After all, the day nearly ended in catastrophe before BK and his team even got going. So finishing where they did, in the fifth position, was no small feat. And it gave Brad a 19-point cushion on the fourth and final championship spot.

“It was a long day for everybody on the Wurth Ford Fusion team,” Brad said of the AAA Texas 500. “This is the best we ran on a mile-and-a-half in some time, so I’m happy about that. I’m disappointed with the way the race started. It probably cost us 10 or more points, but I’m happy with the rebound.”

However, it wasn’t all good news for the 2 team at Texas. The race win by Kevin Harvick, along with a great points day from Martin Truex Jr. locking the No. 78 into the championship, leaves just that one spot left in the championship.

Brad currently holds that spot, but a win at Phoenix next week by one of the other four playoff drivers: Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott or Jimmie Johnson, would serve to knock Brad from title contention, regardless of his own result. That potential outcome will make for a heart-stopping weekend in the desert.

“We’ll need to go and have a solid race at Phoenix next week and hope none of the other guys win,” BK said. “It’s doable, but it’s going to be a nail-biter next week for sure.”

That edgy action will likely echo Sunday’s race. As it so often seems to in the NASCAR playoffs,
drama took its course early in the second race of the Round of 8.

Incidental contact between the No. 2 and the No. 18 car of Kyle Busch on the opening lap caused a flat tire on the Wurth machine, sending the Deuce, which started the race from P10, down pit road. After a frantic pit stop to change out the worn rubber, the 2 Crew got BK back out on the track. But he resumed the race one lap down, in 39th position, a long road ahead of him to get back to the front of the field.

However, staying focused with championship determination proved to be a recipe for success on Sunday for the No. 2 team. BK pushed forward through the 85-lap first segment, finishing it in P26 even though his Ford was loose on a corner entry and tight on exit. But Kes was clearly resolute to fight through any and all issues he encountered along the way on this day.

Early in the second segment, he caught his first break of the day, when a caution flag came out with the 2 as the first car one lap down. The lucky dog put him back on the lead lap and positioned him well to squeeze his way up to 14th position by the end of the second segment.

From there BK willed his Wurth Ford machine up to 11th position on Lap 178, then not only broke into the Top 10, but the Top 5 before Lap 200. Maintaining a Top 5 position from there on out proved to be a task he was up for, despite several late caution periods near the close of the race, which kept fans on the edge of their seats.

For BK, the fifth-place finish was a masterclass in overcoming adversity. And NBC Sports commentator Kyle Petty said it best regarding the heart of a champion show by the entire 2 Crew on Sunday.

“There are moments in every season and every career that you look at and say, ‘That is a championship level performance’. What Brad Keselowski, Paul Wolfe and that Penske team did today is championship level,” Petty. “They fought their way back.”

The Top 5 finish was BK’s 15th of the season, leaving him two shy of a career-high in that department. Despite earning no bonus points for leading laps or Top 10 stage finishes, Brad still solidified his grip on the fourth championship spot, as he’ll take a 19-point lead over fifth place Hamlin to Phoenix.

However, the looming prospect of a new race winner out of the Round of 8 contenders will keep things competitive from the first green flag through checkers at Phoenix. Coverage of the Can-Am 500 begins at 2 p.m. ET Sunday on NBC with the green flag scheduled to wave at 2:37 p.m. ET.

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However, given the speed of the Toyota stable on mile-and-a-half tracks like this weekend’s venue, Texas Motor Speedway, BK and Co. know they have work left to be done. With that in mind, Brad and his team are ready to do whatever is necessary to advance to the Championship Round.

“This No. 2 Wurth Ford team is focused on the task ahead of us, and we’re committed to doing the work,” Brad said. “We’re going tap into the Penske ethos of ‘Effort equals Results’ and see what happens.”

Brad has found postseason success at Texas Motor Speedway before. He boasts two second-place finishes at the 1.5-mile Fort Worth, Texas track. The first came in 2012 and played an enormous role in his 2012 Cup Championship run.

