Brad Keselowski, Phoenix Racing work pit strategy to sixth-place finish at NHMS
Sixth-place finish when rain halted the race after 273 laps
June 28, 2009
LOUDON, N.H. – Brad Keselowski and his Phoenix Racing team thought the threatening rain would shorten Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
So they worked their pit strategy around that all day at New Hampshire – and were rewarded with a sixth-place finish when rain halted the race after 273 of the planned 301 laps.
“We played the strategy the whole time anticipating this. We kept pitting under the yellows to top off, even if we didn’t need it," Keselowski said. "We had probably a better car than where we were running. We kept pitting to make sure we were covered for this situation. And lo and behold we got a break when this situation came up. We put ourselves in position to take advantage of it and here we are. Good finish out of it.”
It was Keselowski's third top-10 finish in his last three Cup starts. He won at Talladega Superspeedway and then finished seventh at Darlington Raceway. Keselowski is driving a limited schedule for both Phoenix and Hendrick Motorsports in the Cup series this season as well as competing full time for JR Motorsports in the Nationwide Series.
On the Cup side, things have obviously been going well for the 25-year-old, especially with the Phoenix team he took to victory lane at Talladega.
"We're just taking advantage of the opportunity that we have here," Keselowski said. "They made some good pit calls there. Could see this rain was coming and was just trying to be prepared for and the guys did a great job on the Miccosukee Chevrolet of calling the right pit strategy.
"… Just real proud of them. To get another solid finish with the No. 09 car that's really great, really special."