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NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Race Report

Track: Bristol Motor Speedway
Race: Food City 500 In Support Of Steve Byrnes

Date: April 19, 2015

No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion – Brad Keselowski

Start:  3rd

Finish: 35th

Status: Running

Laps Completed:  489/511

Laps Led: 0

Points Position (behind leader):  5th (-59) 

Recap: Brad Keselowski and the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford team started on the front row and looked strong early before getting loose and making contact with the wall just as rain returned to Bristol Motor Speedway, resulting in a 35^th-place finish. After qualifying second, Keselowski looked poised to make a strong run in Sunday’s Food City 500 but a lap 20 incident saw the rear of the No. 2 Fusion come around on the exit of turn four. As it happened, teammate Joey Logano was directly behind Keselowski and was also involved in the incident. The No. 2 Miller Lite team made repairs until the red flag was displayed due to another rain delay. After a nearly four hour break in the action, the race resumed with Keselowski scored eight laps down in the 42^nd position. The team rallied to advance to 35^th at the finish. Despite the tough result, Keselowski is just 59 points out of first and sits fifth in the standings.

Quote:  “It’s been raining since we started the race. It was just a really light sprinkle and the track was just barely dry. I don’t know. The rain was coming in and out and the car just took off on me. I would like to blame the rain, but I honestly don’t know. Usually when a car gets that far sideways and it’s kind of out of nowhere there’s a reason behind it. I just really hate that I tore up my teammate in the process. That’s really a bummer. I felt like I had a pretty normal line and it just flew crazy sideways on me.  It’s a bummer for everybody at Team Penske to tear up both cars that way.”

No. 22 Autotrader Ford Fusion – Joey Logano

Start:  6th

Finish: 40th

Status: Running

Laps Completed:  452/511

Laps Led:  0

Points Position (behind first):  2^nd (-30)

Recap:  Joey Logano, driver of the No. 22 Autotrader Ford Fusion, got caught up in an early accident on Sunday at Bristol Motor Speedway and rode around the rest of the evening, coming home with a 40^th-place finish.  After being delayed by rain, Logano started the race from the sixth position and quickly moved into the top-four.  However, just 20 laps into the event, Logano, was swept up in an accident involving his teammate Brad Keselowski.  The resulting damage was enough to put the Autotrader Fusion behind the wall.  Another three-hour rain delay kept the team from being able to work on the car and fix the damaged vehicle.  When racing finally resumed, the team fixed the damage and lost just over 50 laps behind the wall.  Logano rode around for the next 400-plus laps and picked up three positions in the process, finishing a season-low 40^th.  Despite the finish, Logano was able to remain second in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings. 

Quote:  “(The accident) happened quick, obviously.  You think you get early in this race and kind of want to settle in and just starting to get the top worked in a little bit there and Brad just got loose underneath that lapped car.  You start checking up and it looked like he was gonna have it saved and he checked up more than I expected and the next thing you know I’m in the back of him and we’re both headed towards the fence.  The team did a great job at getting the car fixed fast with the amount of damage we had.  We got back out there and just rode around for 400 laps and gained a couple of positions.  Just hate it for Autotrader and all the guys on this team.”