Keselowski: Win at home would be especially sweet
BROOKLYN, Mich. — Brad Keselowski has never won a Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway.
That might be no big deal for some NASCAR drivers, but Keselowski was born in Rochester Hills, about 90 miles from the track.
“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 Keselowski hasn’t won here, considering the track hosts two Cup Series races each year. He finished second in 2012 and has five top-five showings in 17 starts at MIS. He’ll have another chance today, and after qualifying second — Keselowski was one of six Ford drivers in the top seven in qualifying, including pole position winner Kurt Busch — he should be considered a contender.
Keselowski won the pole at MIS last August and led 105 laps, but he finished 17th. The Team Penske driver has won second-tier Xfinity Series races at the track, but he has no victories here 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 points standings this season, the top driver without a victory. His most recent win was last October at Talladega Superspeedway.
“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 and didn’t catch any luck to go with it.”
Keselowski isn’t the only driver from the Wolverine State who would love to find his way to victory lane today.
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Erik Jones, 22, is a native of Byron, about an hour’s drive from the track. He’s in his second full Cup Series season and has 19 top-10 finishes but no triumphs. He has finished 13th and third at MIS, and he’ll start eighth today.
“Coming home to Michigan and spending some time at home, and coming back to the track that’s so close to my house is nice,” Jones said. “Any first win would be big, especially at Michigan.”
Of course, everyone could wind up chasing this season’s top trio. Points leader Kyle Busch has won four of this year’s 14 points races so far, second-place Kevin Harvick has five victories and 2017 series champion Martin Truex Jr. has won twice.
“I think for us, we’re working as hard as we ever have,” Truex said. “Certainly as hard as we did last year to make sure we can have a shot at doing it again, and I think right now we’re in decent shape to be able to do it, but things change fast, so you’ve got to keep working and you’ve got to keep your head down and just keep grinding it out each week.”
Kyle Busch will start third, Harvick fourth and Truex 17th.
Kyle Larson, who has won the past three Cup Series races at the track, qualified 26th but was second to Harvick in Saturday morning’s practice. The final scheduled practice later in the day was canceled because of rain.
Xfinity: Dillon wins
Austin Dillon won the rain-shortened Xfinity Series race Saturday afternoon at MIS.
The race was delayed around three hours at the start because of the weather, and there had been a threat of more rain for a while before the race was finally called after 91 of the planned 125 laps. Dillon and Daniel Hemric battled for the lead on a restart on the 89th lap, but the race went under caution again almost immediately because of the weather.
Dillon won an Xfinity Series race for the ninth time in his career, but it was his first win on the second-tier series in 2018. He won in February to open the Cup Series season at the Daytona 500.
Qualifying earlier in the day was canceled because of the weather. Kyle Busch started first based on owner points.