Brad Keselowski’s day at Texas Motor Speedway was surely not a walk in the park. Having started just 22nd in his RFK Racing For Mustang Dark Horse, Keselowski had to fight through the field again and again all race long.
After working on the car throughout the 16-caution day, the 2012 Cup champion found himself with a rocket ship after the final round of pit stops. Come the final series of restarts — multiple overtimes helped — Keselowski diced his way up to what he thought might have been a third-place finish thanks to a race-ending incident between Ross Chastain (then running second) and William Byron (then running third) on the backstretch.
Or was it second place?
“I’m not sure we finished third,” Keselowski quipped on pit road after the finish. “I have to see the replay from NASCAR on that first before I’m going to concede that.”
Indeed, at the time of the final caution after the white flag, Keselowski was officially scored second during NASCAR’s review. But even with the strong finish, the owner-driver feels there’s work to be done.
“We didn’t have a ton of speed,” he said. “Honestly, I’m more frustrated than anything because I feel like we have a great team and we don’t have the speed to go with it. We’re doing all we can do to overcome that.
“The driver in me is frustrated because I feel like these are races I’m good enough to win, and we don’t have the speed to do it. Only reason I am mad…is it’s my fault for not making the cars faster.
“Still proud of the team that we have, the pit stops, strategy, execution to put ourselves in position to get a finish we probably didn’t deserve but earned with some kind of never-give-up spirit.”