Saturday, December 2, 2023
NASCARNASCAR Cup SeriesKeselowski's Winless Streak Extends to 81 in Atlanta Rainfall

Keselowski’s Winless Streak Extends to 81 in Atlanta Rainfall

By Justin Schuoler, Staff Writer

HAMPTON, Ga. – Brad Keselowski fought for his life in the rain-shortened Quaker State 400.

Despite winning Stage 2 with valuable championship points and a Playoff point, the ensuing pit cycle shuffled his No. 6 Castrol Edge Ford Mustang outside the Top-10. When the green flag dropped, the entire field understood the assignment and battled for each position like it was the last lap.

Because it would be at any given moment.

Keselowski clawed his way through the field with a chance to get back to the lead, but unfortunately ran out of time and finished sixth at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

“It was a good day,” admitted Keselowski. “We were right where we needed to be, but didn’t get the breaks we needed. I was really happy with our performance and quality of the cars we had. My teammate, Chris Buescher, did a good job, but just didn’t catch the breaks we needed at the end.”

Since the field was alerted about the weather radar, various pit strategies built a 37-wide guessing game of fuel strategies to determine when NASCAR would eventually call the race early. Some drivers like Michael McDowell were on fumes while others like himself had fuel for more laps.

“No, we had 12-14 laps left of fuel and that was not enough and we ended up running 15 laps or so,” he shared. “I think we made the right call, we just needed the rain to be 10 minutes earlier or 10 minutes later.”

His winless streak extends to 81, dating back to his victory at Talladega Superspeedway in 2021. While the number has spanned multiple seasons, it shouldn’t go without saying that RFK Racing has been competitive more and more. Both he and teammate Buescher led laps and battled side by side with the Team Penske Fords during Stage 2.

“It’s just part of the deal. You win races you shouldn’t and you lose ones you probably should win and you have to take the punches as they come.”

And just as Keselowski shared over the radio in the closing laps: “I’m giving you all I’ve got.”

Justin Schuoler
Justin Schuoler
Justin’s experience starts back in the mid-90s racing dirt bikes and ATVs. He won a local championship in 1999, and competed in multiple endurance grand prix races across Southern California. In 2015, he shifted from two wheels to four wheels, winning his first sprint kart race and finishing second in that championship. Now he works as a race official with that very club while working on making a comeback to the track. Simultaneously, his journalism career began with NASCAR and Supercross. First started with Speedway Media, he now works as the web developer and tech manager for Kickin’ the Tires. He met his significant other at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and after he and Rachel married in 2018, they together have covered west coast races in karting, Supercross, NASCAR, drag racing, dirt racing, World of Outlaws, and even a visit to his original motocross club.
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