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THE RACE

The Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway (.0.533-mile oval, Bristol, Tenn.)

THE RESULTS

Starting Position: 7
Finishing Position: 3
Status: Running
Current Championship Position: 1   

THE RACE REVIEW

·   Brad Keselowski and the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion team started the race from the seventh position after posting a qualifying lap of 14.966 seconds around the half-mile oval.

·  Keselowski – a two-time Bristol winner – did not get off to the start he envisioned as his Ford Fusion was handling too tight during the early portion of the event. As a result, he dropped back to the 15th position before the halfway point of the race.

·  Crew chief Paul Wolfe gradually improved the Miller Lite Ford by making track bar adjustments. After each adjustment Keselowski improved his lap times.

·  After electing to stay on track under a lap 390 caution period, Keselowski secured the race lead for the first time at lap 397.

·  Keselowski led the field to the green flag on the last restart of the day at lap 455. However, the Miller Lite Ford was hit from behind by the No. 11 car of Denny Hamlin before getting to Turn 1, which resulted in Keselowski falling back to the third position at the checkered flag.

·  With the finish, Keselowski is the only driver with top-five results in the first four races of the season. As a result, he now holds a nine-point advantage in the series standings.

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING

“We weren’t very close at the start, that’s for sure, but the guys on the Miller Lite Ford Fusion team got it dialed in there towards the end and had a shot at a solid finish.  I don’t think I had anything for (race winner) Kasey (Kahne).  I don’t know if anyone did.  He was so good through the middle and, really, everywhere.  He was kind of in a league of his own, but I’ll be damned if that was gonna keep me from trying.  He drove a good race and got himself in position.  He worked me over pretty good and somehow we worked through traffic and got back by him, but, obviously, that last yellow – I haven’t seen a replay of what happened – but that cost us the lead.” – Brad Keselowski summarizes his day at Bristol.

“I got ran over.  I’d have to take a look at the replay, but it was gonna be a helluva battle between me and Kasey there with four laps to go, but I didn’t get a chance.  I’m not sure what happened, if the 11 car got pushed from behind or if he just ran me over, but that’s racing.” – Brad Keselowski on the final restart of the race.