Keselowski Finishes Ninth at Texas Motor Speedway
April 14, 2013
THE RACE
The NRA 500 at Texas Motor Speedway (1.5-mile speedway), Fort Worth, Texas
April 13, 2013
THE RESULTS
The No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion
Start Position: 16
Finish Position: 9
Status: Running
Current Championship Position: 2
THE RACE REVIEW
· Brad Keselowski and the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion team started the race from the 16th position after posting a qualifying lap of 27.917 seconds around the 1.5-mile oval.
· On the first pit stop of the day at lap 39, Keselowski drove the car too deep in the pit stall and had to back up before the crew performed service on the Miller Lite Ford. This resulted in him restarting the race from the 30th position at lap 43.
· Following several positive adjustments to the No. 2 machine and displaying good long-run speed, Keselowski was able to race his way back to the 19th position at lap 125.
· Keselowski radioed that he felt a small vibration in the car at lap 133. After taking a few laps to diagnose the issue, he brought the Miller Lite Ford to pit road for four fresh tires as he fell two laps down to the race leaders.
· Crew chief Paul Wolfe kept his driver on the racetrack following a lap 150 caution to pick up a “wave around” as Keselowski earned one of his laps back.
· Keselowski then used his fast Ford Fusion to get in position for the Lucky Dog Award while turning laps faster than many drivers running in the top 10.
· He was rewarded with the free pass back to lead-lap racing when the final caution flag of the day came out at lap 314. He turned some of the fastest laps toward the race’s conclusion to record a ninth-place finish at the checkered flag .
· With the result, Keselowski remains second in the series standings.
WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
“That was a case study on having a long night at the racetrack. A lot of times you look at this race and think, ‘Man, 500 miles at Texas is a long race,’ but we needed every one of those laps tonight. We were able to get our last lap back very late and race to a respectable top-10 finish. Very proud of this team and their effort tonight.”– Brad Keselowski on his ninth-place finish at Texas.
“Things didn’t obviously start off the way we wanted it to and we had some issues on pit road where we lost some spots. Then we had a loose wheel and nothing was going our way, but nobody gave up and Brad kept driving his butt off and we slowly kept chipping away at it. Before we knew it, we were in contention to get the free pass. It was like we needed just one more run to really get up and contend for a nice top five, but overall, I’m real proud of the effort. We continue to come out here each and every week and put ourselves toward the front, if not contend for wins. Obviously, we feel like without some of the issues tonight we probably would have had a shot at that again, so we just have to keep working and doing what we’ve been doing and we’ll get our share of wins.” – Crew chief Paul Wolfe on the 2 car’s night at Texas.
The NRA 500 at Texas Motor Speedway (1.5-mile speedway), Fort Worth, Texas
April 13, 2013
THE RESULTS
The No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion
Start Position: 16
Finish Position: 9
Status: Running
Current Championship Position: 2
THE RACE REVIEW
· Brad Keselowski and the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion team started the race from the 16th position after posting a qualifying lap of 27.917 seconds around the 1.5-mile oval.
· On the first pit stop of the day at lap 39, Keselowski drove the car too deep in the pit stall and had to back up before the crew performed service on the Miller Lite Ford. This resulted in him restarting the race from the 30th position at lap 43.
· Following several positive adjustments to the No. 2 machine and displaying good long-run speed, Keselowski was able to race his way back to the 19th position at lap 125.
· Keselowski radioed that he felt a small vibration in the car at lap 133. After taking a few laps to diagnose the issue, he brought the Miller Lite Ford to pit road for four fresh tires as he fell two laps down to the race leaders.
· Crew chief Paul Wolfe kept his driver on the racetrack following a lap 150 caution to pick up a “wave around” as Keselowski earned one of his laps back.
· Keselowski then used his fast Ford Fusion to get in position for the Lucky Dog Award while turning laps faster than many drivers running in the top 10.
· He was rewarded with the free pass back to lead-lap racing when the final caution flag of the day came out at lap 314. He turned some of the fastest laps toward the race’s conclusion to record a ninth-place finish at the checkered flag .
· With the result, Keselowski remains second in the series standings.
WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
“That was a case study on having a long night at the racetrack. A lot of times you look at this race and think, ‘Man, 500 miles at Texas is a long race,’ but we needed every one of those laps tonight. We were able to get our last lap back very late and race to a respectable top-10 finish. Very proud of this team and their effort tonight.”– Brad Keselowski on his ninth-place finish at Texas.
“Things didn’t obviously start off the way we wanted it to and we had some issues on pit road where we lost some spots. Then we had a loose wheel and nothing was going our way, but nobody gave up and Brad kept driving his butt off and we slowly kept chipping away at it. Before we knew it, we were in contention to get the free pass. It was like we needed just one more run to really get up and contend for a nice top five, but overall, I’m real proud of the effort. We continue to come out here each and every week and put ourselves toward the front, if not contend for wins. Obviously, we feel like without some of the issues tonight we probably would have had a shot at that again, so we just have to keep working and doing what we’ve been doing and we’ll get our share of wins.” – Crew chief Paul Wolfe on the 2 car’s night at Texas.