top spot by setting a new track record at PIR with a lap of 25.828 seconds.

At a track like Phoenix, starting at the front makes a world of difference and BK was thrilled to get his fourth career pole in a place where it mattered so much.

“I think qualifying has been one of those formats that I have struggled with. It just didn’t suit my style in the past. This qualifying format really does suit my style a lot better. It gives me a chance to learn and apply, which to me was instrumental to our success today and hopefully will be in how we go forward.”

ERWIN AND WILSON FILL IN FOR WOLFE

Brad also learned on Friday that he would be running on Sunday without crew chief Paul Wolfe, who left the track Saturday to return to North Carolina for the birth of he and his wife Aleah’s first child.

Brad showed his support for his crew chief on Twitter:

Team engineer Brian Wilson and Greg Erwin, Team Penske’s director of competition for the Nationwide Series, split Wolfe’s duties in calling the race for Brad. Wilson handled adjustments to the car, while Erwin took charge of the strategy. Brad was complimentary of the duo after the race.

“They did a great job,” Brad said. “Still had two more spots to go. All things considered, I thought they did really well. I was very proud of the effort.”

Erwin previously served as a Cup Series crew chief for Robby Gordon (2005-2006) and Greg Biffle (2007-2011), so he is no stranger to the pit box. Last year he served as Nationwide Series crew chief for Sam Hornish Jr. and the duo nearly brought Team Penske a Nationwide Series championship. But Erwin said after the race that going into his duty for the No. 2 team with experience didn’t mean quite as much as the way that crew embraced and accepted him.

“Honestly, stepping into a situation like that, I didn’t know what to expect. Other than listening to Brad during the Nationwide races, and listening to him sometime over the radio, I didn’t know what the dynamic on top of the box was like,” he said. “You don’t get to see or feel any of that when you’re not there. Those guys treated me like I’ve been part of the team forever. That helps.”

Erwin also credited Wolfe, who didn’t leave him completely unprepared despite having to leave on short notice.

“We talked about some of the adjustments he generally feels are slam-dunks for Brad,” Erwin noted. “

[Wolfe] said, ‘These adjustments are generally the most successful, adjusting for Brad and the way he drives the car.’ We laid a plan out and we just stepped through it.”

A TOP 5 DAY

The No. 2 team didn’t appear to miss a beat under the leadership of Erwin and Wilson, as Brad ran in the Top 5 for most of the afternoon.

At the outset of the race, BK ceded his lead spot to Logano, who immediately went for the outside lane pass on Lap 1. After his teammate took the lead, Brad was able to maintain his runner-up spot for more than 30 laps.

He dipped to third just prior to the NASCAR mandated competition caution flag on lap 36, when most of the field went in for the first pit stops of the day.

In the pits is where being the polesitter really came in handy for BK. He was able to select the last pit box on pit road, which, combined with a quick two-tire-and-fuel pit stop by the No. 2 crew allowed him to come off pit road with the lead.

Kes only managed to stay out front for a moment before Logano reasserted himself and drove his No. 22 car to the lead. Brad ran in second right behind Logano until they caught up with lap traffic.

Kevin Harvick, the eventual race winner, took advantage of the traffic to drive his No. 4 car by BK and then Logano for the lead on Lap 74. The No. 4 dominated the day, leading 224 of the 312 laps and after the race Kes was complimentary of Harvick, who posted the fastest speeds in two of the three weekend practices.

They beat everybody before they came to the track today.  It’s a great combination.  They were prepared for the weekend. We saw it all the way through testing, that they were dominant. They showed it when they came to the actual racetrack to race.

The No. 2 Ford Fusion had a bevy of handling issues during a green-flag stretch of over 100 laps that caused Kes to drop back to fourth, but the Alliance Truck Parts pit crew’s adjustments allowed him to stay in the top five for most of the day. 

Still Erwin admitted after the race that no matter what adjustments his crew made, he always felt the No. 2 was always a little bit behind Harvick and Dale Earnhardt Jr., who finished 2nd.

“We didn’t quite go far enough,” Erwin said. “The track went this way, we adjusted, the track went again, we adjusted. We probably needed to get out ahead of it. But at the end of the day, that was just a joy working with those guys.”

A series of four cautions in the final 64 laps of the race allowed Kes and the other front runners save fuel down the stretch, and helped BK improve his result. On the restart from the eighth and final caution, Logano attempted to get under Harvick but instead lost momentum and fell back, allowing Brad to move into third.

After the race, BK explained his line of thinking during the final restart and noted that it brought to mind a race from last year.

“I thought, Get him, go, maybe I can sneak by all of [them],” he said “I kind of was remembering Clint Bowyer at Martinsville in that moment. I was thinking about how everybody wrecked and where to be to get through the wreck to take the lead. That’s really what was on my mind. That didn’t happen.”

After passing Logano, BK did have a run on Earnhardt Jr. for second position on the high line of the track, but the No. 88 driver closed the door.

“I thought we were going to wreck each other twice and didn’t,” BK said of racing tight with the 2014 Daytona 500 winner and NASCAR’s most popular driver. “That was good, I guess. I would have had a lot of people mad at me if I would have done that.”

Instead of pushing it, Brad settled for a third place finish, his fourth top-six finish in his last five Sprint Cup trips to Phoenix and his best result there in ten career Cup races at PIR. The result bumped Kes up one spot to second in the Sprint Cup standings after two weeks, six points behind Earnhardt Jr.

Though he was glad to repeat a competitive result, it was a hollow feeling because of the new format’s emphasis on wins. Brad said after the race that he believed in the middle portion of the day that he’d have a chance to win, and although a series of late cautions allowed him to gain a few spots in the short run, they may have cost him a chance to catch Harvick in the long run.

