By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
Brad Keselowski was reeling in Team Penske teammate Joey Logano in the final laps of Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 from Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
But unlike the last battle last week at Atlanta, Keselowski did not end the day in Victory Lane, coming up just 0.236 seconds short of what would have been a second straight victory in 2019.
Performing back-and-forth slide jobs for the race lead, Keselowski lost more than a second on Logano and spent the final 20 laps closing back in until the checkered flag.
“I don’t think I would have been able to pass Joey straight-up no matter what,” Keselowski said. “I couldn’t quite pull the slide job like I needed to and I couldnt keep him clear.”
One reason for his position in the closing laps was due to lapped cars, a continuing trend from Atlanta in terms of the race for the win.
“One of the lapped cars completely hosed him,” he said. “I got by [Logano] and then a lap later the lapped car completely hosed me and he got right back on by.
“He got hosed one more time by a lapped car. It’s just a constant battle of lapped cars hosing the leader.”
Despite the loss, Keselowski was happy to cap off a 1-2 sweep for Penske.
“It was a good battle,” he said. “I know I raced him differently, I’m not sure if he raced me any differently. There were several opportunities and they just didn’t come together.”
When drivers were asked how they would grade the package, the feedback varied from anger to excitement. For Keselowski, he knows the reasoning for this imbalance.
“An ‘A’ if I won, a ‘B’ because I finished second and a C if I finish anywhere below that,” he bluntly stated.
“I didn’t have a lot of expectation
