That was the end result of a wild day at Phoenix International Raceway on Sunday that saw BK’s spot in the finals threatened by strong runs at the win from Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott. But ultimately it was Matt Kenseth who crossed victorious in the desert, allowing BK, who finished 16th after a rough weekend, to advance to the championship race on points.

“We overcame a lot of obstacles and jumped a lot of hurdles today. I am glad I don’t have to relive this day, that is for sure,” Brad said after advancing. “I am just looking forward to going to Homestead with this Miller Lite Ford team. We probably should have been locked in after Martinsville with the effort we put in that weekend so if this is a little bit of redemption then I am happy for all these guys. We’ve had a good year and they deserve a shot at another championship. We have that now and we will make the most of it.”

The Deuce lacked the speed necessary to compete for a race win in Phoenix that would’ve locked BK into the championship automatically. Instead, the 2 Crew had to their best with what they had, keep the Miller Lite Ford Fusion as clean and free of incident as possible and then hope that one of the four other playoff drivers not already locked into the championship: Hamlin, Elliott, Ryan Blaney and Jimmie Johnson failed to win that automatic entry.

Johnson, the seven-time Cup champion, was a non-factor as a mid-race wreck knocked his struggling No. 48 car from contention. Blaney, who will be BK’s teammate at Team Penske next season, sat on the pole but after leading the first 11 laps never again made it back to the front. But Hamlin and Elliott were factors all day, leaving the 2 Crew on the edge of their seats from start to finish.

Meanwhile, BK scuffled through a fairly uneventful day. The 2 Crew did their best to make adjustments on the Miller Lite Ford, which finished the first segment further back (in 18th) than they’d started the day (16th). A bump from the team’s adjustments after the first segment allowed Brad to move up a bit to 13th, but he still failed to score any stage points.

BK finally started to gain some ground late in the race, and that’s when things got wild. After leading 193 laps and nabbing 19 stage points at Phoenix, Hamlin had a leg up on Brad in points with under 50 laps to go. But with Brad running seventh, Hamlin and the other closest threat for the championship spot, Elliott, got together for some rough racing on the one-mile desert oval.

Elliott clearly had the stronger machine at this point, but Hamlin fought him tooth and nail, and the two eventually made contact that brushed Hamlin against the wall. Elliott moved by and it seemed as though Hamlin would survive, but a few laps later, his tire went down as a result of the earlier contact, Hamlin hit the wall hard and his day was done.

That left Elliott as the lone real threat to the spot. During the ensuing caution, crew chief Paul Wolfe elected to bring the Deuce down pit road for four fresh tires. As a result, Brad feel back outside of the Top 15, where he stayed for the rest of the day. Meanwhile, Elliott eventually grabbed the lead and appeared prime to grab his first career win and send the 2 Crew home empty-handed. But with less than 20 laps to go, Kenseth started to close the gap and he passed Elliott for the lead with 10 to go.

From there, the 2 Crew was in waiting mode, hoping to finish the day without a caution. Things got a little scary during that 10 lap period as the temps in the Miller Lite Ford started to spike, but Brad nursed it to the end and there was no yellow to give Elliott another chance as Kenseth cruised to the checkered flag.

So, despite a middling 16th place finish, Brad’s consistent performance throughout the playoffs locked him into the championship race on points alone and he will race Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick for the championship next weekend at Homestead-Miami.

“This feels a little bit like Christmas. Sometimes you need a little luck on your side. Today we had that. It wasn’t by any means where we wanted to run. We wanted to run up front and have a shot for the win. That wasn’t in the cards. We tried to run the smartest race we could and survive and it ended up paying off in the end.”

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Championship race is slated for this Sunday, November 19 from Homested-Miami Speedway. Coverage begins at 1 p.m. ET on NBC with the green flag for the final race of the 2017 season slated to wave at around 2:45 p.m. ET.

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Unfortunately, the luck that fell their way at Talladega just wasn’t there at Kansas Speedway as BK finished 13th. He will, however, enter the Round of 8 in third place at 4,026 points.

“The Miller Lite Ford Fusion was good enough and better than our finish,” Brad said. “All in all, my guys put a good effort in it and I think we were better than we finished. We put ourselves in position to capitalize on strategy and execution multiple times today and we just didn’t catch any breaks. You’ll have that. Now it’s on to Martinsville.”