The second came in 2015 and as one of the most dominant performances of Brad’s career. His fast Wurth Ford landed on the pole, and he led 312 of 334 laps. He couldn’t finish the victory, as Jimmie Johnson had his No. 48 tuned perfectly for the final run, whereas the previously dominant No. 2 didn’t quite have it in the end.

“We just came up a bit short,” BK said two years ago. “We didn’t have any thing to shrug our shoulders about or feel bad about—the 48 was just a little bit better at the end. I held him off as long as I could, but there was no stopping that much speed. It’s unfortunate, but I’m not going to focus on not winning the race—I’m going to focus on the great things we did today and the knowledge that if we keep running like this, there’s a strong chance we can win the next two races and this championship.”

Unfortunately, that didn’t quite come to fruition for the 2 Crew, as they were left just outside of the title picture in 2015—an outcome BK hopes to change in 2017.

BK has finished in the Top 20 in his last 10 Texas starts, including a sixth-place run there earlier this season. NASCAR Playoff drama was at an all-time high last week, and that likely won’t change when the series heads to Texas for the third-to-last race of the year.

The No. 2 team will have one practice session Friday (1 p.m. ET) and two more Saturday (3 and 5 p.m. ET) to fine-tune the Wurth machine. Qualifying is set for 6:15 p.m. ET Friday, and the AAA Texas 500 will go green at 2:16 p.m. ET on Sunday on NBCSN.

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The 2 Crew overcame a jack malfunction on pit road and a machine that wasn’t quite as fast as desired to secure a ninth-place finish. After the tough day, BK was proud of the perseverance shown by his squad.

“Yeah, that was a reasonable finish for us for sure,” BK said. “We weren’t probably as fast as we wanted to be, but we stayed very persistent as a team and that is good.”

The 2 Crew kicked off the Overton’s 301 from 11th place but quickly proved they had a piece to contend with. BK drove the car into the Top 5 prior to the lap 30 competition caution, and crew chief Paul Wolfe used that as an opportunity to bring the car down pit road. While changing tires, the jack gave out, resulting in a drop back to P22. Valiant as ever, BK managed to drive back inside the Top 15 by the end of the first Stage on lap 75.

However, while the 2 Crew was changing tires, the jack gave out, resulting in a longer than average stop and a drop back to P22 as a result. Valiant as ever, BK managed to drive back inside the Top 15 by the end of the first Stage on lap 75.

“The [first] pit stop was a bummer,” he said on the faulty jack. “I am not sure what happened there. Nobody wants to see that happen.”

Similar to the XFINITY race the day before, the Monster Energy Cup Series event experienced a red flag, but this was for track repairs from the VHT traction compound applied to the racing surface.

“I don’t know if the compound made things any racier,” BK said afterward. “It was certainly different but I don’t know if it was — I have to think about that one.”

As the race progressed, the VHT wore off, drastically changing the track conditions in the process. Noticing a swing to the loose side, Brad dropped back out of the Top 20 by the time Stage 2 ended.

In the second half of the race, the conditions started to swing back the way BK wanted. Settling into 12th position on lap 178, he held the spot until pitting under green on lap 247 for a full set of tires and fuel. The 12.6-second stop cycled the Deuce out to 21st place. Three laps later, the Michigan-born driver unlapped himself and started his charge to gain those lost positions.

He had driven up to 16th when the final caution flew on lap 261 for a Ryan Newman wreck. Wolfe threw one last set of Goodyear rubber on the Deuce and prepped his driver for the remaining 40 laps. Restarting 13th, he passed Danica Patrick, Jamie McMurray, Chase Elliott and Dale Earnhardt Jr. before the end of the race en route to a ninth place result.

