Win stokes Keselowski’s fire for another Sprint Cup title
SPARTA, Ky. — Brad Keselowski wants another Sprint Cup Series championship. The time is now. And the launching pad for his second title run turns out to be a familiar one.
Keselowski dominated Saturday night’s Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway from the start, leading a race-high 199 of 267 laps on his way to his second series win of the season.
With NASCAR’s format change for the Chase, Keselowski’s second victory guarantees he will have a chance to compete for his second title in three seasons.
“I don’t want to win one championship and that be it for my career. I’m not going to be happy with that. And I want to win another championship, but I don’t want it to be five or 10 years from now,” said Keselowski, who owns 12 wins during his Cup career.
“I don’t want to be a guy that contends for a championship every three or four years. I want to do it each and every year, and I know that opportunity is here, and it’s present, and I want to make the most of it, and I’m not afraid to communicate that.”
Two years ago, Keselowski’s victory at Kentucky helped vault him into the top 10 in the series standings, which eventually led to his sec- ond appearance in the Chase and his first series title.
The dominance displayed this season by Keselowski and Team Penske teammate Joey Logano on the intermediate tracks like Kentucky should go a long way toward assuring both are competitive in the Chase.
“The things it takes to go fast here aren’t too far off from those other tracks, and I think when you hit this mark in the season, some cars might show a little bit more development but not a lot,” Keselowski said.
“I think you pretty much get to where everyone has almost what they’re going to have to finish off the year around this time. And when you can run well at this point in time in the year, it bodes well for the final half of the season.”
Keselowski started from the pole and led