Brad Keselowski races to another solid top 10 finish in Texas. (Photo: Dylan Nadwodny | The Podium Finish)
FORT WORTH, Texas – Brad Keselowski took home a seventh place finish for the AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Texas Motor Speedway last Sunday afternoon.
Keselowski continued his recent string of solid top 10 finishes at Texas, kicking off with securing a third place qualifying position on Saturday afternoon. After a series of cautions towards the end of the first stage, Keselowski faded to a 14th place Stage 1 finish after spending the majority of the opening leg inside the top 10.
Following more cautions early in Stage 2, Keselowski was able to gain back much of his track position throughout the stage for a seventh place stage finish. The 39-year-old Rochester Hills, Michigan managed to gain back even more ground during the first laps of the final stage, driving back up to third place with 54 laps to go in the race.
Several laps after a restart, however, on Lap 50, Keselowski reported “a level three vibration” in his car, but managed to maintain fourth position throughout most of the remaining 50 laps until the final restarts of the race when he dipped back several spots and finished the race in seventh.
After the race, Keselowski commented on what made the race difficult in his opinion during a media availability.
“Just all the restarts for sure,” Keselowski said. “The tires were worth a ton, two vs. four tires and I think you really saw that play out there at the end.”
Entering Texas, Keselowski was three points below the cutline to make in into the next round with all three round of 12 races remaining. Exiting the Texas race, Keselowski is on the other side of the line and has a narrow cushion heading into Talladega.
Keselowski also spoke about how he feels regarding his standing in the Playoffs, and his goals heading into next week’s race.
“You know, it’s one race at a time and there’s still two races left to go,” Keselowski added. “Where we’re at in points is kind of like, we’re neutral, we’re not good, we’re not bad. We need to go to Talladega and put up a hell of a race.”
Keselowski’s teammate Chris Buescher is also a contender in the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs, and is just ahead of his teammate in point standings. Buescher entered Texas 10 points above the cutline to advance into the Round of 8. He left Texas 22 points above the Round of 12 cutline.
Alongside Keselowski’s six top fives and now nine top 10s for the 2023 season, Buescher has secured three wins with eight top fives and six top 10s for RFK Racing this season. As part owner of RFK, Keselowski spoke after the race about the solid finishes both he and his teammate have been able to secure throughout the season.
“We’ve made a lot of progress, we’re certainly very thankful for that,” Keselowski said. “We want to be able to come to tracks like this and dominate, we’re not there yet but we’re knocking on the door.”
Editor’s Notes
Rob Tiongson contributed to this article from Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas.