Looking forward to next week, the Monster Energy Cup Series heads to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Brantley Gilbert Big Machine Brickyard 400. Legendary car owner Roger Penske has the 2.5-mile superspeedway dialed in on the open-wheeled IndyCar side, but Team Penske is yet to score a Cup Series win at the famed track. Tune in and see if Brad & Co. can change that on Sunday, July 23 at 2:30 p.m. ET, when the race airs live on NBC.

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Kes led a race-high 102 laps and picked up a Stage 2 victory, but a late mishap on pit road cost the Team Penske crew a shot at victory as they settled for fifth place.

“We just had an ill-timed pit road penalty there at the end of the race,” Brad said. “I don’t have a much better way to say it than that.”

Starting from the second spot, Brad snatched the lead early in the opening laps and held it until a red flag for rain on lap 30. Pitting from the first position, he took right side tires in a 6.6-second stop, shaping up for a P10 restart behind those who stayed out.

Going green on lap 35, it took him five laps to claw up to seventh, and when Stage 1 ended on lap 35, BK also passed Brennan Poole and Justin Allgaier to break into the Top 5.

Kes restarted fourth on lap 52 and, seven laps later, passed Kyle Larson and Ryan Preece to claim second place. After some more time to track down the leader, lap 73 saw Brad pass Kyle Busch for the lead once again. Holding the lead until the end of the second Stage on lap 90, the Discount Tire crew led the field onto pit road, electing to take four tires and fuel in 14.5 seconds, en route to a P4 restart.

Going green on lap 97, it only took five laps this time to rise back to the top. Kes held steady out in front until the lap-170 green-flag pit stop. The stop was clean until the very end. The gas can was caught in the fueling nozzle as Brad pulled away, and the ensuing pass-through penalty forced the dominant car and driver to surrender a victory.

Despite that last mishap, Brad still powered his way to a Top 5 finish on what he called a fun day with a disappointing end.

“It is always fun being fast and leading the most laps and all, that but we just didn’t put the whole race together today,” Kes said.

After their disappointment of a finish, the 22 Team still boasts a whopping 98-point cushion in Owners’ Points over Chip Ganassi’s No. 42 entry.

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“I’m really looking forward to New Hampshire,” he said.

Kes has had great success in Loudon, particularly early in the week. He scored his first career Coors Light Pole award in 2010 at the NHMS, and he’s totaled three over his career at the 1.058-mile oval, a career-best for any track. If nothing else, those strong starts can lead to strong finishes.

His first pole led to an 18th-place result, not too shabby for the 2010 version of BK piloting Team Penske’s No. 12 entry. The next two first-place starts, in spring 2013 and fall 2014, led to fourth- and seventh-place finishes, respectively. Not only serving as a morale booster to the team, the pole position grants the ability to choose pit stalls, specifically the first one, which can simplify The Magic Mile’s tight pit road.

In 2014, the Michigan driver put up a feat of his own by sweeping the weekend in XFINITY & Cup competition. Winning both races with the dominant car, a repeat of that race is exactly what he needs to get pointed in the right direction.

“It feels like we’re the best we’ve ever been right now,” Kes said. “When a team like this starts to click, the sky’s the limit.”

In his 15 Loudon Cup races, Brad has only notched one win, but owns six Top 5’s, and nine Top 10’s. Completing 99 percent of his 4,438 possible laps, and leading 350 of them, Kes knows how to survive a race and be there when it counts.

Returning to the secondary Wurth colors this weekend, Brad looks to make up for their last outing in Dover, which ended in an unlucky wreck when Kurt Busch went spinning on the Monster Mile.

On the other side of the garage, Keselowski will be partaking in his seventh double-duty weekend of the year, piloting Team Penske’s No. 22 Discount Tire Ford in the XFINITY Series entry as well.

With eight starts under his belt at NHMS in the NXS, the 2010 Champion has two victories, four Poles, and every finish in the Top 10. Additionally, Brad has never failed to complete a lap.

The XFINITY Series Overton’s 200 kicks off on Saturday, July 15 at 4 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network.

