Team Penske announced on Tuesday that REESE and Draw-Tite will serve as main sponsors for Brad and his No. 2 Ford Fusion for two races during the 2018 season. The Deuce will don the new lead sponsors in March at Martinsville Speedway and in September at Richmond Raceway. REESE branding will also be showcased on the No. 2 Ford throughout the 2018 MENCS season.

The agreement is part of a multi-year partnership between Team Penske and Horizon Global towing and trailering brands. The company will also serve as a full-season associate sponsor on the car driven by Simon Pagenaud in the Verizon IndyCar Series this season.

“Horizon Global is a Michigan-based, automotive-focused company, like Penske Corporation, and we welcome them to the Team Penske NASCAR and INDYCAR programs beginning this season,” team owner Roger Penske said. “We look forward to helping build the company’s REESE and Draw-Tite brands through motorsports and they’ll have some great opportunities working with two series champions in Brad and Simon.”

Horizon Global designs is based out of Troy, Michigan, not too far from where BK grew up in Rochester Hills. This company has been known for distributing an extensive list of towing, trailering, cargo management, and other accessory products for the automotive aftermarket. BK has been involved with Horizon Global since 2012, partnering with the company for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, where they sponsored his trucks for the majority of their runs.

As a result, Brad’s strong relationship with Horizon Global Americas President John Aleva helped the two sides come together for the possibility of extreme growth.

“We couldn’t be more enthusiastic to expand our motorsports involvement with Team Penske in 2018,” said John Aleva, President of Horizon Global Americas. “Over the past six seasons, we have developed a strong relationship with Brad and have seen first-hand how beneficial motorsports has been to our company. Taking the next step to grow our program with Team Penske is something we couldn’t pass up.”

BK will join the Horizon Global team at the North American International Auto Show on Thursday, January 18th, in Detroit.

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But BK and his No. 19 Draw-Tite Ford F-150 just didn’t quite have enough to edge Busch into victory lane in Charlotte.

Busch and his No. 51 Toyota led 130 of the 134 laps in the race and although BK came close to challenging him in the closing laps, several late cautions made that difficult and forced the No. 19 team to settle for a third-place finish.

“It would have been a great race if Kyle wasn’t here,” Brad joked. “We were hoping for a win with our Draw-Tite Ford F-150 but a decent night for sure. Kyle had the faster truck. … We need to find just a little more speed to run with the No. 51.”

Kes took that third-place finish from a third-place start on a thrilling night at Charlotte Motor Speedway. With a qualifying time of 29.586 seconds and speed of 182.519 mph, BK started in P3 behind Matt Crafton and Busch—mirroring their 1-2-3 finish.

BK managed to hang in contention through several near-wrecks over the course of the night.

The first came shortly after a Lap 73 restart with Brad running third behind Ron Hornaday Jr. and Busch. On Lap 74, Hornaday spun coming off Turn 4 and nearly collected Brad in a wreck that would’ve ended his night early. But BK was somehow able to get on his brakes hard enough to avoid much contact with Hornaday’s No. 30 machine, which had turned sideways in front of the No. 19.

Through in-car communication Michael Waltrip of the Fox Sports 1 announce team expressed shock to BK that he was able to avoid running through Hornaday as the No. 30 spun and complimented Brad’s driving to which Kes responded “Thanks Michael, me neither.”

“Yeah we got into him but I don’t think it did any significant damage,” BK said of Hornaday’s spin after the race. “It got our attention and made us worry. I think that didn’t have much of an effect on us but it was really cool looking.”    

Soon after, Kes again avoided a major disaster while running not far behind his Team BKR partner Ryan Blaney. Blaney, in Brad’s No. 29 Cooper Standard Careers for Veterans F-150, made a move to the inside to pass several cars near the front of the pack. But just as Blaney was making his move, John Wes Townley cut to the bottom of the track, knocking Blaney into the grass, which sent him back up into the outer wall.

When Blaney, who finished 22nd as a result of his accident, hit the grass, it sprayed Brad’s blue No. 19 with grass and mud, prompting crew chief Doug Randolph to call him back down pit road. While it was bad news for Blaney, the wreck allowed BK an opportunity to prepare to race for the win.

