No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang – Brad Keselowski
Start: 3rd
Stage 1: 11th
Stage 2: 25th
Finish: 20th
Status: Running
Laps Completed: 268/269
Laps Led: 3
Driver Point Standings (behind first): 4th (-116)
Notes:
- Brad Keselowski had an uncharacteristic race in Saturday night’s Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway, falling a lap down before finishing in the 20th position.
- The three-time NASCAR Cup Series winner at Kentucky started the race from the third position, tying his best starting position of the year. However, from the drop of the green flag he felt something was amiss with his No. 22 Discount Tire Ford Mustang.
- After dropping just outside the top five, Keselowski radioed that he was losing both front and rear grip. This especially hurt his handling in traffic.
- On the first pit stop of the day at lap 49, crew chief Paul Wolfe called for a fuel-only stop that put Keselowski at the front of the field for the restart. He would quickly relinquish the lead on the restart and had to carry the used tires to the end of the first stage.
- The second stage started with Keselowski struggling in the Kentucky Speedway corners, eventually losing a lap to the race leaders on lap 136. On the fourth pit stop of the day the crew raised the hood on the Ford to see if any issues with the engine could be determined as the culprit.
- Unfortunately for Keselowski and team an opportunity to take a wave-around pass to get back on the lead lap never presented itself and he crossed the finish line one lap down in the 20th position.
Quotes: “I don’t know, we’ll need to get back to the shop and figure out what happened tonight. We just didn’t have the speed with the Discount Tire Ford Mustang. I thought we had a good shot to compete for the win but that just wasn’t the case.”
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
