News

THE RACE

ORAL-B USA 500
Atlanta Motor Speedway
Sunday, August 31

THE RESULTS

The No. 2 Alliance Truck Parts Ford Fusion
Driver:  Brad Keselowski
Starting Position: 2
Finish Position: 39
Driver's Points Position: 5

THE RACE REVIEW

· Brad Keselowski and the No. 2 Alliance Truck Parts Ford started Sunday night’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series 500-mile race from the outside of the front row based on the results of Friday’s qualifying session. The strong result marked the 10th front row start of the season for the No. 2 Team Penske Ford.

· Keselowski took the green flag in second place before he dropped to fifth on the opening lap and then settled in for the long run. He radioed to his team that he was just taking care of his tires.

· By lap 10, Keselowski had worked his way up to third and he held that position comfortably until the first pit stop at lap 40. He lost a few spots on that stop and restarted sixth.

· Once again, Keselowski eased into the restart while driving the No. 2 Alliance Truck Parts Ford to the fourth spot in the running order.

· As the race wore on into the night Keselowski reported that his Team Penske Ford was tough to turn entering the corners and lacked forward drive coming off of the turns on long runs. Yet by managing his tires, he was able to maintain a strong presence in the top five for much of the night.

· At lap 210 while running second in the order, Keselowski entered the pits during a caution and over shot his pit box. While the team recovered quickly, the miscue cost several positions as Keselowski was scored 16th on the ensuing restart.

· Over the next 80 laps, the veteran driver made a steady and methodical march towards the front. By lap 290 he was running in the fourth position.

· At lap 296, the No. 11 car of Denny Hamlin made a late turn towards the pit lane which caused a chain reaction that ended with the No. 2 Alliance Truck Parts Ford sustaining severe left-front damage.

· Keselowski was able to drive the wounded machine to the garage where it was determined that the damage was too severe and he would not be able to continue.

· The No. 2 was scored 39th as it had its first DNF (did not finish) of the 2014 season. The result dropped Keselowski to fifth in the point standings and fourth in the Cup Chase Outlook Grid with just one race remaining until the post-season.
    

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING

BRAD KESELOWSKI, NO. 2 ALLIANCE TRUCK PARTS FORD

A TOUGH ENDING TO WHAT LOOKED LIKE A PROMISING NIGHT. WHAT HAPPENED OUT THERE?

“We were rallying pretty well.  I made a pit road mistake a little bit earlier that got us behind, but got up to fourth and had a shot at winning the race.  Kevin (Harvick) was really strong, but we were just starting the pit sequence and one of the slower cars in front of us was pitting and so was Denny Hamlin, who was running second or third there, and he just made the decision to pit from the middle lane and clogged the whole track. That kind of ruined our day with the Alliance Truck Parts Ford.”