May 30, 2020 | By Lee Spencer

Keselowski making a case for continued success with Team Penske

What could have been a disastrous outing for Brad Keselowski on Thursday at Charlotte Motor Speedway turned into his fifth top-10 finish of 2020.

Keselowski started the Alsco Uniforms 500 20th. A flat right front tire 30 laps into the contest delayed his initial progress. 
But the No. 2 Team Penske crew didn’t panic. Keselowski dug deep. Crew chief Jeremy Bullins devised a strategy. And after restarting 34th, Keselowski soldiered on to a seventh-place finish.

“It wasn’t our prettiest day, but, all in all, we were decent,” Keselowski said. “We had a lot of speed in our car, not as much as maybe the 9 car (of race winner Chase Elliott). He was lights-out fast today, but we had enough to, I think, run in the top three or four. We had a little bit of contact early on and got a flat tire that did a lot of damage to the car, and we recovered. And I got contact again and had a lot of damage to the car, but came back in to fix it.  

“There at the end, we started to recover. We drove up to seventh to finish the race, but it’s kind of not my strongest day. I was pushing a little bit too hard starting in the back and got us behind with damage a little bit early and had to kind of fight through it in a short race. We did the best we could to recover but didn’t have enough laps, and I put us in too big of a hole.”

Keselowski is being a bit tough on himself. After winning the Coca-Cola 600, he was mired in the pack to start Thursday’s race—and after the first incident, he had only 267 miles left, less than half of the total miles in Sunday’s contest—to fight to the front. Even with a battered car, he worked his way up to the top 15 for the final 59-lap green-flag run. 

As some of the frontrunners faded, including Kevin Harvick (who led a race-high 63 laps), Keselowski forged ahead for an average finish of 3.5.

Since the NASCAR season resumed during the Covid-19 pandemic, Keselowski has amassed 147 points—fourth among Cup drivers—and moved from ninth in the standings to fifth. Sure, Hendrick Motorsports has received the lion’s share of attention since racing’s return. But after all three Team Penske drivers finished in the top 10 on Thursday, they remain the only three teammates to be ranked among the top 10. 

Keselowski is making a case for himself in a contract year with Team Penske. The veteran driver has amassed 30 wins, 17 poles, 117 top fives and 187 top 10s since he was recruited by Roger Penske a decade ago. His average finish of 10.5 after the first eight races of the year is the second-best of his Cup career. And that's since Penske shuffled its crew chief lineup prior to the start of the season.

On Friday, the No. 2 won the draw for the pole at Bristol Motor Speedway. Keselowski went back-to-back at the half-mile bullring with his victory in the 2011 Night Race and the 2012 spring contest. His last start at Bristol in August resulted in his first top-five finish in 10 starts.

For Keselowski, Bristol has been fairly predictable over the last three of four races. 

“The bottom will have a lot of speed for about 200 laps, it will wear out, and then the race will be on the top for the next 300,” Keselowski said.  "That’s just kind of what we’ve been seeing and I wouldn't expect anything different.”

With its close proximity to the race shops, Bristol could provide the perfect stage for a midweek race, as the NASCAR schedule develops in future years. Keselowski is an advocate of NASCAR’s new formula.

“NASCAR, in my opinion, has hit gold with this format,” Keselowski said. “The limited practice, show up and race, and the time window that benefits both the east and west coast. No qualifying. Inversion from the week before is really good, because it mixes the field up and creates some good story lines there. I think it’s fair. It’s compelling and it’s at a time where, quite frankly,  the sports world, even if it wasn’t for COVID, midweek races in the summer, when you’re generally not having a lot of competition, is in a time period where everybody is hungry for content.  

“I think they’ve got gold here. COVID or not, I hope we keep this for years to come. I think this is a great little format that’s good for the sport and good for the fans and good for everybody all around, so kudos to them.”