Brad Keselowski
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| Bradley Robert Keselowski | |||||||
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| Born | February 12, 1984 Rochester Hills, Michigan, United States |
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| Achievements | 2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series Champion | ||||||
| Awards | 2008, 2009, 2010 Nationwide Series Most Popular Driver | ||||||
| NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career | |||||||
| 89 race(s) run over 4 year(s) | |||||||
| Car no., team | No. 2 (Penske Racing) | ||||||
| 2011 position | 5th | ||||||
| Best finish | 5th - 2011 | ||||||
| First race | 2008 Dickies 500 (Texas) | ||||||
| Last race | 2011 Ford 400 (Homestead) | ||||||
| First win | 2009 Aaron's 499 (Talladega) | ||||||
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| NASCAR Nationwide Series career | |||||||
| 168 race(s) run over 6 year(s) | |||||||
| Car no., team | No. 22 (Penske Racing) | ||||||
| 2011 position | 91st | ||||||
| Best finish | 1st – 2010 | ||||||
| First race | 2006 Ameriquest 300 (Fontana) | ||||||
| Last race | 2011 Ford 300 (Homestead) | ||||||
| First win | 2008 Federated Auto Parts 300 (Nashville) | ||||||
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| NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career | |||||||
| 48 race(s) run over 7 year(s) | |||||||
| Truck no., team | No. 19 (Brad Keselowski Racing) | ||||||
| Best finish | 21st – 2005 | ||||||
| First race | 2004 Kroger 250 (Martinsville) | ||||||
| Last race | 2010 O'Reilly 200 (Bristol) | ||||||
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| Statistics current as of January 15, 2012. | |||||||
Bradley Robert Keselowski (born February 12, 1984) is an American auto racing driver and team owner currently competing in the #2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger in the Sprint Cup Series and the #22 Discount Tire Company/Ruby Tuesday Dodge Challenger in the Nationwide Series for Penske Racing. He was previously a driver for JR Motorsports from 2007 to 2009 in the Nationwide Series and for Phoenix Racing and Hendrick Motorsports in the Sprint Cup Series. He won his first championship in the 2010 Nationwide Series; the first championship for both Brad and Penske Racing. Keselowski also owns a Camping World Truck Series team, Brad Keselowski Racing.
He is the son of Bob Keselowski and the nephew of Ron Keselowski. His older brother Brian competes part-time in the ARCA RE/MAX Series, the Nationwide Series, and the Sprint Cup Series.
Contents |
[edit] NASCAR
[edit] 2004–2006
Keselowski began his NASCAR career in the 2004 Craftsman Truck Series season, as the driver of the #29 for his family-owned K Automotive Racing team. He made his debut at Martinsville Speedway, where he started 26th and finished 33rd. He made seven more starts that season, his best finish coming at Mansfield, where he finished 16th.
In 2005, Keselowski began competing in the Truck Series full-time with backing from SUBcrews.com and Samson Stone. He opened the season with a career-best seventh-place finish at the Florida Dodge Dealers 250. Running every race that season, he finished 21st in points. He ran the first two races of 2006 for K-Automotive, finishing sixteenth at California Speedway, before a lack of sponsorship caused the team to temporarily suspend operations. Keselowski then drove a pair of races filling in for the injured Kelly Sutton, where he had a seventh-place start at Memphis Motorsports Park. He returned to the Trucks in August, where he finished 33rd at Bristol Motor Speedway driving the #63 for MB Motorsports.
[edit] 2007–2009
In 2007, Keselowski began running in the NASCAR Busch series full time and for Rookie of the Year honors with Keith Coleman Racing, but the team suspended operations in July. During the 2007 racing season, Keselowski was tabbed by Germain Racing to replace Ted Musgrave at Memphis Motorsports Park after Musgrave was suspended for an in race scuffle with another driver in Milwaukee. He qualified first for the Saturday night race, and led a majority of the race, but got bumped by Travis Kvapil with about nine laps to go. Keselowski finished 16th. Shortly afterwards, he was called by car owner Dale Earnhardt, Jr to drive his #88 United States Navy Chevrolet for JR Motorsports for the rest of the year in the Busch Series, posting five top-ten finishes.
