NASCAR Cup Series

Keselowski doesn't dwell on racing hurt

Published Aug. 7, 2011 1:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

Brad Keselowski lived up to his “Bad Brad” nickname on Sunday at Pocono Raceway with his second NASCAR Sprint Cup victory of the season.

Despite plowing into a concrete barrier at over 100 miles per hour and having to be air-lifted out of Road Atlanta on Wednesday, nothing was going to stop Keselowski from driving the No. 2 Miller Dodge in this race.

Not a tweaked back. Not a fractured left ankle. Not the need to use his left foot to shift and brake with through 500 miles and three hours and 37 minutes of racing. Nothing.

“When you let the pain get into your head that far that you don't believe you can win anymore, you'll never win,” Keselowski said.

Although Penske Racing had arranged to have Sam Hornish Jr. as a back-up driver to practice the No. 2 car and race it if necessary, Keselowski was adamant when he said, “I’m going to drive this car until they drag me out of it. They’re not getting me out of this damn car.”

Yes, Keselowski considered himself “a lucky guy to have walked away” from Wednesday‘s incident. When Joey Logano checked on him during practice, Keselowski said repeatedly, “It’s just not my time.”

And given a second chance, Keselowski made the most of his time -- right now.

Keselowski’s cousin, a Navy SEAL, lost a close friend when 30 U.S. troops, including 22 SEALs, were killed on Saturday when a transport helicopter was shot down by insurgents in Afghanistan. Keselowski, who humbly acknowledged that he’s “no hero,” used the tragedy as motivation for Sunday’s race.

“One of the guys who died over there was someone he knew, was friends with,” Keselowski said. “Told me a little bit about this week and it kind of put things in perspective. I might not be feeling great, but those are the guys that are really making sacrifices. We're just driving race cars for a living. We're not curing cancer or saving the world like those guys are. So that's kind of -- it was inspirational for me.

“Whenever I got in the car and felt like, 'This hurts, I don't want to do this, I want to get out,' that was good inspiration on what it means to man up and make it happen, because it's really not that bad.”

Keselowski started 13th on Sunday but quickly moved into the top 10. During pit stops on Lap 102, Paul Wolfe called for four tires and Keselowski restarted 10th on Lap 105.

Following another round of pit stops, Keselowski was 24th before the race was red-flagged for rain on Lap 125. The 1-hour, 40-minute delay offered Keselowski the opportunity to rest his ankle and come back and fight for the final 69 laps.

When the race restarted on Lap 131, Keselowski and teammate Kurt Busch stayed out and lined up first and second, respectively. The track position enabled Keselowski to remain in contention. When Kasey Kahne and Juan Pablo Montoya collided on Lap 180, Keselowski lined up second with 15 laps to contest the finish. Although Kyle Busch had the lead, Jimmie Johnson battled him for position and Keselowski assumed the lead and sailed off to the finish.

Spotter Joey Meyer said to his driver, “You said you wanted to earn one…” And that’s precisely what Keselowski did. His first win, which came at Talladega Superspeedway, was tainted after he punted Carl Edwards into the fence. His second win at Kansas Speedway in June was labeled a fuel-mileage victory.

But on Sunday, Keselowski simply made magic.

“Nobody gives us anything,” Keselowski said. “And they sure as hell didn't give us anything this weekend. This was an earn-it weekend. And I've always wanted to win a Cup race and earn it, not fuel mileage, not Talladega, a real win. And today feels like that.

“And for that I'm real proud. And I can't wait to see what the next few months bring us.”

In the next five weeks, Keselowski will be fighting for a spot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Sunday’s win elevated Keselowski three positions in the points standings to 18th place. It’s the first time that Keselowski has been in the top 20 this season and makes him eligible for one of the two wild-card positions in the Chase.

“Winning two races is probably really good for our Chase hopes, gives us pretty high odds if we were playing poker, but nothing is 100 percent until it's 100 percent,” Keselowski said. “So lots of races left. Keep plugging away. Maybe if we keep running like this, maybe we can get a third win and we'll be damn near immune, unless we fall out of the top 20.

“Going in the right direction with this (No.) 2 team, and proud of everyone on the Miller Lite Dodge Charger, this is a big win for us. This is somewhat of a validation, I think.”

Let it rain

Polesitter Joey Logano’s hopes for a second rain-shortened win were dashed when the sun finally peaked through the Pocono clouds following a 1-hour and 40-minute delay.

Logano led five times for 44 laps and was leading when the race was red-flagged for rain on Lap 124. When the race went green, Logano pitted. He regained the lead for the on last time on Lap 152, but the car wasn’t nearly as solid as it was during the early stages of the race.

Then, with 11 laps remaining in the race, Logano ran over debris and cut a right rear tire. He finished 26th and dropped to 20th in the points standings.

Veteran crew chief Greg Zipadelli found no reason to hang his head.

“I’m going to get on a plane and go home and get up at 4:45 tomorrow morning and go to work like I do the other 355 days a year,” Zipadelli said. “What can you do? We did all we could. We sat on the pole, we led a bunch of laps, we had a very respectful top-five car.

“I think (it was) one of our better performances in the last two-and-a-half years, so I’m not going to hang my head and be miserable over something on the racetrack. I can’t control that. If it was something that we did and made a bad call it would be different than that. Right now, we learn and the last thing I want to do is walk out of here with a bad attitude and kill the momentum that we’ve had in the last six to eight weeks.”

Best in class

For the second consecutive week, Paul Menard topped the Richard Childress Racing drivers.

While the performance couldn’t compare to last week’s Brickyard 400 win, Menard qualified seventh, ran in the top 10 for most of the day and finished 10th.

'It was a good follow-up to last week’s win,” Menard said. “We fought hard for this top-10 finish. The 27 pit crew gained us some spots on that stop coming off the red flag that really help out a bunch. The race for the final Chase spots is shaping up to be really competitive and we're fighting hard to put ourselves in position to take one of those spots.”

Numbers game

65: Laps led by Denny Hamlin who finished 15th.
25: Laps gained by Jeff Gordon who finished sixth.
3: Positions gained by Mark Martin (15th) in the standings despite finishing 13th.

Say what?

Dale Earnhardt Jr., who gave Brad Keselowski his first big break, on the driver fighting through the pain for the win.

“He apparently could mash the brakes pretty good today,” Earnhardt said. “He’s a good driver and a great guy and he’s not going to let his opportunities pass him by. He’s not going to give up the opportunity to anyone else. He wants to drive every lap he can drive. I bet it was tough for him to not run the Nationwide race, but probably what made the difference today for him.”