Brad Keselowski proved that he is a threat to repeat as a NASCAR champion by winning three races and finishing the 2017 season in fourth place. The Team Penske driver’s versatility was on full display during the 2017 Monster Energy Series. The #2 Miller Lite Ford driver won three races last season. More impressively, he did it on three distinctly different types of tracks. When all was said and done, Keselowski challenged for a championship in Miami-Homestead and finished fourth in the final standings.
The first win came on the mile-and-a-half oval at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The second victory was at Martinsville Speedway’s flat half-mile. Later in the year, Brad Keselowski drove his hotrod to victory on Alabama’s monstrous 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway. Combined with those first-place finishes, Keselowski also had another 12 other top-five finishes. Altogether, the resume’ was enough to put him in the Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. In that event, the experienced racer finished seventh in the season-ending Ford EcoBoost 400.
Brad Keselowski will turn 34 before the 2018 Monster Energy Cup Series season begins. He claims that the win in Atlanta in the second race of the 2017 season set the tone for the year. It looks like Keselowski was right because he certainly enjoyed the success in the next months that followed.
“If you looked at the start of the season, we won Atlanta and probably should have won Vegas,” Brad Keselowski stated. “You could say that yeah, we definitely had speed in our cars in the first half of the season.”
Brad Keselowski’s reference to Las Vegas was referring to the next race after he was victorious in Atlanta. In Sin City, Keselowski had a strong shot at his second straight win after starting from the pole. His Miller Lite Ford Fusion led four times for 89 laps. Unfortunately, his car faded down the stretch and he had to settle for a fifth-place result. Even so, Keselowski left the desert as the Monster Energy Cup Series points leader.
Throughout the next few months, Brad Keselowski put together a string of consistent performances. In those races, the Team Penske phenom collected seven top 10’s in eight straight tracks. That also included his victory at the famed “Paper Clip” in Martinsville. In that battle, Keselowski out-dueled Kyle Busch during the final stage. He took the lead with 43 laps to go and never looked back. Before that, Keselowski and Busch exchanged the lead five times over the final 100 laps. As a result, Keselowski became the first repeat winner through the first six races of the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. The win virtually guaranteed Keselowski a spot in the playoffs.
“This is awesome,” Brad Keselowski said from Victory Lane. “We’ve run so well here, but something always happens and we haven’t been able to bring it home. Martinsville is one of those champion’s tracks. The guys that run well everywhere run well here. This track is 70 years old and a lot of legends have won here. It feels great to join them.”
As the season pushed on, Brad Keselowski hit a rough patch at the halfway mark. The former NASCAR champion watched his team slide into eighth in the point standings. Nevertheless, he rebounded nicely with a ninth-place finish in mid-July at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. That performance got the team back on track. Despite barely missing a top-10 finish in the regular-season finale at Richmond Raceway, Keselowski entered the playoffs as the No. 4 seed. The 2012 champion reveled in the opportunity to race for a second championship.
After surviving a tumultuous first round, Brad Keselowski guaranteed his place in the semifinal round. He did it with the hard-fought victory at Talladega on October 15th. In Alabama, Keselowski blew past race leader Ryan Newman on the final lap and drove to victory after starting sixth. He only led seven laps in the event but was in front when it counted most. Keselowski took the checkered flag first to end Toyota’s four-race winning streak. The win also was Keselowski’s fifth at the famed 2.66-mile oval.
“I survived,” Keselowski said. “We knew we needed to come to Talladega and get it done. This is a great track for us and one we really enjoy coming to. It’s great to get a win here, No. 5. I never thought I would win at all at Talladega but five times, oh my gosh!”
Brad Keselowski stayed consistent before the finale’ in Miami. He raced his way to a pair of top-five finishes that sandwiched between weaker showings at Kansas and Phoenix Raceway. The feisty motorist’s weekend started well at Homestead. He qualified fifth for the finale’ and was many racing enthusiasts’ pick to win the finale’ and claim another title. Instead, he led just one lap early in the second stage of the race and was no match for eventual champion Martin Truex Jr.
In the end, Brad Keselowski ended the year 10 points behind Martin Truex Jr. in fourth place. Overall, he tallied three wins and 18 other top-10 finishes in his 36 starts. Looking ahead to the 2018 season, he’s scheduled to make his 300th start for Team Penske. That race will be on April 21st at Richmond Raceway.
“We ran as hard as we could, put it all out there and just didn’t have enough speed,” Keselowski said. “On the mile-and-a-half, we weren’t as good as the Truex Jr. We left it all out there and ran a damned-near perfect race. You’re always gonna be disappointed when you don’t win the championship, but I’m not disappointed in our effort.”
Despite the solid year on the pavement, Brad Keselowski was one very frustrated man in 2017. He continually called out how the Toyotas were faster than Fords. Especially, in the latter stages of the playoffs. It was the same situation that probably kept teammate Joey Logano from making the elimination playoffs. For Logano, it was the first time in his Monster Energy Cup Series career.
Ford needs to come up with a way to make its cars faster. If not, 2018 could be much of the same as 2017 for Brad Keselowski and friends. The talented driver has spent the last five seasons trying to duplicate his championship run in 2012. So far, he’s failed to do so. Only time will tell if 2018 is finally the year he wins his second championship.
Brad Keselowski Bio:
Brad Keselowski competes full-time in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series for Team Penske. He also races a limited schedule in the Xfinity Series. Keselowski won the 2012 championship and has 24 career wins in the sport’s Cup series. The aggressive racer was also the 2010 Xfinity Series champion and has 35 victories in that series. In 2014, Keselowski drove his own truck to his first career Truck Series win. He also claimed the Rookie of the Year honors in 2009.
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