CONCORD, N.C. — Story by Race Chaser Online Managing Editor Jacob Seelman — Streeter Lecka/Getty Images North America photo — Brad Keselowski is not starting where he would have liked to be for Saturday night’s Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, but he still has one advantage — he’s the defending race winner.
Keselowski will start 17th for the only night race in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup; oh by the way, he started 23rd and won as a non-Chaser in 2013. That fact alone lets the 2012 champion breathe a little easier heading into the big show tomorrow evening.
“I was optimistic before qualifying,” Keselowski expressed last night at Charlotte. “Our first round wasn’t where we wanted it to be and the guys worked on it and got us a little more speed. That got us to the next round and then we just didn’t have quite enough. It was a good effort by everyone on the 2 crew. We think we have a really solid race car. We’d have liked to have a little more speed in qualifying, but that’s how it goes sometimes.”
“We’ve been off a little bit in qualifying trim ever since we’ve been here (in Charlotte) but our race pace was really good and that’s the most important thing so we’ll keep working.”
Keselowski circles track position as one of the keys that the entire field will have to work on in order to find success tomorrow night.
“It’s a big track position race,” Keselowski emphasized. “There are a lot of variables that can break that up though — pit strategy and we’ll see if the top comes in. I don’t think it’s going to,” the Team Penske driver added, “but that could certainly open things up as well.”
Despite the fact that this is the final chance for Brad and his team to control their own destiny in the Chase’s second round, he is focused on the task at hand — winning a race at Charlotte for the second straight year.
“We just have to focus on what’s right in front of us. There have been races where we’ve started up front and not finished up front and there have been races where we’ve started at the back and raced our way forwards. It ebbs and flows. Everything that goes down will come back up and you just have to ride it while you can.”
“This is part of the challenge. For us, this is a very Homestead-like weekend. We need to perform. This is our last chance to really control our destiny in the Chase for this round and we want to make the most of this opportunity.
The Bank of America 500 takes the green flag tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m. Eastern time, with live coverage on ABC, the Performance Racing Network and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.