“I never gave up thinking we had a shot at him,” Brad said. “We just had to make a really strong adjustment. I thought in the midsection of the race we were just as good if not a little bit better when the rubber was down on the track. Then all the yellows in a row picked up all the rubber. We really needed that on the track to excel, so we weren’t very close to him. Always hope it falls that way, and maybe next time it does.”

NEXT UP

Week three of the 2014 season takes the Sprint Cup Series to Sin City where Las Vegas Motor Speedway will host the Kobalt Tools 400 next Sunday.

Sunday will mark Brad’s sixth career Cup race at Las Vegas. His best result at Vegas came last season, when qualifying was rained out, putting Brad, then the Series points leader, on the pole. He led 12 laps in the 2012 Kobalt Tools 400, but finished in third behind winner Matt Kenseth and second place Kasey Kahne.

Prior to last season, Las Vegas had been a sore spot for the No. 2 team, as BK had never finished in the Top 25 at LVMS. He and his team head there this year hoping to use last year’s finish as a building block.

They’ll find out on Friday, when the first practice begins at 2:00 p.m. ET. Qualifying will follow at 6:35 p.m. ET on Friday. Both can be seen on Fox Sports 1.

Saturday features two practice sessions, at 11:30 a.m. ET and 2:30 p.m. ET. Brad will then run the No. 22 Discount Tire Ford Mustang in the Nationwide Series Boyd Gaming 300 at 4:15 p.m. on ESPN2.

Sunday race coverage begins at 2:30 ET on FOX with the green flag for the Kobalt Tools 400 scheduled to fly shortly after 3 p.m. ET.

The post A Second Straight Third for Brad appeared first on BradRacing.com | The Official Web Site of Brad Keselowski www.bk30beta.www.bk30beta.bradracing.com.

Debuting the new Alliance Truck Parts Yellow Deuce, Brad took the pole for Sunday’s The Profit on CNBC 500 at PIR with a new track record time of 25.828 seconds at 139.28 mph. The lap was just .022 seconds faster than the best lap of teammate Joey Logano, who will start beside Brad on the front row.

“We had a really fast car, and there is some pride to be taken in being the first one to win a Sprint Cup pole in this format,” Brad said. “I am sure it will undergo a few adjustments along the way, but it is very rewarding and a testament to my team and how fast of a car they gave me. Then it was just a matter of executing on my end. We were able to do that. I didn’t think I ran a good enough lap to be quite honest. When they told me the time, I said, ‘Alright, I will take it.'”

NASCAR’s new format changes the way cars qualify for races other than the Daytona 500. The qualifying session begins as a 30-minute free-for-all with the top 12 cars from that session advancing to a 10-minute session where they compete to earn the pole.

At the outset of the first session at about 4:40 p.m. local time, both Team Penske drivers noticed a cloud hovering over the race track, cooling down the track and giving it more grip, which generally leads to faster qualifying times. Both BK and Logano took full advantage racing out to get their laps in under the cloud.

Brad went first and nabbed the top spot early, with a run of 26.040 seconds at 138.25 mph. He was soon topped by Logano, who posted a time of 25.929 seconds at 138.84 mph. After kicking off the session with two of the fastest times, both drivers opted to return to pit road and see if their laps would stand up. For 25 minutes they waited, and no one was able to top them.

BK said he wasn’t sure how much credit was due to strategy, but he pointed to the quickness of his No. 2 car as a difference maker.

“I think you have to have a fast car, that’s the most important part, either way,” he said. “Everybody on the Alliance Truck Parts Ford team did a good job of

[giving me] that.”

Following the 30-minute first segment, the field waited out a mandatory 10-minute cool down period. The timing allowed both the No. 2 and the No. 22 cars cool off for more than half an hour. When each took the track again, it was clear how advantageous that period was. Brad posted a great time on his first lap, but Logano once again topped him, breaking the old track record.

However, BK would have the last laugh, making his last tour around the track at Phoenix International Raceway in 25.828 seconds, the best ever run there. Logano tried to top the mark later in the session, but Brad’s time and speed held up. Afterward, Logano congratulated his teammate while crediting the hard work of all the people at Team Penske for allowing both drivers to start on the front row this Sunday.

“You have to be happy for him, as a teammate. We’re 1-2, that’s good. But after you win the first segment it’s like ‘alright, I feel pretty good.’ I think I even went a little faster the second run,” Logano said. “He just barely beat me. But overall, Team Penske did a great job today.”

Brad was just happy to take the top spot after coming so close multiple times over the last two weeks at Daytona with second place finishes in the Sprint Unlimited and Drive4COPD 300, and a third place run in the Daytona 500.

“At Daytona, we had two great cars and two strong runs,” he said. “I swear, I was tired of finishing second or third. So it’s good to finally put a first up on the board, and in the first group qualifying. That’s pretty neat as well.”

Brad gets two more practice sessions on Saturday to gear up for this week’s race. The first is at 11 a.m. ET with Happy Hour following that at 2 p.m. ET. Both sessions can be seen on Fox Sports 1. Brad’s busy Saturday at PIR also includes Nationwide Series qualifying at Noon ET on Fox Sports 1 and the Nationwide Series Blue Jeans Go Green 200 presented by Cotton, The Fabric of Our Lives at 3:30 ET on ABC.

Sunday is all about the Cup Series and coverage of The Profit on CNBC 500, Presented by Small Business Fueling America, begins at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX, with the green flag scheduled to fly shortly after 3 p.m. ET.

RELATED LINKS

• Keselowski wins Coors Light Pole Award (NASCAR.com, February 28, 2014)

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