Brad Keselowski started on the pole heading into Saturday night’s Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond. Keselowski swapped the lead a couple of times in the race. He led the first 53 laps before quietly running in the top five. The Team Penske driver took the lead again on Lap 246 and led for 36 laps during that stint.
However, those were the only times Keselowski would be up front. After leading 89 laps, he wound up finishing in fifth place. But, after the No. 20 of Erik Jones failed post-race inspection, the No. 2 driver was moved up in the running order and was credited with a fourth-place finish.
When asked about the dominance of the Joe Gibbs Racing cars, Keselowski said, “It’s definitely not good news. We’ve got work to do. They’re really strong and we’re not where we need to be to be able to beat them heads-up, but we threw everything we had at them. We put down a great qualifying lap, got the first pit stall, had great pit stops and got to the lead, but just didn’t have the raw speed to keep it.”
While admitting that their organization has some work to do, he was satisfied with what they were able to accomplish Saturday night at Richmond Raceway.
“We led eighty-some laps, so it’s not a bad day but just not nearly fast enough to dominate the race and win.”
“Yeah, we’re locked into the next round. That feels good. I’m proud of that effort.”