Keselowski re-signed with JR in 2008, and got his first win came June 7, 2008 at Nashville Superspeedway, overcoming Clint Bowyer after the final caution in the closing laps of the race. His second Nationwide career win came in the same fashion at Bristol Motor Speedway on August 22, 2008. He ended the season third in the points standings, the highest finish by a full-time Nationwide Series-only driver. Late in the season, Keselowski was hired to drive the #25 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet for two races with Hendrick Motorsports.[citation needed] Keselowski was on stand-by for an ill Jeff Gordon in Kansas and for expectant father Casey Mears at Talladega that season as well. Keselowski made his Cup series debut at Texas after failing to qualify once due to a rainout. He finished the Dickies 500 in 19th position, and 23rd in the season finale at Homestead Miami Speedway.
Keselowski continued driving the 88 for JR in 2009 as well as competing in a limited Cup schedule. He will drive the #25 in seven races, and is scheduled to drive the #09 Phoenix Racing in ten races. He won the Aarons 499 in just his fifth career Cup start.
Keselowski pulled off an upset and earned his first Sprint Cup win during the 2009 Aaron's 499 at Talladega. In the pass through the tri-oval, Brad went high to try to fake Carl Edwards out. When Edwards went high to block, Brad went low to pass. Edwards went to block. However, Keselowski made contact with Edwards left rear quarterpanel, making him lose control of his car in a crash that sent Edwards back into the path of Ryan Newman. Edwards' car bounced off of Ryan Newman's hood and then up into the catch fence, injuring seven fans. Brad Keselowski did not go down below the yellow line due to the circumstances at the race last year involving Regan Smith and the yellow line (Smith passed Tony Stewart below the yellow line to finish first, but lost the win, even when there was controversy over whether he was forced to move below the yellow line). Keselowski won in his fifth career start (third start in 2009) and led his first career Sprint Cup lap, Lap 188 (in fact the only lap he led the entire race). It was the first time since May 2007 a driver had won his first career win in a major, and the first win in the Aaron's 499 by a first-time driver since Phil Parsons in 1988. It was also the first time a driver's first ever lap led was to win the race.
[edit] 2010–2011
It appears that his win in Talladega has earned him more seat time in the James Finch-owned Chevy. Originally scheduled to appear next in the 18th race of the season, at Daytona International Speedway, was then scheduled to appear in the upcoming race at Richmond International Raceway. Keselowski raced the Sprint All-Star Race as well.[citation needed] He was forced to pull out of the Richmond race due to commitments to his Nationwide series team.
Keselowski got his third Nationwide victory at Dover. Kyle Busch cut a tire on the restart, second-place Joey Logano rammed Busch and Keselowski passed them both.
After taking a gamble and staying out past his "pit-window," Keselowski garnered his fourth win at the first ever Nationwide race at Iowa Speedway after battling Kyle Busch to take over and maintain first position. Keselowski finishing first over Kyle Busch made Busch tie his record of nine consecutive top 2 finishes.
Brian Vickers and Kyle Busch dominated Michigan, but Keselowski came on top when momentum broke between the two, allowing Keselowski to pick up a victory in his home state.
In 2010, Keselowski joined Penske Racing in the NNS (NASCAR Nationwide Series) and NSCS (NASCAR Sprint Cup Series). Keselowski scored his first win in the NNS in 2010 at Talladega on April 25 and then went on to win five more races at Richmond, Nashville, Michigan, Charlotte, and Gateway. He also collected five poles, 26 top 5s, and 29 top 10s. With the 26 top 5s, he beaten Kyle Busch's record with 25 top 5s. With crew chief Paul Wolfe, Keselowski won his first ever NASCAR Nationwide Series title. But in the NSCS it was a different story. Keselowski finished 25th in the final Sprint Cup standings and recorded one pole, zero wins, 0 top 5s, and 2 top 10s.