“Towards the end of the race when Ryan had his accident and went through the grass it covered our grill up with grass and mud,” Randolph said. “We were at that point where we knew tires would mean something at the end of the race. The grass on the grill actually helped make that decision for us. It just made sense to come down pit road and clean the grill and put on four tires.”

After the strategy call by the No. 19 team, Kes restarted in eighth and began to chase down Busch. Fitted with fresh tires, his Ford finally had the speed to challenge the race’s leader.

However, several cautions came out over the race’s final laps, leaving Brad with too few green flag laps to make his way to the front because he simply couldn’t match Busch’s short-run speed. As a result, Busch had little issue heading to victory lane, while BK settled for third.

After notching his fourth Top 10 finish in his last five truck starts, Kes was happy with the overall effort of his team. In the end, he said, he just needs to find a bit more speed to consistently race for truck wins.

“We tried to snooker ’em a little bit with tires there at the end but there were just so many yellows by the time we could get going there weren’t enough laps,” Kes said. “We had a good effort by everyone on the No. 19 BKR truck. We’ve just got to keep working and find some more speed in our trucks so we can run with anyone. I’m proud of my group but we’ve got more work to do.”

Brad’s No. 19 currently sits fifth in the NCWTS owner’s points standings, while the No. 29 is 14th.

RELATED ARTICLES

• Keselowski still a work in progress in trucks (NASCAR, May 16, 2014)
• Busch wins another NASCAR trucks race (MotorSportsTalk, May 16, 2014)
• Busch wins another Truck Series race at Charlotte (SportingNews, May 17, 2014)
• Busch takes fourth consecutive Truck Series win (Racer.com, May 17, 2014)
• Busch wins truck race at Charlotte (Charlotte Observer, May 16, 2014)

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Brad will be taking up the Team BKR banner in the NCWTS for the first time this season for the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 on Friday night, and he’ll be out to make it to victory lane for the first time in a truck.

Kes boasts six top-five and 11 top-10 finishes in 59 NCWTS starts, including second-place finishes in each of the last two years. One of those runner-up results came in 2012 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. No. 19 crew chief Doug Randolph believes Team BKR has two solid shots at victory this weekend. Brad will be joined on the track at Charlotte Friday night by teammate Ryan Blaney—who has two top-six finishes in three truck starts this year—in the No. 29 CareerforVeterans.org Cooper Standard F-150.

“(We’re) really comfortable,” Randolph said. ” You never know how the race is going to play out, but I definitely felt that both our Draw-Tite Ford F-150 and the Cooper Standard Careers For Veterans Ford F-150 were as good as anything there, and I think we’ve got two really good shots at winning, and it’s going to be exciting for us.”

Kes led 32 laps in his 2012 runner-up finish at Charlotte, and in four truck starts at the famed track, he has completed 94.4 percent of the laps run. He finished 14th in his last truck run at the track in 2013 the first of five NCWTS races for BK last year. He finished the season with three Top 10s.

The last time BK drove Charlotte in competition was last October in the Sprint Cup Series, when he recorded his first ever win at the track in the Bank of America 500. While drawing from that triumph, he also believes he’ll benefit from a recent NCWTS test session at CMS.

“I’m thankful that NASCAR put together a test for the teams to utilize a facility that’s close to a lot of the home bases at a rate that was collectively cost effective,” Brad said. ” I think it saved the industry a lot of money.  My hat’s off to them for being forward thinking and trying to get ahead a little bit on the intermediate package for 2014.  I think that’s probably a pretty good thing for our sport all the way around, a good move.” 

Randolph reiterated the importance of practice at the track.

“It’s always very critical in the Trucks because you know you have limited practice, limited sets of tires,” Randolph said. “If you unload and you have speed then you can fine-tune it.  If you don’t have speed suddenly you’re taking big swings at it.  And if the track is changing you really don’t know if you’re making gains or not.  Every week that’s important but Charlotte does change a lot so it is a little more important there.” 

