Brad Keselowski FIghts for Solid Finish in Dover

Battling for the lead with Kyle Larson late in the event at Dover, Brad Keselowski made contact with Austin Dillon causing him to lose valuable track time, hurting his chances at a victory. On Lap 282, the No. 2 teams day hit rock bottom.

Keselowski was out front for the previous 49 laps, before being passed by Larson. Once he was passed, the 2012 Cup Series champion was trying to find a lane on the track that would close the gap between the No. 42 car and he.

However, on the backstretch, making a move underneath the No. 3 car, he made slight contact, ripping the entire right front fender off the machine. The damage caused crew chief Paul Wolfe to make heavy repairs with bare bond and any tool possible to make the car competitive.

Staying on the lead lap, Keselowski fell back to 24th, needing a miracle to happen to regain track position.

“That was one of those Dover races that I don’t think anyone will forget any time soon,” Keselowski said post-race. “We ran really well and unfortunately got caught up while running second and leading a lot of laps. It knocked a lot of speed out of our Wurth Ford, but still competitive. I’m really proud of my guys to finish sixth.”

With all the chaos that was Dover, when the checkered flag flew the No. 2 car was the highest finishing Ford.

In a race that saw 12 cautions, the Team Penske crew had the fortune of missing the majority of the big incidents. Keselowski was able to steadily work his way back through the field in the last quarter of the race to capture his fifth career top-10 result at Dover.   

“We caught some breaks with that big wreck it probably gave us five or six spots,” Keselowski elaborated. “We kind of crawled from there. We restarted ninth and drove up to sixth so that’s very respectable.”

Through 12 events, Keselowski has two victories, more than all of last year. On Sunday, the No. 2 crew showed that the never give up attitude is a motto that the team has installed.

Dustin Albino