Keselowski, driver and co-owner of RFK Racing’s No. 6 Ford, bounced again from an early-race pit cease miscue and maximized his pit technique to complete third in Sunday’s race at World Large Know-how Raceway at Gateway.
It’s Keselowski’s third consecutive end of third or higher and fifth in his final seven races, which incorporates his Could 12 victory at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway. Throughout that very same span, he’s moved from 18th to ninth within the collection standings and certified for the 2024 playoffs.
“That was strong technique,” Keselowski mentioned. “We received behind early for positive, however we stored placing ourselves in place to maintain transferring ahead. It was a extremely hard-fought day for everybody.
“We are going to take quite a lot of good momentum from this one for positive.”
Brad Keselowski, RFK Racing, Solomon Plumbing Ford Mustang and Matt McCall, RFK Racing, Ford Mustang
Picture by: Nigel Kinrade / NKP / Motorsport Photos
Throughout the warning within the first stage for an incident involving Cody Ware and Derek Kraus, Keselowski was compelled to pit twice as a result of what he believed was a unfastened wheel. After beginning seventh within the race, he dropped to the rear of the sphere.
Within the ultimate stage, Keselowski was amongst those that remained on the monitor so long as attainable within the ultimate stage earlier than making their ultimate inexperienced flag cease and had a lot brisker tires on the finish of the race.
He additionally gained a spot when fellow Ford driver Ryan Blaney – who was main on the time – ran out of gasoline within the ultimate laps.
“We have been in place early and we had the difficulty there on pit street. The fellows stored their heads down and recovered,” Keselowski mentioned.
“We had some good technique and made some good passes on that final restart to begin stage three and on the long term we have been actually robust. We’re simply making all of it depend the place we will.”
Requested whether or not having the win and being a workforce proprietor aided him in making the choice to run lengthy earlier than his final cease, Keselowski mentioned, “In the end, I’ve the steering wheel, so I can at all times make the decision, however I simply felt assured.
“Our automotive wasn’t falling off and I simply needed to maintain going and see it out and see if possibly we may catch a yellow. If not, I felt extra good issues would occur for us.”
By means of 15 races this season, Keselowski has now matched his top-five finishes from final season (seven) and has eight top-10s (half of his 2023 season whole).