Team BKR may have found something big in those test runs, as the No. 19 and No. 29 were excellent in Friday’s practice session. Blaney and the No. 29 crew were P2 with a top time of 29.953 seconds and Kes was right behind in P4 after turning a 29.971-second lap.

BK will put that practice to use later this afternoon in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series qualifying session, which will be broadcast on Fox Sports 1 at 5:40 p.m. EDT

The North Carolina Education Lottery 200 will follow shortly thereafter. Coverage begins on FS1 at 8 p.m. EDT with the green flag set to fly at around 8:30 p.m. EDT.

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Brad Keselowski Racing (BKR) announced today that the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series team owned by the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion and 2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series champion has signed one of its primary partners, Cequent Performance Products (Cequent), to a multi-year contract extension.

Cequent, a leading designer, manufacturer, and marketer of a broad range of towing and trailer accessory products, has partnered with BKR since 2012 and is currently in the middle of an existing agreement with the race-winning team that runs through the 2014 season.  The new agreement takes effect in 2015 and will continue through 2017, during which time Cequent brands such as Draw-Tite and Reese will be featured as the primary sponsor on the No. 19 BKR Ford F-150 for at least ten (10) races each season.  Cequent will also continue to receive associate sponsor branding on the No. 19 entry for the balance of the races and be featured on the No. 29 BKR Cooper Standard Ford F-150 as an associate sponsor for every Truck Series race each season.

“I’m absolutely thrilled to continue our relationship with Cequent Performance Products,” said Keselowski. “Their unwavering commitment to BKR for the foreseeable future will help our racing program immensely.  Knowing we have Cequent’s full support is a key component toward BKR’s ultimate goal of winning the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship. Cequent partnering with BKR for what will be six years speaks to the strength of our relationship and how we as a team are able to deliver results for Cequent on the race track from an exposure and engagement perspective as well as help the company grow its business with key customers.”

Brad’s sentiments were shared by Cequent Performance Products President Tom Benson, who noted how much his company values the partnership.

“The Cequent Performance Products team and its brands, such as Draw-Tite and Reese, take great pride in announcing our multi-year commitment to Brad Keselowski and BKR,” said Benson. “This racing program elicits excitement from our employees and customers throughout the year and has given us the ability to form key relationships toward helping build our business. The partnership has become a part of Cequent’s identity, and we couldn’t be happier to continue our affiliation with Brad and his team.”

About Cequent Performance Products:
Cequent Performance Products is the industry’s largest manufacturer of trailer aftermarket / OE towing and trailer accessory products. Each product is engineered and tested to meet and often exceed the industry’s highest standards. Product focuses include vehicle specific trailer hitches, electric trailer brake controls, trailer breakaway systems, fifth wheel hitches, gooseneck hitches and couplers, trailer weight distribution systems, cargo management, custom designed and standard electrical harnesses, trailer jacks, and much more. Brand names include Bargman, Bulldog, Draw-Tite, Fulton, Hidden Hitch, Pro Series, Reese, ROLA, Tekonsha, Tow Ready, and Wesbar. Cequent Performance Products is a subsidiary of TriMas Corporation. For additional information, please visit www.CequentGroup.com.

About Brad Keselowski Racing (BKR):
Based in Mooresville, North Carolina and led by NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and NASCAR Nationwide Series champion Brad Keselowski (@Keselowski), Brad Keselowski Racing (@TeamBKR) fields the No. 19 and the No. 29 Ford F-150 trucks in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. BKR, with the aim to provide young talented drivers the opportunity to improve their skills with a professional, competitive team, has also fielded entries in the ARCA Series and other developmental motorsport series. For more information, please visit www.BradRacing.com and www.TeamBKR.com.

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BK will drive the No. 19 Ford F-150 in the WinStar World Casino 350, his fifth truck series race of the season and the 59th of his career. It marks the start to a triple threat weekend at Texas for Brad. He will also race the No. 22 Discount Tire Mustang in Saturday’s Nationwide race and of course, the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion in Sunday’s Cup race.

