Team Penske NASCAR Xfinity Race Report
Track: Texas Motor Speedway
Race: My Bariatric Solutions 300
Date: March 30, 2019
No. 12 PIRTEK Ford Mustang – Brad Keselowski
Start: 10th
Stage 1: 8th
Stage 2: 35th
Finish: 35th
Status: Accident
Laps Completed: 68/200
Laps Led: 0
Notes:
Brad Keselowski was sidelined by an accident Saturday afternoon at Texas Motor Speedway, leaving the driver of the PIRTEK Ford Mustang with a 35th-place finish. Keselowski was racing for 11th position with Justin Haley on lap 65 when they made contact between Turns 1 and 2. The bump sent the No. 12 Ford Mustang into the outside wall, ending his afternoon early.
He was credited with a 35th-place finish in the final rundown.
Keselowski qualified 10th and ran well throughout Stage 1 despite being too loose. He finished eighth when the first stage concluded on lap 45.
Keselowski pitted on lap 48 and speedy service on the pit lane by the PIRTEK team moved him up to fourth position when the race went green on lap 53.
The restart featured three-wide racing but Keselowski held his own. He was running fifth on lap 56 when he made contact with Justin Allgaier and fell back to 12th in the running order. The day came unraveled for the driver of the PIRTEK Ford in the laps following the restart after the third caution.
Haley was running behind Keselowski on lap 66 when he bumped him from behind, sending the No. 12 Mustang up the banking and into the outside wall.
Quote: “It was a frustrating day. The team said the damage on our PIRTEK Mustang was too much to continue. With all these short restarts there are a handful of cars that seem to have a lot of real quick, short run speed and we just kept getting run over by them. I thought we would have been really good for the last stage when the long run comes, but we didn’t make it that far.”
No. 22 MoneyLion Ford Mustang – Austin Cindric
Start: 9th
Stage 1: 7th
Stage 2: 16th
Finish: 11th
Status: Running
Laps Completed: 200/200
Laps Led: 0
Driver Point Standings (behind first): 5th (-59)
Notes:
Austin Cindric scored an 11th-place finish in the My Bariatric Solutions 300 Saturday afternoon at Texas Motor Speedway. Cindric remains fifth in the driver point standings, 59 points behind the series leader Tyler Reddick.
The driver of the MoneyLion Ford Mustang started ninth and worked his way into the top-five early in the 200-lap, 300-mile race. As the run progressed, Cindric’s Mustang began to lack grip in traffic, causing him to fall to seventh-place when Stage 1 concluded on lap 45 – but gaining four valuable stage points. He pitted during the stage caution on lap 48 for four tires and restarted 11th when the race went green on lap 53.
Cindric narrowly avoided disaster midway through Stage 2. While racing for position on lap 73, the car inside Cindric slipped up the racetrack and into the MoneyLion Ford, causing right-rear damage. The fifth caution on lap 81 gave the No. 22 crew an opportunity to make repairs. He stayed on the lead lap, restarting 20th when the race went green on lap 87. Cindric raced his way up to 16th position before Stage 2 ended on lap 90.
The driver of the MoneyLion Ford restarted the final stage from 13th when the race went green on lap 98. He had worked his way up to 10th position before the seventh caution slowed the race on lap 127. Cindric pitted for four tires, fuel and slight adjustments during the yellow to aid his tight-handling MoneyLion Ford. The young driver would restart 12th on lap 131, 69 laps from the finish.
Three laps later another caution slowed the pace and this time crew chief Brian Wilson called Cindric down pit road to top off fuel, shuffling Cindric back to 16th position for the restart on lap 139.
As the race neared its conclusion, a cycle of green flag pit stops began. Cindric was up to the 11th position with 12 cars on the lead lap when the ninth and final caution came out on lap 190. The MoneyLion Ford visited pit lane once more for a final adjustment for short run speed. Cindric restarted 10th when the green flag waved for a six-lap dash to the finish. He survived the chaotic restart to score an 11th-place finish position at the conclusion of the 300-mile race.
Quote: “It’s one of those days where you try as hard as you can. You got a guy that wipes out on you inside and work your whole race to work your way back up on strategy and driving hard on restarts, and none of it really pans out. And then you get run over on the final restart and end up finishing 11th. The guys on the MoneyLion team did a great job getting us back out there and getting the right-side of the car fixed. We were boxed-in every time so we lost spots each time we pitted. It was one of those days where the MoneyLion Ford Mustang was denied at every corner no matter how hard we tried. We’ll go short track racing now and make up for it.”
