Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Race Report - DoverOctober 1, 2017Track: Dover International Speedway No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion – Brad Keselowski Start: 16th Recap: After securing a spot in the Round of 12 for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs one week ago at New Hampshire, Brad Keselowski and the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion team recorded a solid 10th-place finish in the Apache Warrior 400 at Dover International Raceway on Sunday afternoon. Keselowski began the race from the 16th position and after fighting a handling condition that was loose in and tight in the center, he and the team caught a great break when the first caution of the day was displayed at lap 87. Crew chief Paul Wolfe had kept his driver on track longer than most of the other competitors, most of whom were a lap down to the leaders. Keselowski was running in the second position when the caution came out and he was able to pit under the yellow flag. A great pit stop by the Miller Lite crew got Keselowski out in the lead for the restart at lap 92 and he was able to win the first, 120-lap stage to gain 10 bonus points and one playoff point. The second, 120-lap stage began with Keselowski in the third position. Again, he had to deal with a handling condition that was similar to the first run of the day. After dropping back as far as the 10th position, Keselowski rallied to finish the second stage in the eighth position. Keselowski restarted the Miller Lite Ford from the eighth position for the final, 160-lap stage and he showed good speed throughout the stage. Wolfe again tried to catch a timely caution flag by leaving Keselowski out for a long run prior to their final pit stop of the day. That caution never materialized and after Keselowski made his green-flag pit stop at lap 340 he cycled back to the 15th position. He was able to make a strong charge over the final 60 laps to secure a 10th-place finish. Quote: "Qualified 16th with the Miller Lite Ford. Had some pretty good strategy running long and caught the yellow cycle. Had a good pit stop that put us in position to win the first stage which was good. Then we cycled back to sixth the next two rounds and fought really hard from there to just keep track position. We were holding on to sixth or seventh most of the race and at the end we tried to a little bit of strategy and it just didn't quite work out." Start: 18th Quote: "We made good adjustments all day on our Shell-Pennzoil Ford. I felt like in the middle of the race I was as good as most of the cars in front of us, but were just kind of stuck with the track position. Our car wasn't quite as good in dirty air, but the team did a great job of executing all day we were in a position to gamble and run long at the end." Back to previous page.Copyright ©2008-2016 Penske Racing. All rights reserved |