Keselowski tries again for elusive win at Michigan

BROOKLYN, MICH. » Brad Keselowski has never won a NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan.

For some drivers, that might be no big deal, but Keselowski is from Rochester Hills, about 90 miles from Michigan International Speedway.

“A win here would be like winning the Daytona 500 for me,” Keselowski said.

“A home track means a lot to any race car driver.”

It’s a bit surprising that Keselowski hasn’t won at Michigan, considering he gets two chances a year at the Cup level. He finished second in 2012 and has five top-five showings in 17 starts. He will have another chance Sunday, and after qualifying second, he has to be considered a contender.

Keselowski was one of six Ford drivers in the top seven in qualifying, including pole winner Kurt Busch.

Keselowski won the pole at MIS last August and led 105 laps, but he finished 17th. Keselowski has won Xfinity races at Michigan, but he has no victories there at the top level.

“It is your friends and family and there is a lot of notoriety that comes with it. That makes the losses sting more and the wins sweeter,” Keselowski said. “The fact we have been so close and not achieved it is very top of mind every time I come here.”

Keselowski is fifth in the Cup standings this year, the top driver without a victory. His most recent win was at Talladega last season.

“I want to win, I want to win a lot of races. I feel like we have a pretty strong team,” he said. “We have had two or three races where we had the speed to win. That said, we haven’t been able to execute on those.

“We have had a number of races we had the speed to run third to fifth and it seems we have executed very well on those weekends