(WOMR file photo)
In spite all of the complaints of the bumpiness of the race track, the only bumps that slowed down Brad Keselowski at Kentucky Speedway on Saturday night occurred in Victory Lane. During the post race celebration, a broken champagne bottle sent him to the care center for stitches.
However, from the early stages of The Quaker State 400 there was no doubt who was going to win the race, save any unforeseen circumstances! The Team Penske “Blue Deuce” driven by “Blazingly Bad” Keselowski was bad fast, all the way down to the radiator hose! There was no holding “Kes” back, and there was no catching him every single time he got out front! He put on a racing clinic, and thoroughly “smoked the field” for his second win of the season!
And win, Keselowski did. With relative ease as he led 199 laps of 267 in a Team Penske Ford that was so fast that Kyle Busch, who finished second, wasn’t over-the-top upset about not winning! Plainly put, the Team Penske Miller Lite #2 Ford just flatly “hauled the mail” Saturday night!
The victory was the second at the Kentucky 1.5-mile race track, and the second of the season for Keselowski. It gave him his fourth podium finish in the last five races!
“It feels really good, obviously, to get that second win,” Brad K. said. “I think we’ve been so close and kind of haven’t put it together there at the end with Richmond comes to mind, Texas comes to mind, and then Pocono. Kind of had some heartbreakers there. It starts to wonder in your head, is this ever going to work out, but it did, and I think it showcased the strength of our team.
“We have got a really good stretch run going here over the summer, so it’s very exciting for me personally, very rewarding, and I feel like we’re in such a strong spot. A lot of momentum, and this was really a big night for us in so many ways”, concluded “Blazingly Bad” Brad.
The Team Penske #2 Miller Lite Ford is really turning the corner, cranking up the heat, and positioning themselves for a run at their second Sprint Cup championship! In fact the entire Team Penske organization has ratcheted up their game, and are showing that they, both the #2 and the #22 team, are the Ford teams that best carries the “blue oval banner”, not Roush-Fenway Racing!
With 50% of the Chase races staged on 1.5 mile tracks, Keselowski has thrown down the gauntlet, by the mere virtue that Team Penske has won three of the four 1.5 mile races so far this season! The challenge has been issued to all.
How will Hendrick Motorsports respond? After all HMS has a total of six victories so far this season, and five of them in a row! The answer may be seen this Saturday night at Daytona, in the Coke Zero 400, where HMS has been very strong in the last few years, Johnson sweeping Daytona last year, and Dale Jr. winning the Daytona 500 in February!
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!