BK earned his third straight Top 10 start, qualifying in 10th for the Hollywood Casino 400. Right from the start, Brad battled a Miller Lite Ford that lacked stability entering Kansas’ corners. The loose handling caused BK to drop out of the Top 10, back to 14th when the competition caution was displayed at lap 30.

Paul Wolfe’s crew made air pressure and wedge adjustments to the White Lite, allowing it to battle to 11th before the conclusion of Stage 1, and Brad’s machine came alive in Stage 2. BK had powered his way back into the Top 10 to seventh before pitting at lap 144. Here, Wolfe employed some strategy to vault the No. 2 Ford to third for the end of the second stage.

Unfortunately, BK’s Stage 3 hopes took a hit before the segment began. He was flagged for speeding entering his pit stall, dropping him to the rear of the field. Over the next 90 laps, Brad drove all the way back into the Top 10. He was in seventh when he made his final pit stop at lap 239—but he was hit for speeding in the same section once again.

He restarted 22nd, but with 25 laps to go, he didn’t have time to make up the distance, finishing 13th.

“I don’t understand the pit road speeding penalties and will have to see that with my own eyes,” BK said after the race.

The MENCS Playoffs head to Martinsville Speedway to open the Round of 8. BK will return to the Virginia short track as the recent winner, having taken home his first career Grandfather Clock at the Cup level earlier this season.

He’ll look to replicate that performance when the First Data 500 goes green Sunday at 3:13 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

MENCS PLAYOFF STANDINGS

1. Martin Truex Jr. – 4069
2. Kyle Busch – 4042
3. Brad Keselowski – 4026
T4. Kevin Harvick – 4017
T4. Jimmie Johnson – 4017
6. Denny Hamlin – 4014
7. Ryan Blaney – 4009
8. Chase Elliott – 4006

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It was easier for the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion driver to sleep this week knowing he isn’t in need of a spectacular finish at this weekend’s 1.5-mile track, BK knows he’ll have to stay sharp to be ready for the challenges that await in the next round.

“To be able to win and to advance to the next round of the playoffs, and not have to deal with all of that, it’s really special,” BK said after his Talladega win. “I’m going to get to play a few more video games late nights because I don’t have to worry about Kansas as much, but right around the corner is Texas, Martinsville and Phoenix—those are three tough tracks.”

Brad, crew chief Paul Wolfe the Team Penske group will look to sharpen its sword on the 1.5-mile Kansas track. Mile-and-a-half speedways constitute the backbone of the Monster Energy Cup Series playoffs, including the championship venue, Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Kes showed some speed at Kansas earlier this season, finishing second to Martin Truex Jr.—coincidentally the only other driver currently locked into the Round of 8.

“We had a really good Elite Support Ford Fusion all day and just never had a chance to show it,” BK said at Kansas in May. “Every time we started to pass cars and cycle up to the front, we had some kind of issue, which was a real bummer to not be able to showcase the strength that we had.”

That marked Brad’s second-best finish ever at Kansas, behind only his win in 2011, the second trip to Victory Lane of his MENCS career.

While BK will quietly be looking for his second win at Kansas, 10 of his competitors will be scrambling to stack as many points as possible in hopes of joining him in the Round of 8.

The first practice and the qualifying session will take place on Friday at 2:25 and 6:15 p.m. ET, respectively. Two more practice sessions will follow Saturday at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. ET. Finally, the Hollywood Casino 400 will go green around 3 p.m. ET Sunday. All weekend coverage will take place on NBCSN.

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BK showed once again that he’s the driver to beat on restrictor plate tracks—and especially at NASCAR’s longest track in Talladega. Kes now boasts five trips to Victory Lane at the 2.66-mile Alabama track, good for sole possession of fourth place all-time, just one win behind Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Ironically, Brad’s No. 2 Miller Lite machine was paying homage to Dale Jr. in the win, making a spectacular weekend that much more special.

“This is still sinking in,” BK said. “It is a special place to get to race and a special place when you win here. It was really a collaborative effort with the team and getting a real fast car and making the right moves as a driver and a lot of help from up above with staying out of those wrecks. It really takes all three and we had them all today.”

Only 14 cars finished the race, including just 12 on the lead lap in a wild afternoon of restrictor plate racing. Brad managed to skirt through each wreck—successfully filling the luck factor that is vital to a win at Talladega. And for part of the race, BK did it with no contact whatsoever with his crew chief Paul Wolfe or his sponsor Joey Meier, who is always instrumental to his success in restrictor plate events.