“It’s always exciting to race in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series,” Brad said. “I can’t wait to get my Draw-Tite Ford F-150 on track in Texas on Friday night. Hope we can start the triple header weekend off strong with a win and keeps the momentum going.”

Though Brad remains winless in the Camping World Truck Series, that streak hasn’t come without some great runs. BK has six career Top 5 finishes in the CWTS, including five second place finishes, all of them in the last three years. He’s finished second twice this year — at Kentucky and Chicago — and was competing for the win before a late spinout at Bristol.

Brad has, however, struggled in the CWTS at Texas in particular. He has never finished in the Top 20 in three career truck races at Texas, where he last ran a truck in 2005. The No. 29 truck that Brad ran all three of his previous CWTS races at Texas was owned by his father, Bob Keselowski. On Friday, BK will be running in his own truck, the Brad Keselowski Racing No. 19 Draw Tite Ford F-150, which currently sits third in the Camping World Truck Series points standings, 46 points back of first.

The long weekend at Texas got off to a great start for BK and the No. 19 team as they improved on a 15th place run in the first practice to run fastest in the second practice, with a lap of 29.761 seconds. He’ll start Friday night’s race on the seventh row after a 13th place qualifying run on Friday afternoon.

Engines fire for the Winstar World Casino 350 at around 8:30 p.m. ET on Friday night and the race can be seen live on Fox Sports 1

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Brad takes the wheel of the No. 19 Draw-Tite F-150 for the EnjoyIllinois.com 225 at Chicagoland Speedway on Friday in his 58th career Camping World Truck Series race still seeking that elusive first win in the series, the only one of NASCAR’s big three in which he hasn’t been to Victory Lane as a driver.

“I am excited to get back in my own equipment this weekend at Chicagoland Speedway,” Brad said.

The race will be BK’s first Camping World Truck Series run ever at Chicagoland. Kes last compete in the Truck series on August 21st at Bristol and he was in contention for that first win there until the car in front of him on the restart stalled, creating a chain effect that caused the driver behind Brad to hit BK’s No. 19 in the rear and send it spinning, effectively taking him out of the running for a win.

Since that run by BK, 21-year-old Ross Chastain has been running the No. 19 machine and finished seventh the next week at Bowmanville, then was in pole position and led 116 laps, but finished second last weekend at Iowa Speedway.

The second place finish was one of two Top 5’s and four Top 10’s for Chastain in nine runs in the No. 19 truck this year. Brad has two Top 10’s in three races, ninth at Bristol and second earlier in the season at Kentucky. The No. 19 BKR team now sits fourth in the NCWTS owner points standings, 55 points back from first.

Entering Friday night’s race, BK believes the team has what it takes to finally finish a truck race in Victory Lane.

“We came close at Bristol, and Ross Chastain did an excellent job in the truck last weekend at Iowa Speedway,” Brad said. “I’m confident in this team, and we continue to grow stronger as an organization.”

Brad was by far the fastest in the opening practice session on Friday morning with a 176.08 mph, 30.667-second lap, but dropped down to sixth in practice and qualified 11th in the afternoon. He’ll start in the sixth row when the green flag drops for the Camping World Truck Series EnjoyIllinois.com 225, shortly after 8:30 p.m. EDT. The race can be seen live on FOX Sports 1.

RELATED ARTICLES

• Keselowski, Burton Top Opening Truck Practices (NASCAR.com, August 13, 2013)

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But as he sat in fourth place on a restart, Brad was just behind the wrong guy at the wrong time. Second place Matt Crafton’s No. 88 truck stalled on the restart, leaving Brad and his No. 19 Cequent F-150 with no place to go.

“In racing you have to have speed, execution and luck,” Brad said afterward. “We had two of the three and that’s not enough.”

With the No. 88 stalled in front of him, BK was contacted from behind and spun around onto the apron while the whole field passed him by. Following the caution, Brad restarted at the tail end of the lead lap in 13th and picked up four spots to finish ninth in his third Camping World Truck race of the season.

Afterward Kes lamented the unfortunate turn of events that cost him a chance to challenge Kyle Busch for the win.

