Brad Keselowski says handling will be key for another strong restrictor-plate finish

By Bob Pockrass - Associate Editor

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Brad Keselowski will compete in Saturday's Coke Zero 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Daytona International Speedway.

Elmer Kappell
NASCAR Scene

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Brad Keselowski won the last NASCAR Sprint Cup Series restrictor-plate race, but the part-time driver won’t consider himself a favorite to earn his second career Cup victory this weekend at Daytona International Speedway.

Keselowski will be running the same No. 09 Phoenix Racing car that he won with at Talladega. In that win, Keselowski led only the final lap, a memorable one that included Carl Edwards’ car getting into the Talladega catch fence after a tap from Keselowski as they battled for the lead and Keselowski held his line.
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While Keselowski won at Talladega, he failed to qualify for the Daytona 500 earlier this season.

“I do have the same car as Talladega, but Daytona is more of a handling track, so we’ve got to get the handling right,” Keselowski said. “You shouldn’t count me [as a favorite] any different than anywhere else.”

While the Cup and Nationwide events this weekend will be run at night instead of during the day as they mostly did in February, Keselowski said the key will be getting the car to handle over some of the bumps as well as the smooth portions of the track.

“Daytona is rough, that’s probably the biggest thing,” Keselowski said. “The rough spots that make it slick. You do things to your car to make it go over the rough spots and now it’s got less rear grip and sliding.

“It’s a tricky little place. The thing about Daytona is as it gets into night, it gets a lot better. You start off the race really sliding around and really out of control and hopefully as the race progresses, you get more [stable].”