“It was one of those crazy days,” Brad said. “I think we have seen that at the plate tracks this year. A lot of attrition. Everything that could happen to us today did happen. From the radio problem to coming from the back a couple of times, we just were up against it today.  Thankfully, with the moves we were able to make and the help of got from my spotter (Joey Meier). We just stuck with it and we were able to win.”

Early on, Team Penske employed some strategy to earn a Stage 1 win. Brad and his teammates Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney slipped back out of line midway through the first stage and pitted early. As a result, they cycled out to the front for the conclusion of the first stage, earning Brad a valuable playoff point, as well as 10 extra stage points. Brad later finished ninth in Stage 2, just one position behind Blaney away from a Talladega sweep.

Late in that second stage, the Miller Lite Ford lost its radio antenna, leaving Brad out in the cold. With no contact with his spotter, BK slid back to 15th before pitting under green at lap 145. On this stop, Kes made a power move, passing several drivers before slowing his machine down entering pit road. During the two-tire stop, Brad’s crew tried to hook him up with a new antenna, but only a partial connection was made.

After a caution with 33 laps to go, BK made a speech about how he could win the race without the radio, but Wolfe called him back down pit road. The Miller 2 Crew successfully repaired the radio, and the three men who know their way around a restrictor plate track as well as anyone in the sport were connected once again.

Kes restarted 30th with 29 laps to go and regained 10 spots. He then skated through several massive wrecks relatively unscathed, and after three red flags totaling more than 30 minutes of downtime, Brad found himself leading the remaining field with three laps to go. Ryan Newman led taking the white flag, but BK could not be denied at his best track. Kes used one final bump from his teammate, Logano, to gain the final edge over Newman and lead his seventh lap of the race as the checkered flag flew.

“It’s nice to be locked into the next round, but then again, we still have work to do,” BK said. “We aren’t going to be happy until we are racing in Homestead for a Championship.”

MENCS PLAYOFF STANDINGS

1. Martin Truex Jr. – 3120*
2. Brad Keselowski – 3101*
3. Kyle Larson – 3096
4. Kevin Harvick – 3089
5. Denny Hamlin – 3088
6. Chase Elliott – 3087
7. Ryan Blaney – 3076
8. Jimmie Johnson – 3074

— ROUND OF 8 CUTLINE —

9. Kyle Busch – 3067
10. Matt Kenseth – 3066
11. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – 3052
12. Jamie McMurray – 3045

* – Clinched Round of 8 Berth

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BK will sport a special Miller Lite paint scheme on his No. 2 Ford Fusion, a nod to Brad’s first ride, the NAVY 88 he drove for Dale Jr.’s XFINITY Series team.

“Dale and I are great friends, and he gave me a chance to drive for him in 2007, and that opportunity changed my life,” Brad said. “I was very, very fortunate to drive for him, and to have his help building a career. I don’t know if I’d be where I am without him, but I’m glad I don’t have to find out. So to honor my friend and everything he’s done for me, we’re going to be racing at Talladega this weekend with a new paint scheme, an homage to my days driving the NAVY 88.”

In that special paint scheme, Brad will look to improve his standing in the Monster Energy Cup Series playoffs. After finishing 15th at Charlotte, BK enters the second Round of 12 race in 10th place, though he’s just two points behind the eighth-place cutline. But given Dega’s unpredictable nature, Brad knows he’ll have to be on his game for the Alabama 500.

“Everybody enters Talladega with a strategy,” Brad said. “Then they drop the green.”

Fortunately, few drivers know their way around the 2.66-mile track better than Brad. He boasts four wins at the restrictor plate surface, including a monumental playoff win there in 2014.

“Talladega has been good to me,” Brad said. “Winning four times means a lot here. Talladega has been a track for us that’s been a great catalyst for success. I don’t know why that is. It’s a track where if you’re capable of winning here, I think you show a certain level of attitude and swagger.”

If he can replicate that performance, he’ll be in the Round of 8. There are two practice sessions set for Friday at 1 and 3 p.m. ET. Qualifying is set for 4 p.m. ET Saturday. The Alabama 500 will go green at 2 p.m. ET on NBC.