In 2011, Keselowski will drive the #2 Miller Lite Dodge. Keselowski's current #12 Dodge team will become the #2 Miller Lite Dodge team. Kurt Busch and the current #2 team will become the #22 Shell Penzoil Dodge for 2011. Shell as a stipulation of sponsorship wanted Kurt Busch as their driver feeling that he is more established then Brad Keselowski. Paul Wolfe will replace Jay Guy as crew chief of Brad Keselowski's #2 Miller Lite Dodge. Todd Gordon will be Keselowski's crew chief in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. He won the pole for the 2011 Coca Cola 600, and the following week, he was able to get the lead with 9 laps to go and hold off a charging Dale Earnhardt, Jr. to win the 2011 STP 400 at Kansas Speedway on fuel mileage. During his victory celebration, he ran out of fuel.
Keselowski had a violent accident at the Road Atlanta circuit which left him with a broken ankle. However, he took the lead with 16 laps to go from Kyle Busch and won the Good Sam RV Insurance 500 at Pocono Raceway, notable for being one of the most tricky tracks in the series. This win, happened 3 or 4 days after the violent crash.
The next week, Keselowski gave a valiant 2nd place effort at Watkins Glen International, leading with 2 laps to go but getting passed by Marcos Ambrose in turn five. He followed that with a 3rd place finish at Michigan International Speedway. The next week, Keselowski got his third win of the year at Bristol by holding off Martin Truex, Jr. and Jeff Gordon.
That win virtually assured Keselowski a spot in the 2011 Chase for the Sprint Cup, given NASCAR's rule change designating the final two Chase spots as wild cars slots for drivers ranked 11th through 20th in the points with the most wins. Keselowski finished the "regular season" 11th in points, using his three wins to qualify for his first career Chase.
Keselowski was a factor for much of the Chase, before a late spin at Martinsville derailed his championship hopes. Still, Keselowski finished his second full Cup season fifth in the point standings, 84 points behind champion Tony Stewart. Keselowski finished the season with more wins than teammate Kurt Busch (three to two) and with a better points finish.
[edit] 2012
In addition to continuing running in the Sprint Cup Series and a limited Nationwide Series schedule for Penske Racing, Keselowski will compete in a limited number of Camping World Truck Series races for his own team, Brad Keselowski Racing, as a teammate to Parker Kligerman.[1]
[edit] Complete Sprint Cup Series results
Note:This list does not include exhibition races.
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)
| Year | Team | No. | Sponsors | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | NSCC | Points |
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| 2008 | Hendrick Motorsports | 25 | GoDaddy.com | Chevrolet | DAY | CAL | LSV | ATL | BRI | MAR | TEX | PHO | TAL | RIC | DAR | LOW | DOV | POC | MIC | INF | NHA | DY2 | CHI | IND | PO2 | GLN | MI2 | BR2 | CA2 | RI2 | NH2 | DV2 | KAN | TL2 | LO2 DNQ |
MA2 | AT2 | TX2 19 |
PH2 | HOM 23 |
57th | 200 |
| 2009 | HMS / PhR / PR | 25 / 09 / 12 | GoDaddy.com / Miccosukee / Penske | Chevrolet / Dodge | DAY DNQ |
CAL | LSV 38 |
ATL | BRI | MAR | TEX 23 |
PHO | TAL 1 |
RIC | DAR 7 |
LOW | DOV DNQ |
