Though Saturday was Keselowski’s first XFINITY win since November of 2015 at Texas Motor Speedway, broke a winless drought of 46 races for the No. 22 Ford and was the first last-lap pass of the season in the XFINITY Series, his biggest moment of surprise was being interviewed in victory lane by Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney.
Saturday’s race featured a special ‘Drivers Only’ broadcast on FOX, led by Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer and Joey Logano in the booth; with Blaney, Erik Jones and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. as pit reporters and Danica Patrick and Denny Hamlin anchoring the show from the Hollywood Hotel.
“It’s a little surreal talking to Ryan Blaney in victory lane,” Keselowski said. “It’s crazy … blowing my mind.”
“Elliott (Sadler) gave me a good push to clear the 00 (Cole Custer) but it carried all the way into Turn 1. I got down there and my rear tires were off the ground and I just went straight trying not to back it into the wall.”
At that point, Keselowski’s mindset was to try and get as far back forward as he could.
“This was kind of a never give up (scenario). It felt like we were back in 30th,” he admitted. “I drove by a bunch of cars and just pushed as hard as I could. It looked like Kyle’s (Larson) car was struggling just a little bit and he was getting tight in the middle, loose off. He was doing a really good job holding it low so I couldn’t get a run.”
“On the last lap, I got on his bumper and got him loose. He was trying to do the side draft thing down the backstretch and all the way down the apron. That had to look pretty cool. … But a hell of a race. I’m really happy for the 22 team. It’s been a while. I think it’s been well documented that they haven’t been in victory lane. … It’s good for Ford and everybody. It feels good for me, the team. They deserve it.”
Allgaier snuck past Larson in Turn 2 on the final lap, coming home second and taking over the XFINITY Series points lead as a result of his consistency throughout the season-to-date.
“Everybody at JR Motorsports has really done a great job this year,” Allgaier praised. “We knew we had speed, but we just needed the track position, and when we made the call (to pit for tires with 20 to go) and were able to cycle back through … the fresh tires were what it was all about.”
“We tried to make it interesting, but just didn’t have the speed to pass the 22 (Keselowski).”
Larson finished third after looking like he was going to win for the fourth time in his last five XFINITY starts.
“I thought I was a third to a fifth-place car, at best,” he admitted. “The 22 was a lot better than everybody else. … I’d be loose for three laps, and then I’d get tight on exit, and that’s what allowed those guys to close on me at the end.”
“I tried to stay as low as I could, to get them tight behind me, but I just got too tight off Turn 1 … Brad got a run on me and that was it.”
Sadler and Daniel Suarez rounded out the top five at the finish.
Brendan Gaughan came home a quiet sixth, ahead of Custer, Ty Dillon, Daniel Hemric and Matt Tifft.
Darrell Wallace Jr. finished 11th in his last scheduled XFINITY start of the season, due to sponsorship shortfalls, while polesitter Kyle Benjamin was “used up” on the final restart and faded from a potential top-five finish to 16th.
The NASCAR XFINITY Series returns to action on June 17 at Michigan Int’l Speedway.
Full race results can be viewed on the next page…
RESULTS: NASCAR XFINITY Series; Pocono Green 250; Pocono Raceway; June 10, 2017
- Brad Keselowski
- Justin Allgaier
- Kyle Larson
- Elliott Sadler
- Daniel Suarez
- Brendan Gaughan
- Cole Custer
- Ty Dillon
- Daniel Hemric
- Matt Tifft
- Darrell Wallace Jr.
- William Byron
- Michael Annett
- Ryan Reed
- Brennan Poole
- Kyle Benjamin
- Jeremy Clements
- Spencer Gallagher
- J.J. Yeley
- Dakoda Armstrong
- Casey Mears
- Dylan Lupton
- Ryan Sieg
- Ross Chastain
- David Starr
- B.J. McLeod
- Blake Koch
- Josh Williams
- Tommy Joe Martins
- Timmy Hill
- Paul Menard
- Joey Gase
- Spencer Boyd
- Mike Harmon
- Garrett Smithley
- Brandon Jones
- Harrison Rhodes
- Morgan Shepherd
- Carl Long
- Jeff Green
About the Writer
Jacob Seelman is the Managing Editor of Race Chaser Online and creator of the Motorsports Madness radio show, airing at 7 p.m. Eastern every Monday on the Performance Motorsports Network.
Seelman grew up in the sport, watching his grandparents co-own the RaDiUs Motorsports NASCAR Cup Series team in the 1990s.
The 23-year-old is currently studying Broadcast Journalism at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., and is also serving as the full-time tour announcer for the Must See Racing Sprint Car Series.
Email Jacob at: editor@racechaseronline.com
Follow on Twitter: @Speed77Radio or @JacobSeelman77
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