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The No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion driver won Stage 1 in the third and final race of the Round of 16, the Apache Warrior 400 at Dover International Speedway. Already locked into the second round due to his strong Top 5 performances in the first two races of the opening round, Kes enjoyed a stress-free run at The Monster Mile, and logged his 17th Top 10 finish of the year, crossing in 10th.

“We had some pretty good strategy running long and caught the yellow cycle. Then we had a good pit stop that put us in position to win the first stage which was good,” Brad said. “Then we cycled back to sixth the next two rounds and fought really hard from there to just keep track position. We were holding on to sixth or seventh most of the race and at the end we tried to a little bit of strategy and it just didn’t quite work out.”

The White Lite wasn’t overpowering when it rolled off the hauler in Dover. Brad qualified just 16th, but as always, the Miller 2 Crew made the most of it on race day.

BK tried to drive the Team Penske No. 2 ahead in the field in the early going, fighting loose handling entering corners and tightness in the center. Fortunately, he got some help from lady luck late in Stage 1.

The long-pitting strategy has paid off for Paul Wolfe and Co. in the past, and it did again. Brad remained out on the Dover concrete late in the pit cycle while nearly all of his competitors had already gone in for service. A timely caution came out, allowing BK to pit from second place, a lap ahead of the competition. Some outstanding work by Wolfe’s crew had him back out on the track in first place. From there, a strong run on the restart helped Brad cruise to his fifth stage win of the year.

Stage 2 saw Brad slip all the way back to 10th before recovering for an eighth-place finish to add a few more points to his Round of 16 resume. The White Lite awoke to show some strong speed in the final stage, and with that, Wolfe tried to dip back into the long-pitting pond. Unfortunately, it didn’t work the second time around.

The caution Brad needed never came out, and he was cycled back to 15th after finally pitting at lap 340. That gave him just 60 miles to push his way back to the front. The Miller Lite Ford driver clawed his way back into the Top 10 before the checkered flag flew.

The points now reset and Brad remains fourth in a 12-man field as the Monster Energy Cup Series heads to Charlotte Motor Speedway for the Bank of America 500. Brad won the event in 2013—a feat he’ll look to replicate on the 1.5-mile Carolina track.

MENCS STANDINGS

1. Martin Truex Jr. – 3059
2. Kyle Busch – 3041
3. Kyle Larson – 3034
4. Brad Keselowski – 3020
5. Jimmie Johnson – 3017
6. Kevin Harvick – 3015
7. Denny Hamlin – 3013
8. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – 3010
9. Ryan Blaney – 3008
10. Chase Elliott – 3006
11. Matt Kenseth – 3005
12. Jamie McMurray – 3003

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Brad’s No. 2 Ford in Wurth colors showed great speed at The Monster Mile earlier this year, but it could only show it for 66 laps. Just one week after another competitor’s wreck knocked him out a Charlotte, Kes was taken out by a spinning Kurt Busch in Dover, ending his day early.

“It really stinks to DNF two weeks in a row, but to make it worse I think we had cars capable of competing for the win both weeks,” BK said at Dover in June. “It’s unfortunate that we haven’t been able to show the speed in our Ford Fusions.”

Despite that result, Brad does have a strong history at the 1-mile Delaware track. He boasts six Top 10 finishes, five in the Top 5, two poles and a win that helped fuel his 2012 Cup Championship run. He also finished runner-up twice at The Monster Mile in 2014.

“Dover is an incredible challenge,” BK said. “You literally drive into the corner and you fall down two stories, while going about 160mph, and your stomach just drops. Your right foot has to stay in the gas pedal, and that challenge to do that every lap for three hours is very tough.”

While Kes will have his hands full, he won’t have to deal with the pressure that the majority of his competitors are feeling. Brad is one of four drivers to have clinched a spot in the Round of 12. Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch are in on wins, while Kyle Larson and BK have enough of a cushion on the 12th-place cutline that they can’t fall out of the Top 12 based on points.

Four drivers will be eliminated after the race, setting the stage for a hectic weekend at a track that requires no extra pressure to be difficult. Qualifying is set for 3:40 p.m. ET after the initial practice at 10 a.m., both to be aired on NBCSN. CNBC will carry Saturday’s practice sessions. Finally, the Apache Warrior 400 will go green shortly after 2 p.m. ET Sunday and will air on NBCSN.

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