POC | MIC | INF | NHA 6 |
DY2 24 |
CHI 32 |
IND | PO2 | GLN | MI2 24 |
BR2 | AT2 | RI2 38 |
NH2 | DV2 | KAN 13 |
CA2 | LO2 12 |
MA2 | TL2 8 |
TX2 35 |
PH2 37 |
HOM 25 |
38th | 1528 |
| 2010 | Penske Racing | 12 | Penske Racing/Verizon Wireless | Dodge | DAY 36 |
CAL 21 |
LSV 26 |
ATL 36 |
BRI 13 |
MAR 12 |
PHO 16 |
TEX 14 |
TAL 34 |
RIC 14 |
DAR 12 |
DOV 18 |
CHA 20 |
POC 21 |
MIC 27 |
INF 35 |
NHA 26 |
DY2 30 |
CHI 18 |
IND 19 |
PO2 20 |
GLN 20 |
MI2 34 |
BR2 19 |
AT2 25 |
RI2 15 |
NH2 18 |
DV2 22 |
KAN 23 |
CA2 26 |
CH2 27 |
MA2 10 |
TL2 10 |
TX2 33 |
PH2 42 |
HOM 13 |
25th | '3485 |
| 2011 | Penske Racing | 2 | Miller Lite | Dodge | DAY 29 |
PHO 15 |
LSV 26 |
BRI 18 |
CAL 26 |
MAR 19 |
TEX 18 |
TAL 33 |
RIC 26 |
DAR 3 |
DOV 13 |
CHA 19 |
KAN 1 |
POC 23 |
MIC 25 |
INF 10 |
DY2 15 |
KEN 7 |
NHA 35 |
IND 9 |
PO2 1 |
GLN 2 |
MI2 3 |
BR2 1 |
ATL 6 |
RI2 12 |
CHI 6 |
NH2 2 |
DV2 20 |
KA2 3 |
CH2 16 |
TL2 4 |
MA2 17 |
TX2 24 |
PH2 18 |
HOM 20 |
5th | 2319 |
[edit] Brad Keselowski Racing
Keselowski formed his own race team in 2007. The team began competing in the Truck Series in 2008. Brad drove the #29 Chevy himself and earned the team's first Top 10 finish.
In 2011, Brad will have young prospect Parker Kligerman drive his #29 Dodge Ram for all 25 races, attempting to win Rookie of the Year, and possibly even the Championship. Currently Kligerman is 3rd in the Rookie Standings and 8th in the Championship Standings.
Kligerman actually did fairly well for Brad. "Klig" got two 2nd-place finishes for BKR, finishing 11th in the final point standings, and acquired additional sponsorship from Cooper Standard who will sponsor the duo for another full-season in 2012.
[edit] Images
[edit] References
- ^ Rodman, Dave (January 14, 2012). "Keselowski steps up Truck Series schedule in '12". NASCAR.com. Turner Sports. http://www.nascar.com/news/120114/bkeselowski-steps-up-truck-program/. Retrieved 2012-01-15.
- "Brad Keselowski Career Statistics". Racing Reference. http://www.racing-reference.info/driver?id=keselbr01. Retrieved 2011-02-12.
- "Brad Keselowski Owner Statistics". Racing Reference. http://www.racing-reference.info/owner?id=keselbr01. Retrieved 2011-02-12.
- "Brad Keselowski Racing". Brad Keselowski. http://bradracing.com/. Retrieved 2011-02-12.
[edit] External links
| Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Brad Keselowski |
- Official website
- Brad Keselowski at Racing Reference
- Keselowski Family Website
| Sporting positions | ||
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| Preceded by Kyle Busch |
NASCAR Nationwide Series Champion 2010 |
Succeeded by Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. |
| Achievements | ||
| Preceded by Carl Edwards |
NASCAR Nationwide Series Most Popular Driver 2008, 2009, 2010 |
Succeeded by Elliott Sadler |
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- Living people
- 1984 births
- People from Rochester Hills, Michigan
- Racing drivers from Michigan
- NASCAR drivers
- NASCAR Nationwide Series champions
- NASCAR team owners
- American people of Polish descent
- Brad Keselowski Racing drivers
- Germain Racing drivers
- Penske Racing drivers
- Phoenix Racing drivers
- K-Automotive Motorsports drivers
- JR Motorsports drivers
- Hendrick Motorsports drivers
- Keselowski family