Keselowski looks to defend Talladega win, save his season

TALLADEGA, Ala. –

Talladega Superspeedway’s winner might be able, on Sunday, to save his season. He could defend last year’s win.

Brad Keselowski won’t bet on a seventh Talladega victory, however. Keselowski will not restrain himself from pursuing his first win since leaving Team Penske to take an ownership stake at RFK Racing.

Keselowski said, “We’ve got an amazing shot.” said. “If we get anywhere near, I’m going all-in.”

For illegal modifications to the No. Keselowski’s first season of being a driver-owner has been devastated by Ford and sent him to the bottom of the Cup standings. This is lower than any full-time driver. It took him one month to get from 35th to 30th in points — a mark that he reached last week at Bristol which makes him eligible for the playoffs, should he win a race.

Daytona and Talladega are his best bets for victory.

Chris Buescher, Keselowski’s teammate, won a February qualifying race at Daytona International Speedway. But the RFK organization hasn’t won a Cup point race since 2017. The team won two races that year on superspeedways, with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. winning the Alabama race.

Since the 2014 win at Sonoma by Carl Edwards, the organization has not won any other type of track than a superspeedway.

Keselowski has nine years of consecutive playoff appearances.

Keselowski stated, “I think there might be a bit of truth to it. But honestly, I look at the next month. I’m really excited for the races we’ve got.” said. “I believe we can win each one of them. We have a lot of great stuff coming down. We are beginning to solve some problems and figure out some of the missing pieces. I am not ready to state that we must win on a superspeedway to make it to the playoffs.

“I feel like we are starting to find our game on other tracks too. The team is improving and we have a lot more confidence with our cars.

GAME OF NUMBERS

Keselowski will start Sunday in 15th position as the Ford camp failed to qualify. His former Penske teammate Joey Logano was the Ford driver who qualified highest at 13th.

However, the Ford camp was the most organized during Daytona week. Here teams and drivers have to work together in order to move through the pack and reach the front. It resulted in Austin Cindric, a Penske rookie, winning the race and seven Fords finishing in the top 10.

William Byron, a Chevrolet driver won at Atlanta in March. The reconfigured track raced as a superspeedway. He isn’t certain if other manufacturers have the same solid plan as Ford. He named Tyler Reddick (Roschastain), Chase Elliott, Erik Jones and Chase Elliott as aggressive Chevy drivers who could help Ford beat on Sunday.

“There are some aggressive Chevy drivers. I believe there are some really skilled drafters with whom we can collaborate,” Byron said. “I felt at Atlanta, we were better. We were improved. It was the closest thing to what happened this weekend. Ford, who I know can tandem very well, could even stay connected at Atlanta for a lap. This is something we need to work on. I think we have the tough guys to push each others as hard as they need.

In qualifying, Martin Truex Jr. and Christopher Bell led a Toyota lockout on the front row of the Toyotas for Joe Gibbs Racing. However, the Sunday plan must be flawless to propel the Japanese automaker to victory lane. Only six of the 39 cars are Toyotas. Chevrolet has 17 entries, while Ford has 16.

Kyle Busch: “We’ll work together as best as we can, and what happens, happens.” said. “There is no strength beyond numbers.”

NECCESSARY AGRESSION

Keselowski was aggressive and finished ninth in the Daytona 500. His pushing caused two separate crashes. He saidAlthough he isn’t proud of it, he said that “honestly, it had to be gone and that my car could have taken the same push that I gave those other cars.”

He warned his team when he arrived at RFK that he was likely to “wreck out” of a lot of races this season.

It’s going be for a good reason. I will push the car as hard and fast as I can, sometimes exceeding its limits. “Something is going to happen. Then we’re going back and we’re gonna make it better,” he said. said. “As long the failures are not silly mistakes, it’s okay for me to accept them, regardless of whether they’re mine or others in the company. If we want to achieve our goals, then we have to push very hard. There is still plenty of room.

ENDS AND ODDS

FanDuel Sportsbook has Ryan Blaney as the 10-1 favorite for Sunday’s win. Blaney, a Talladega winner twice, was racing Austin Cindric to win the Daytona 500. Cindric then threw a block which put Blaney in the wall. … Talladega has had 10 winners before, with Logano having three wins to Keselowski’s one. … Dale Earnhardt held the record with 10 victories. Talladega Superspeedway holds a record for green flag passes in Cup Series races with 219 lead changes in 2013.