News

AVONDALE, Ariz. (November 11, 2014) – Brad Keselowski and the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford team led the qualifying effort for Team Penske at Phoenix International Raceway  on Friday afternoon, coming away with a strong second-place result. The effort marks the team’s 13th front-row starting position this year.

“This is really an intense qualifying format and with the sun going down this track picks up a lot of speed,” said Keselowski. “You’re out there, and you’re holding onto it, so I still have a little bit of adrenaline going there. We just missed it, I guess by a couple thousandths of a second, so I’m kind of running through my mind where that was. We were close but just a little bit off. Either way, it’s a good start. We like that, and we’ve got to make the most of it come Sunday. I’ve been very encouraged. We had great speed here in the spring, and it seems like we maybe found a little bit more, so I’m very, very optimistic about the race.”

Teammate Joey Logano, driver of the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford, set the fastest time in the first segment but will start Sunday’s race from the fourth position.

“It’s a decent place to start,” said Logano. “We know what we have to do, but this is the second time we came here and set a track record and didn’t start first.  We’re good at that this year. We’re good at going fast in the first round, and then it’s something we’re missing in the second round.  We don’t carry the speed over as well as others do, so we’ll figure it out.”

The Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500 will air live Sunday afternoon, November 9 at 3:00 p.m. ET on ESPN. Race coverage will also be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Channel 90.