Some food for thought: the last time the Monster Energy Cup Series visited a flat short track was Martinsville—and we know how that race turned out, with Kes capturing his first Grandfather Clock in the Cup series. See if BK & Co. still have their flat track program up to standards when the Overton’s 301 goes green on Sunday, July 16 at 3 p.m. ET, also live on NBCSN.

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Just 66 laps into the AAA 400 Drive for Autism at Dover International Speedway, Brad was running fourth in search of his eighth Top 5 finish of the year. But when Kurt Busch went for a spin on a restart, he collected the No. 2 Wurth Ford Fusion and sent it into the wall. The damage was critical and the day was over for the 2 Crew.

“It really stinks to DNF (Did Not Finish) 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. “It’s unfortunate that we haven’t been able to show the speed in our Ford Fusions.”

Brad showed the strength of the Wurth Ford, posting the sixth-quickest mark in the opening practice of the weekend and earning a Top 10 starting position for the ninth time in his career at The Monster Mile. After qualifying eighth, BK went to work on the short runs early in the race.

He moved from eighth to sixth before the race’s first caution at lap 18. Strategies varied on the opening stop as Brad exited pit road eighth. He gained another position after a miscue by Kyle Busch’s pit crew caused him to lose a wheel and pit a second time, and he again swiped two spots from seventh to eighth on the restart.

Another caution flag flew at lap 48 after a tire issue for Ricky Stenhouse Jr. That first Stenhouse incident allowed BK to grab another spot up to fourth, but a second wreck by the recent Talladega winner set the stage for the wreck that ended the 2 Crew’s afternoon.

On the lap 67 restart, Kurt Busch got loose underneath Kyle Larson while battling for the lead entering Turn 1. His No. 41 Ford slid from the inside line and tagged the No. 2 Wurth Ford, running fourth on the outside, sending Kes hard into the wall in Turn 2. Busch rejoined the race after repairs but soon spun out again, finishing 37th.

“One of them racing deals,” BK said of the wreck. “These cars rely so much on aerodynamics. We saw that early with guys being able to stay out on two tires even with a lot of tire wear. I don’t know if it was Kurt’s fault, just one of them racing deals. We line-up double-file and somebody got loose and just took us out. What a bummer. Just one of them racing deals.”

Jimmie Johnson went on to claim an overtime victory, his 11th career win at Dover.

Last week, Kes held on to third place in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series standings, but he couldn’t survive a second consecutive week of bad luck, falling to seventh. However, he still left The Monster Mile proud of the machine his team brought and confident for the coming weeks.

“The most important thing, though, is that we indeed have speed,” Brad said. “The Wurth Ford was really good on restarts today and we were able to make some good moves to work our way into the top five. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t meant to be today.”

The Cup Series now heads to Pocono Raceway for the Pocono 400. Kes has one win and seven Top 10 finishes for his career at The Tricky Triangle. Green flag is set for shortly after 3 p.m. ET and will air on FOX Sports 1.

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Keselowski presented NMFA with the check in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series garage area at Dover International Speedway. The donation will be used to support NMFA’s Operation Purple® Healing Adventure (OPHA) in Parkton, NC later this year. Healing Adventures are three day camp experiences for families of the wounded, ill or injured. The retreats are designed to strengthen and connect families coping with a new “normal,” by providing them the opportunity to reconnect, build new memories, enjoy outdoor activities, and heal together.

Brad and Paige present the check to the National Military Family Foundation.

“The mission of my foundation is to honor and assist those who have sacrificed for our country, specifically military service members and first responders,” Keselowski said. “I give Paige a lot of credit for insisting that we work with organizations that support not only our soldiers, but their families as well. She recognized what the NMFA does to help wounded soldiers and their families prepare for the challenges faced during recovery, and as a result, we are honored to support this Operation Purple Healing Adventure.”

