Solomon Plumbing Ford Earns Stage Points in Opening Two Stages before Strong Finish
RIDGEWAY, Va. (April 2, 2023) – Brad Keselowski put the Solomon Plumbing Ford inside the top-10 for nearly all 400 laps of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond, ultimately driving to a 10th-place finish, his third top-10 of the young season.
The two-time Richmond winner had an initial hill to climb as rain washed out Saturday’s practice and qualifying sessions, putting the No. 6 P24 on the grid for Sunday. With no track time prior to the green flag, NASCAR implemented a competition caution at lap 30.
Despite the starting position in the middle of the field, Keselowski took less than 50 laps to put his machine inside the top-10. The No. 6 pit crew gained him eight spots on the first stop of the day under the competition caution, then he stayed out under a yellow that flew almost immediately at lap 44.
From there he restarted ninth at lap 50 and went on to finish the opening stage of 70 laps in ninth, earning a pair of stage points. Keselowski began the second stage in seventh, and after just one caution in that segment and a green-flag pit stop, he would finish it sixth, again earning valuable stage points.
The Michigan native restarted the final stage from sixth as the first 65 laps ran all green. Keselowski was ninth at the time of that caution and restarted there with 88 to go, before the next pit stop again came under green-flag conditions. The No. 6 inherited the lead for one lap during the pit cycle with 44 laps remaining, but the caution was again displayed a handful of laps later, putting Keselowski on the wrong end of track position.
Keselowski would restart 14th with 21 to go, then another yellow was immediately displayed. He fired off 13th with 14 to go in what would be the final restart of the afternoon, ultimately picking off three more positions in the closing laps en route to the top-10.
The No. 6 team returns to action next weekend on the dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway. Race coverage on Easter Sunday is set for 7 p.m. ET on FOX. Radio coverage can be heard on PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
