By Caleb Whisler, Staff Writer
For Team Penske, the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway was a race that the organization will quickly put behind them as all three drivers—Brad Keselowski, Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano—struggled.
After a dominating performance last weekend at Martinsville Speedway, Keselowski rode a wave of momentum going into the weekend. By Lap 91, issues arose for the veteran driver when the engine would rev but the rear tires would not spin. The problem sent Keselowski to the garage.
“Something broke out of nowhere,” Keselowski said. “We weren’t going very fast or anything and something in the back of the car broke and it won’t go. It’s one of those really important parts as Kenny Schrader would say.”
Keselowski ultimately returned to the race but finished 36th.
With Keselowski and Logano already securing victories earlier in the season, Blaney looked to score his first win of the season at Texas. Shortly after Blaney pitted from the race lead under green flag pit stops, the engine began to overheat, and water began to pour out of the car. Blaney’s team tried to fix the issue on pit road, but they were unsuccessful.
“A part broke off and leaked all the water out, so that’s the way it goes,” Blaney said. “It just seems that’s the way this season is going. We’ve had a shot to win pretty much every race and something happens. That’s getting old, but the car is fast. That’s the bright side, but I’m kind of tired of looking at the bright side. I want to actually start finishing where we should. It’s just one of those days.”
Blaney finished in the 37th position
Out of the three drivers, Logano held down the fort for the organization; however, he had a feat of his own to overcome. After running up front with the leaders for most of the day, Logano was busted for an uncontrolled tire on Lap 156 under yellow flag conditions.
Once the race restarted, a brace underneath the hood of the No. 22 Ford Mustang broke. Logano and the No. 22 team fixed the problem on pit road but found themselves for having too many men over the pit wall, which resulted in Logano becoming two laps down.
“Something came apart in the bracing underneath the hood, I believe, and then the hood started flaring all over the place,” Logano said post-race. “The hood was gonna blow off the car if we didn’t get a caution, so we were able to fix it but went down a lap and there weren’t enough cautions to ever get the lucky dog. We rode around in the lucky dog spot for a while, but never got that.
“That really altered the handling once we had all the bearer bond on the front. The car got really draggy and got real tight, but we won a stage. I was proud of the speed that was in the car. Our car was capable of winning the race but didn’t have the opportunity to take advantage of it.”
Logano finished in the 17th position.