Wild restart ends improbable run for Brad Keselowski

October 1, 2018 Greg Engle 2018 Playoffs, Main Page, Top Stories 0

Brad Keselowski wrecked his primary car in practice.

He spun his No. 2 Team Penske Ford, a backup car, in a Lap 49 dustup with Martin Truex Jr.’s Toyota in the frontstretch chicane.

Despite those issues, Keselowski managed to lead 29 laps in Sunday’s Bank of America Roval 400 and had a shot to win the race until he locked his brakes into Turn 1 while leading after a restart with six laps left.

The 15-car wreck in Turn 1 also eliminated the Toyota of Kyle Busch and crippled the dominant car of Kyle Larson, who had led 47 laps before the accident.

“I don’t know—maybe we all overdrove it,” Keselowski said of the massive crash. Maybe the track had something on it. I don’t know. I got in the corner. I didn’t feel like I got in it… I got in hard, but not like ridiculously hard, and it just locked up. I couldn’t get the tire to unlock, so I felt really, really dumb when I hit the wall, and then I got back in the care center and saw the replay and saw everybody kind of did the same thing.

“I don’t know. It’s frustrating, but I really have to give a lot of credit to (crew chief) Paul Wolfe and the team on this Truck Alliance Parts Ford. This car was a rocket. I wrecked the car in practice and we unloaded this car just for the race, and it was screaming fast. I thought we were going to win today. It just didn’t come together.”

Greg Engle
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About Greg Engle 7421 Articles
Greg is a published award winning sportswriter who spent 23 years combined active and active reserve military service, much of that in and around the Special Operations community. Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.