February 17, 2022 | By Lee Spencer

Keselowski kicks off the 2022 season with a Duel win for RFK

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.—Brad Keselowski out-dueled the competition in the first qualifier for his first win as a NASCAR Cup team owner with Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing.

After thanking his team, he asked for Old Glory and waved the flag while taking a victory lap.

With a push from his fellow Blue Oval drivers, Keselowski led Ford to a 1-2-3-4 finish in the Bluegreen Vacations Duel 1.

“I've got to give credit to the other Fords,” Keselowski said. “We worked really well together, Ryan Blaney, Chase Briscoe. We had great strategy, Austin Cindric, and we stuck together and drove away and got ourselves in position where we could control the finish of this race, and I'm happy to see all those Fords up front.”

Austin Cindric, Ryan Blaney and Chase Briscoe finished over two seconds ahead of the Chevrolets of Chase Elliott, Erik Jones, pole sitter Kyle Larson and Tyler Reddick. Kurt Busch, the only Toyota in the 21-car field, finished ninth followed by Ross Chastain.

Larson led the first 34 laps until the Chevrolets pitted on Lap 35. Kaz Grala, one of two unchartered cars in the field, was busted for speeding on pit road. He recovered from dropping two laps down to advance into the Daytona 500.

“It’s a relief, I can tell you that,” Grala said. “I didn’t think we were going to make it. This is huge for Money Team Racing.”

Blaney took the lead on Lap 35 after pitting with the Fords. He led 22 laps until Keselowski made the pass with a push from Briscoe with four laps remaining in the contest.

“Good job to all those guys,” said Keselowski after his first-career Daytona 500 qualifier win and the second for Roush-Fenway since 2014 with Matt Kenseth. “Great start for our Kohler Generators Ford team. This is special.”