BROOKLYN, Mich. – Michigan native Brad Keselowski came up short once again with a second-place finish at Michigan International Speedway on Sunday afternoon.
Keselowski driver of the No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Fusion for Penske Racing was disappointed after finishing second to Championship contender Kevin Harvick (one of the “Big 3”) and rightfully so.
The performance was Keselowski’s second runner-up finish at his home track and although he does have one Xfinity Series win at Michigan back in the spring, he told reporters entering the weekend that winning at Michigan would almost be as good as winning the Daytona 500.
“We kind of clawed all day and had some good restarts with the Discount Tire Ford and got all we could get out of it but just ended up one spot short and that is so frustrating,” Keselowski offered at the race.
With Keselowski’s best effort of 2018, he captured his sixth top-five and 10th top-10 finishes in 19 races at the Brooklyn, Mich.-based race track. Additionally, he racked in his sixth top-five and 12th top-10 thus far this season.
After finishing second to one of the “Big 3” drivers Kevin Harvick who scored his seventh win of the year, Keselowski is motivated to stop their domination.
But his determination comes with questions on why the “Big 3” of Harvick, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. have been that much better in 2018.
“Yeah, I don’t know if I’ve really put a lot of thought into that,” Keselowski admitted. “I go to each weekend as a reset point thinking and feeling as though this could be the weekend where we have the speed to win that way or could execute that way, and I think you have to and then when you start to get through the weekend, you have to get the most out of what you have.
“We’ve had some races where I feel like we’ve been equal to or better than those guys where we haven’t put it all together, mostly the plate tracks I would say. So that’s kind of on us to get a result.
“But on these types of tracks, the mile and a half, intermediate, whatever you want to call them, two-mile tracks, we haven’t had that yet, but we’ve been closer some places than others.”
Although still winless in 2018, he is still in a great spot currently sitting seventh out of 16 Playoff positions with three races left before the post-race championship pursuit begins next month at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway.
Despite Keselowski’s disappointing second-place finish at his home track, he has every reason to stay optimistic heading into Thunder Valley – a.k.a. Bristol Motor Speedway next Saturday night.
In 17 starts at the World’s Fastest Half-Mile, he has two wins, four top-five and five top-10 finishes.
