FORT WORTH, TX.: Brad Keselowski may not of had the fastest No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang in the early laps of Sunday’s Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, but his Team Penske automobile woke up in the second half of the race.
Throughout Stage 2 – Keselowski began flirting with the top-10, but as the race pedaled on, the handling improved, and Keselowski was able to march forward especially in Stage 3 when Keselowski wrestled his way into the top-five.
In a race that highlighted by a long green flag run in Stage 2, — the final stage at Texas failed to materialize the long run that Keselowski felt like he needed to dethrone the Hendrick Motorsports duo of Kyle Larson and William Byron and score his second win of the season.
A two-lap shootout provided an opportunity for Keselowski to snicker the Chevrolet bunch in the final three miles of the race, but stellar starts by the front row forced Keselowski to protect a charging army of competitors from behind that included Kevin Harvick, Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott and Kyle Busch.
Keselowski took fourth at the checkered flag for his second top-five in the last three races.
“Well, we didn’t need all those yellows,” said Keselowski after the race. “We had the car balanced really well with the Discount Tire Ford on the long runs. The last few times we have been here you get 40 or 50 or 100 lap runs at the end but today, geez, we didn’t run more than two laps at a time for the last 45 or 50 laps.
“That is just not what we needed. We needed the long runs to be able to keep them honest. We had long run speed but the 5 (Larson) and 24 (Byron) were just blistering fast on the restart and drove away from me. I just wanted some laps to let their stuff wear down.”
Keselowski’s challenging work on Sunday and 15th top-10 overall this season though was only rewarded with a gain of one point in the overall spectrum of the Playoffs.
He sits sixth in the Playoff standings overall, 15 points below the cutoff – currently occupied by Kyle Busch.
However, with two races remaining in the Round of 8, Keselowski heads to the final intermediate track of the season next weekend at Kansas Speedway determined to elevate his No. 2 team into the Championship 4 with just three races left as a driver at Team Penske.
Earlier this year, the Rochester Hills, Mich. native finished third after starting on the pole at the 1.5-mile track nestled in Kansas City, Kan.
Even if Keselowski can’t win a Kansas or the penultimate race of the season at Martinsville, he is relying on strong finishes over the next two weekends that could propel him back into the Championship 4 spotlight after finishing second to Chase Elliott in 2020.
“We gained a point but we moved up from eighth to sixth so that is a nice little win for us and gives us a better pit stall for next week,” he said.
“If we can keep running like that and scoring high 30’s or low 40’s in points then I think we will transfer in.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