“The truck in front of me ran out of gas and you’re not allowed to pass before the line. But I couldn’t have made the move even if I tried, it happened so quick,” he said. “When he ran out of fuel, I got hit from behind and instantly turned. At least it didn’t destroy my truck. But still with what it does to the tires, I didn’t really have a chance from there. But I guess that’s just racing.”

BK didn’t blame Crafton for what happened, in fact he said the incident is another example of a continuing problem in Truck series races on high-banked tracks like Bristol or Dover.

“The way the fuel cells are in the trucks, on banked tracks like this, they just don’t pick up the fuel,” he said. “So even if you have enough fuel, if you’re low on fuel it won’t pick it up and you run out of gas.”

Salvaging a ninth place finish kept BKR’s No. 19 truck in the sixth spot in the Owner’s Point Standings and was one of two Top 10s for Brad Keselowski Racing. BKR driver Ryan Blaney drove to a third place finish to pick up a spot into 7th in the Camping World Truck Series driver points standings.

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I have been a fan of Brad’s since his days at JR Motorsports, also being a huge fan of Dale Jr. I was thrilled when he won the championship last year, and I’m hoping he will do it again this year.

Going to Richmond, we walked around and enjoyed the fan area and bought stuff. We went to the tweet up, and we were lucky enough to meet Brad’s brother Brian. Brian was nice enough to let me take a picture with him, and I got his autograph. I haven’t had the opporunity to meet Brad, yet but I’m hoping to at Dover, because he doing a Q&A and the track walk.

Listening to Brad on the radio at Richmond was enteraining — especially when he made it through the one big wreck. That happened right in front of us!

I hate that Brad had the bad luck that he did, but it was awesome to watch him come back from being laps down to running on the lead lap. That’s what I love about him. He never gives up! Plus, he is entertaining on Twitter, and definitely knows how to put a smile on a girl’s face when she is having a down day.

I have tweeted him, but haven’t gotten anything back yet. Maybe one day!

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It appeared that chance might come when the caution flag came out at Lap 122. But as the cars made their way around to take the yellow flag, the No. 54 of Darrell Wallace Jr. got loose and made contact with Brad’s No. 2 Draw Tite Ford F-150.

That contact sent BK into the wall and caused heavy damage to the right side of the car, crushing his chances for his first Camping World Truck Series win. Brad was able to stay in the race after pitting under caution and finished 14th.

RELATED ARTICLES

• Busch wins Truck Series Race at Charlotte (NASCAR.com, May 17, 2013)
• Kyle Busch snaps streak, wins Truck race at Charlotte (USA Today, May 17, 2013)

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Brad will be racing No. 2 Draw-Tite Ford F-150 in the Camping World Truck Series North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The goal for Brad will be to win the race, something he has never done in the Camping World Truck Series.

With a win, BK would not only become the 24th driver to win a race in each of the three major NASCAR series’ he’d also become a member of the first father-son combo ever to win in the CWTS. Brad’s father Bob was one of the original drivers for the series in its inaugural 1995 season and won the Virginia Is For Lovers 200 at Richmond International Raceway in 1997.

“A chance to win in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series would be an incredible feat,” Brad said. “It would be great to rewind to the beginning of my career and become the only father-son combination to win in the Truck Series.”

Brad has made 54 Camping World Truck Series starts over his career and has finished as high as second, a feat he has accomplished three times, including last year at Charlotte. He led for 32 laps over the course of the race but Justin Lofton got the win.

BK will be driving a car fielded by Brad Keselowski Racing and Penske Racing Nationwide crew chief Jeremy Bullins will be his crew chief for the race. Fellow Sprint Cup driver Kyle Busch will also compete in the race on Friday night, the fifth race this season for the Camping World Truck Series.

Green flag for the Camping World Truck Series North Carolina Education Lottery 200 is slated to drop shortly after 8 p.m. EDT and the race can be seen on SPEED.

RELATED ARTICLES

• Keselowski Aiming For Personal Mark In Trucks (NASCAR.com, May 14, 2013)

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