Tag Archives: Brad Keselowski

Teamwork is the Mantra for Ford Racing as 2017 Season Begins

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If there truly is strength in numbers, then Ford’s presence in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series has grown in magnitude with the addition of Stewart-Haas Racing’s four-car organization.

The benefit was immediately obvious. Stewart-Haas’ Kevin Harvick, driving a Ford in the heat of battle for the first time, helped former nemesis Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski break up a four-car Toyota train at the front of the field in last Saturday’s Advance Auto Parts Clash at Daytona, the season-opening exhibition race in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Continue reading →

Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin Win Action-Filled Can-Am Duel Qualifying Races

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Daytona 500 pole winner Chase Elliott put an exclamation on his qualifying effort with a victory in Thursday night’s first Can-Am Duel at Daytona International Speedway.

Elliott passed second-place starter Brad Keselowski for the lead on lap 37 and held it the rest of the way—through a wreck that altered the positions of the two Open Team drivers trying to race their way into the field for the 59th running of the Great American Race.

In the second Duel, defending Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin got a huge push from Austin Dillon and passed Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the next-to-last lap to win the race by 0.214 seconds over Clint Bowyer, who was competing for the first time in the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford. Continue reading →

Ford Drivers Employ ‘Island Hopping’ Strategy

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Brad Keselowski, driver of the #2 Miller Lite Ford, drives during qualifying for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series 59th Annual DAYTONA 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 19, 2017 in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Photo – Matt Sullivan/Getty Images

Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski went island hopping last Sunday.

If that sounds like a Caribbean vacation, or a way for the Team Penske teammates to relieve the accumulating stress from pressure-packed Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway, guess again.

Island hopping is the way Keselowski got to the front in Sunday’s rain-delayed Advance Auto Parts Clash at Daytona. It’s the way Logano ultimately won the race. And it’s the way the Ford drivers hope to win the biggest prize of all on Sunday in the Daytona 500 (2 p.m. ET on FOX). Continue reading →

Chase Elliott edges Dale Earnhardt Jr. for Daytona 500 pole

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Chase Elliott, driver of the #24 NAPA Chevrolet, celebrates in Victory Lane after qualifying for pole position for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series 59th Annual DAYTONA 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 19, 2017 in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Photo – Jared C Tilton/Getty Images

Winning back-to-back Daytona 500 poles is something of a family tradition, as Chase Elliott proved by the skin of his teeth on Sunday at Daytona International Speedway.

The last driver to take a lap in the second and final round of Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series qualifying at the 2.5-mile superspeedway, Elliott covered the distance in 46.663 seconds (192.872 mph) to edge Hendrick Motorsports teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. by 0.002 seconds.

The pole was the second straight for Elliott, who led the field to green last year as a Sunoco rookie. It was the third straight for Elliott’s crew chief, Alan Gustafson, who won the pole with driver Jeff Gordon in 2015 in Gordon’s last year as a full-time driver.

With three straight poles as a crew, Gustafson shares a record previously held solely by Ernie Elliott, Chase Elliott’s uncle, who fielded cars driven by former Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Bill Elliott, Chase’s father. Continue reading →

An Opportunity Lost for Busch and Bowman?

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Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M’s Toyota, and Alex Bowman, driver of the #88 Nationwide Chevrolet, race during the weather delayed Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Advance Auto Parts Clash at Daytona International Speedway on February 19, 2017 in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Photo – Chris Graythen/Getty Images

After beating Alex Bowman to the finish line for second-place in the Advance Auto Parts Clash at Daytona, Kyle Busch took a minute to school his younger adversary.

Busch felt that he and Bowman could have worked together to track down race winner Joey Logano on the final lap, if they had hooked up nose-to-tail rather than racing each other side-by-side to the finish.

“Just that when the 22 (Logano) got so far out in front, he was a lone duck, and I feel like, if we both could have worked together, then we could have tracked them back down and then the three of us could have gone for the win instead of just automatically giving it to the 22. Just trying to see what his (Bowman’s) mind-set was with it all and figure out what got him to that decision.

“Overall, good day and I need to eliminate some mistakes here for myself on this M&M’s team – the guys did a great job. The guys executed really well. I have a really fast car, so I can’t say enough about my guys at Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota – everybody’s done a really good job and we have some good stuff. It’s cool to be able to have the opportunity to race for a win like that, but it kind of snuck away from us there at the end.”

Bowman used his only scheduled race so far this season as a learning experience.

“Hindsight is 20/20, right?” Bowman said. “It’s hard to see. I was on the top with all that stuff happened getting into turn one (contact between Brad Keselowski and Denny Hamlin in a last-lap battle for the lead), and I didn’t know the No. 22 was out there by himself.

“So he’s probably right. We probably could have caught the No. 22 and had a shot to win it, but at the same time, he didn’t work with me much all day, either. A lot of guys hung us out every chance they got. So, to come home third shows what a great race car Hendrick Motorsports brings to the track.”