News

THE RACE

Auto Club 400
Auto Club Speedway
March 22, 2015
 

THE RESULTS

No. 2 Wurth Ford Fusion
Driver: Brad Keselowski
Start:  8th
Finish: 1st
Driver Points Position:  5th
 
THE RACE REVIEW

Brad Keselowski and the No. 2 Wurth Ford Fusion team made a gutsy four-tire call late in the race to set up a valiant last lap pass, allowing Keselowski and the team to score their first victory of the year Sunday afternoon at Auto Club Speedway. After starting from the eighth position, Keselowski ran in the top six for most of the first half of the race. The No. 2 Ford was loose on exit for much of the day, but crew chief Paul Wolfe adjusted on it throughout the race. After as running as low as 12th midrace, the Wurth crew and driver fought back to break into the top three at lap 165. Keselowski was running fifth with two laps to go when a caution flag flew, setting up a green-white-checker. The team made a bold call to take four tires as numerous lead pack cars took two. The gamble resulted in Keselowski restarting 18th at lap 202 and then charging up to sixth before another caution slowed the field again on that same lap. At lap 207 Keselowski took the green flag scored sixth in the running order and drove to second place at the white flag. He then dove under leader Kurt Busch in turn one and drove away to claim his first victory of the season. With the victory, his 17th-career win, Keselowski clinches a spot in the 2015 Chase for the Sprint Cup and moves up to fifth in the point standings.

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING

"It was really an up and down day, for sure, but Paul and the guys on pit road kept fighting. At the end, we caught some breaks and made the most of the breaks we caught, and that was kind of the story of our race. It looked like we were probably gonna finish sixth or seventh there and then that yellow came out. We came in and pitted and drove up a little bit. And then caught another yellow and thought, ‘Now what do we do?’  So Paul made the call to come down pit road and put four tires on and when he said that I said, ‘This could either go really good or really bad.’  I didn’t know which one it was gonna be. Some guys stayed out. Some guys took two tires and all kinds of different strategies and on the restart we were able to find our way through the lanes and get to the front there and somehow end up in victory lane leading the last lap. That’s kind of a race car driver’s dream and this is one we’re gonna sit back and go ‘wow’ for a while on."