Roush-Fenway-Keselowski Racing owner and driver Brad Keselowski is fresh off his best finish of the year in the No. 6 Ford Mustang – a fifth place run at Charlotte, where his five laps out front marked the first laps he’s led this season.
Amazingly, the effort was the 2012 NASCAR Cup Series champion’s best work since an 11th place showing at Las Vegas in March. While he didn’t celebrate in victory lane, he got a lot closer and that is something he hopes his team can build off.
“Just trying not to do too much, we’re hitting our stride as an organization particularly with the six-team,” said Keselowski, who is ranked 32nd in the championship standings and hoping to earn a Playoff berth with a victory. His last win came at Darlington, S.C. last spring.
“The cars are developing more speed. Our execution’s getting better. It’s an exciting time for us outside of looking where we are in the points standings. We need to build off of that and incrementally inch our way toward being able to win and I think we’re really close to that right now.
“Last week was a really positive moment for us. The last run of the race we passed at least a half dozen cars and ran the fastest laps and did all the things that make you feel like you can go win.”
Keselowski has never scored a top 10at Nashville in four NASCAR Cup Series starts at the track, but heads to his home state, Michigan, next week where he has 15 top 10 finishes in 27 starts, including three runner-up finishes. He’s finished top-10 in three of the last four races there.
“Last year I don’t think we had as much pace but were getting good finishes,” he added. “We have more potential now but didn’t have the execution we had last year. I’m just eager to get the execution to match the potential.”
