Brad Keselowski seizes opportunity with JR Motorsports, scores first series win
By Lee Montgomery - Associate Editor
Thursday, June 12, 2008
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Brad Keselowski sat on the back of a parts truck at the Milwaukee Mile a year ago, jobless after his underfunded Keith Coleman Racing team closed its doors.
Just then, JR Motorsports’ No. 88 Chevrolet rolled past in the garage. Shane Huffman was driving it, and there was no public hint of any trouble brewing for Huffman, though he would later be released.
Keselowski, half-dreaming, half-joking, pointed at the car. Two races earlier, he had driven a road-course car at Nashville Superspeedway, finishing 40th after dropping out with handling issues.
The thought of driving for a competitive team was clearly intriguing.
“It’d be nice to get in that,” Keselowski said, his eyes widening.
Funny how things work out. Less than a month later, Huffman was out of a job. Keselowski, after an impressive performance in a Craftsman Truck Series race at Memphis, got a call from team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr.
The No. 88 ride was his.
A year later, Keselowski was back at Nashville, but this time in a car that could win the Federated Auto Parts 300, not simply survive, as was the case in 2007.
At Nashville, neither an upstart like Joey Logano nor a Nationwide driver with something to prove (David Stremme) nor Cup drivers Clint Bowyer and David Reutimann could stop Keselowski from winning his first Nationwide Series race.
And neither could a minor miscommunication between Keselowski and crew chief Tony Eury Sr., after which Keselowski was mildly chided over the team’s radio.
No, this was Keselowski’s night, and deservedly so.
“There’s a lot of irony there,” Keselowski said of running his final race for KCR a year ago at Nashville. “It was about as bad as it could get. I think we brought a road-course car here, broke down about five times. I was afraid I was going to knock the wall down and get myself hurt, it was so bad.
“That was one of those lowlights, where you’re like, ‘Why am I doing this? I need to get myself out of here before I get myself hurt.’ The team folded up right after that, and I was left without a job.”
Logano, starting his second Nationwide Series race, won the pole and led 64 of the first 78 laps before a bad pit stop pushed him down the running order. He later got caught in a four-wide fracas off Turn 4 on lap 88, spun and rammed the frontstretch wall.
Keselowski trailed Logano for most of the opening 78 laps before staying on the track under a caution – against the advice of Eury Sr.
“I was going to stop for fuel only if those guys stopped,” Eury Sr. said. “That was our plan. I really didn’t want to pit at all. I was kind of hoping everybody else would stay out.
“It’s kind of hard for them to hear you in the car when you’re talking to them, and it was a last-minute deal to try to get him on pit road for fuel.”
Keselowski figured he needed the track position, and he did lead the next 27 laps. Not pitting, as it turned out, helped him win the race.
On lap 145, 80 laps before the checkered flag waved, Cale Gale smacked the wall in Turn 4. The timing was perfect for the leaders, who were about to pit under green.
Keselowski had given up the lead 39 laps earlier while pitting under the race’s fifth caution. On lap 148, all the leaders pitted, with Bowyer getting the lead and Keselowski restarting seventh.
Three yellow flags later, Reutimann had grabbed the lead, while Keselowski had moved up to fifth. But instead of trying to stretch his fuel 77 laps until the end of the race, Eury Sr. brought Keselowski to pit road for fuel and tires.
Seven drivers stayed on the track, including Reutimann, Bowyer and third-place Stremme. Their bed was made, as it were, and they were going to have to stretch the fuel mileage.
Keselowski was ninth when the green waved with 38 laps remaining. As Reutimann ran out front, trying to save fuel, Keselowski was on the move, getting to third with 15 laps to go. Could he catch Reutimann?
“Not a chance,” Keselowski said.
Keselowski needed a break, one similar in magnitude to Earnhardt Jr. calling to offer him a ride. He got it on lap 214 when Brad Teague spun in Turn 2. That solved the fuel question for Reutimann, Bowyer and Stremme, but it also closed up the field for Keselowski.
“That’s what we needed to catch back up to the 99 [of Reutimann],” Keselowski said. “It jumbled the field up. I really thought I was going to get by Clint, but I thought David was going to drive away. For some reason, David didn’t go.”
That’s because Bowyer tucked under Reutimann’s rear spoiler, sending Reutimann up the track.
“Next thing I knew, we were by David, and I knew I could take down Clint,” Keselowski said. “It was just history from there.”
With six laps left, Keselowski ducked under Bowyer off Turn 4 and completed the pass in Turn 1.
As Bowyer, Reutimann and Stremme wrestled for second place, Keselowski sailed into victory lane, his potential fulfilled.
“I feel like I paid some dues, I [did] some stuff with some lower-level teams,” Keselowski said. “When you’re doing that, and you’re breaking down every week or blowing up or whatever it is that happens, you always question yourself: ‘Why am I doing this?’
“Then you catch that break like I did, to get to drive for Dale Jr., and that kind of vindicates you.”
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