Birth Date: February 12, 1984 Hometown:
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Team Penske has changed its crew chief assignments for all three of its
Cup Series teams, and for the rst time in a decade, Keselowski will have
a new one.
Jeremy Bullins will be Keselowski’s new right-hand man after Keselowski
mustered 21 wins with his previous crew chief, no small feat.
“As we do after the completion of each season, we evaluated what we
can do to better achieve our goals and we felt it was time to make these
changes to better position us to reach our potential,” team owner Roger
Penske told the Associated Press.
Brad Keselowski qualied for the NASCAR Playoffs for the eighth time
in his 10 full-time seasons in the NASCAR Cup Series, and he routinely
enters postseason play as one of the hottest drivers.
This past season saw Keselowski get booted in the round of 12 after racing
at Kansas.
However, things were going well with consecutive victories at the
Darlington Raceway and Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2018 to wrap up
the regular season and a third-straight win at Las Vegas, the rst race of
the 10-race playoff format.
Then things turned the other way. A 31st-place nish two weeks later at
the Charlotte Motor Speedway’s ROVAL, followed by a 14th-place effort
after being swept into a crash at Dover and a 27th-place nish at Talladega
after running out of gas in overtime, knocked him out of the Playoffs
after two rounds and it relegated the 2012 Cup Series Champion to
being teammate Joey Logano’s wingman in what proved to be his own
Championship drive.
The three-race winning streak accounted for all of his 2018 wins, and he
added three more victories in 2019. That number nearly rose to four, but he
spun out in the Coke 600’s nal laps.
In back to back seasons, Keselowski has teetered on dominant and just
outside the upper echelon of drivers. What Keselowski did accomplish
in 2018 was a special victory at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Some
consider the Brickyard 400 to be one of NASCAR’s unofcial crown jewels,
and crew chief Paul Wolfe used pit strategy late in the race to give his
driver fresher tires for the stretch drive. From there, Keselowski did the rest
(but 2020 will see the end of that marriage with Wolfe as crew chief).
“It was kind of like he gave me the ball,” Keselowski said after that
Indianapolis race in 2018. “He gave me the ball and I had to make a play.
Paul and everybody executed an incredible race.”
That trust is something that can only be built after years of working
together.
Like everyone else in the Ford camp, Keselowski came into 2019 with a
new car and the very real challenge of getting the Mustang quickly up
to speed. No one knew how NASCAR’s new rules package would affect
car development.
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NASCAR announced different specications tailored to specic tracks,
including a tapered spacer to reduce horsepower and aero ducts as
racetracks that measure more than a mile. Five races have the smaller
spacer and no aero ducts. Cars also are tted with larger real spoilers and
front splitters, as well as a wider radiator pan to create more downforce to
enhance handling.
Always opinionated and often controversial, Keselowski, who turned 35
just ve days before the 2019 Daytona 500, also knows Team Penske,
along with Stewart-Haas Racing, Roush Fenway Racing and Wood
Brothers Racing, have the resources to work with Ford engineers to put
their learning curve on the fast track.
In 2019, Keselowski led over 1,000 laps for the third time in his career.
Only Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch led a higher percentage of laps.
Perhaps the most exciting nish of Keselowski’s career for his fans came
in May of 2019 at Kansas. Keselowski sprinted past Alex Bowman in a
two-lap shootout, and he dedicated that 30th Cup Series win to former
GANDER RV & OUTDOORS truck owner, Mike Mittler.
No matter the challenge, Keselowski has generally found a way to Victory
Lane. He’s won at least one race in each of the past nine years. He took
Dodge to a Championship in 2012 in its nal ofcial NASCAR season.
Since then, he’s won 21 times with Ford, proving his ability to adjust to
any new car.
For all the ups and down of 2019, 2020 will offer new potential for one
of NASCAR’s biggest lightning rods. Anyone t to lead 1,000 laps has a
chance every year at a Championship.
2019 FEATURED DRIVERS
BRAD KESELOWSKI
@keselowski
@bradkeselowski
bradracing.com
/bradracing.com