Keselowski Faces Adversity in Kansas, Finishes Sixth
Following a week of harsh penalties due to illegal rear end housing in Texas, 2012 champion Brad Keselowski was already starting from behind over the weekend in Kansas Speedway. A tough day began when the green flag flew for the first time in the STP 400.
During the start, Keselowski was rear ended and had to spend extensive time on pit road to fix the damage. It took several lengthy pitstop to get the car to a place where it was race-able, and Keselowski lost a lap at one point because of it.
“Something happened where there was a check-up in front,” said Keselowski. “I think somebody was wrecking and I slowed down and the guy behind me didn’t. He just drove through the quarterpanel and tore it all up and eventually the dirty air of cars being around me just sucked it apart.”
At another point in the race, Keselowski’s rear quarter panel was hanging off of the car due to some contact he sustained with another car which was separate from the first incident. The quarter panel eventually brought out the final caution when it eventually let go of the No. 2 Ford.
“I could feel something was wrong, but I couldn’t see it so you don’t know what the magnitude of it is,” said Keselowski. “Obviously, it must have been pretty severe.”
While the day was rough for Keselowski, he eventually rallied back to finish in the sixth position.
“Usually you’re not happy unless you win, but a day where you can fight through adversity like we did today and get a solid finish, that kind of is a win,” Keselowski said after the race.
Keselowski is now third in the standings, 38 points out.
Early Contenders Bitten by Final Caution
Several early frontrunners were unable to maintain a good finishing position after Keselowski’s left rear quarter panel caused a debris caution. Carl Edwards, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Greg Biffle were all drivers either caught on pit road or just after the pitstop when the yellow flew.
Though all of them were able to take the wave around—and Stenhouse to take the lucky dog—none of them were able to make it back into the top 10.
“That caution came out at a bad time, but we weren’t very good all day either,” said Biffle. “We’re just missing it a little bit.”
Stenhouse finished 11th, Earnhardt 16th, Edwards 17th, and Biffle 19th.
Kyle Busch, Joey Logano Crash Early
It was a rough weekend for Kyle Busch, who had to start in a backup car in Sunday’s race and crashed out early in Saturday’s Truck Series race.
It didn’t start much better on Sunday. While it initially looked like Busch might salvage a good day, he brought out the first caution of the day after spinning on the backstretch on the fifth lap of the race.
It was all downhill from there. After working his way up to as high as third, Busch again spun by himself on the backstretch and this time collected former teammate Joey Logano in the process. The two made heavy contact and were unable to repair the cars to return to the racetrack.
“Spun twice on our own,” said Busch. “Just don’t know what to do with Kansas.”
“I watched the 18,” said Logano. “He was spinning out and I saw it the whole time. I saw he got loose and thought, ‘OK, he’s gonna come back across,’ and he didn’t. It looked like he was gonna stay up there because he kind of slapped the wall with the right side after he hit it the first time, so I’m like, ‘All right, I’m gonna gun it and get by him here,’ and as soon as I committed to that I saw him start coming back down. At that point you’re just lined up to him and hit him a ton.”
Busch finished 38th and Logano finished 39th.
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