NMFA has served tens of thousands of families through its Operation Purple program, which includes Healing Adventures, Family Retreats and Camps for kids. They’ve awarded more than $3 million in scholarships to military spouses and lead the charge when it comes to understanding the often overlooked sacrifice made by military families.

“Multiple deployments and constant relocations create stress on families—and a life-changing injury can be devastating,” said NMFA Executive Director Joyce Raezer. “Thank you to The Brad Keselowski Checkered Flag Foundation and Brad and Paige Keselowski. Their commitment to helping our nation’s families will make a huge difference to these families who have given so much.”

About the National Military Family Association

The National Military Association is the leading nonprofit dedicated to serving the families who stand behind the uniform. Since 1969, NMFA has worked to strengthen and protect millions of families through its advocacy and programs. They provide spouse scholarships, camps for military kids and retreats for families for reconnecting after deployment and for the families of the wounded, ill or injured. NMFA serves the families of the currently serving, retired, wounded or fallen members of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard, and Commissioned Corps of the USPHS and NOAA. To get involved or to learn more, visit www.MilitaryFamily.org.

About Brad Keselowski’s Checkered Flag Foundation

Brad Keselowski’s Checkered Flag Foundation honors and assists those who have sacrificed greatly for our country. Since 2010, the foundation has supported over 50 organizations and individuals in order to help veterans and first responders during their road to recovery. There are numerous ways for those interested to become involved.

The post CFF Provides Support to NMFA appeared first on BradRacing.com | The Official Web Site of Brad Keselowski www.bk30beta.www.bk30beta.bradracing.com.

Keselowski presented NMFA with the check in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series garage area at Dover International Speedway. The donation will be used to support NMFA’s Operation Purple® Healing Adventure (OPHA) in Parkton, NC later this year. Healing Adventures are three day camp experiences for families of the wounded, ill or injured. The retreats are designed to strengthen and connect families coping with a new “normal,” by providing them the opportunity to reconnect, build new memories, enjoy outdoor activities, and heal together.

Brad and Paige present the check to the National Military Family Foundation.

“The mission of my foundation is to honor and assist those who have sacrificed for our country, specifically military service members and first responders,” Keselowski said. “I give Paige a lot of credit for insisting that we work with organizations that support not only our soldiers, but their families as well. She recognized what the NMFA does to help wounded soldiers and their families prepare for the challenges faced during recovery, and as a result, we are honored to support this Operation Purple Healing Adventure.”

NMFA has served tens of thousands of families through its Operation Purple program, which includes Healing Adventures, Family Retreats and Camps for kids. They’ve awarded more than $3 million in scholarships to military spouses and lead the charge when it comes to understanding the often overlooked sacrifice made by military families.

“Multiple deployments and constant relocations create stress on families—and a life-changing injury can be devastating,” said NMFA Executive Director Joyce Raezer. “Thank you to The Brad Keselowski Checkered Flag Foundation and Brad and Paige Keselowski. Their commitment to helping our nation’s families will make a huge difference to these families who have given so much.”

About the National Military Family Association

The National Military Association is the leading nonprofit dedicated to serving the families who stand behind the uniform. Since 1969, NMFA has worked to strengthen and protect millions of families through its advocacy and programs. They provide spouse scholarships, camps for military kids and retreats for families for reconnecting after deployment and for the families of the wounded, ill or injured. NMFA serves the families of the currently serving, retired, wounded or fallen members of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard, and Commissioned Corps of the USPHS and NOAA. To get involved or to learn more, visit www.MilitaryFamily.org.

About Brad Keselowski’s Checkered Flag Foundation

Brad Keselowski’s Checkered Flag Foundation honors and assists those who have sacrificed greatly for our country. Since 2010, the foundation has supported over 50 organizations and individuals in order to help veterans and first responders during their road to recovery. There are numerous ways for those interested to become involved.

The post CFF Provides Support to NMFA appeared first on BradRacing.com | The Official Web Site of Brad Keselowski www.bk30beta.www.bk30beta.bradracing.com.