Weather gamble doesn't quite pay off for Keselowski in Atlanta

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emailBy Kelly Crandall | July 10, 2023 5:37 AM ET

NASCAR Cup series teams knew bad weather would hit during Sunday night’s race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, it was just a matter of when and for Brad Keselowski, he needed it to be just a little sooner than it was.

Keselowski finished sixth when NASCAR called the Quaker State 400 official after 185 laps. But he had been leading the race at the end of the second stage (lap 160) when a decision had to be made on pit strategy. Although weather was imminent, without knowing when it was going to start, it would have been tough for Keselowski to stay out and gamble fuel mileage.

It was a no-win situation for crew chief Matt McCall to find himself in. One that Keselowski, while riding around under caution, said he didn’t envy.

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

Keselowski led 19 laps after finally getting to the front. Knowing that Atlanta was an opportunity race for the Fords, whose struggles haven’t included superspeedway-style racetracks, Keselowski went on the offensive when in position.

The 2012 Cup series champion made aggressive moves he’s known for at superspeedways and like the spring race, again found himself going toe-to-toe with Team Penske drivers. In the second stage, Keselowski and teammate Chris Buescher fought on the inside line at the front of the field while the three Penske cars were lined up together on the outside.

There was even a point in the race when Keselowski said he was “giving you all I got” over the team radio.

“It was a good day,” Keselowski said. “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.”

The pit stop took Keselowski out of contention for the win. He came off pit road behind five drivers who took two tires, but there were 11 others who stayed out on track.

Sunday night was the third race Keselowski led laps in the double digits. It was his seventh top-10 finish of the season.

“It’s just part of the deal,” Keselowski said of being close to a potential victory. “You win races you shouldn’t and you lose ones you probably should win and you have to take the punches as they come.
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