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[/media-credit]Through the first six races of the Chase for the Sprint Cup, Brad Keselowski has done everything to put himself in position to win his first Sprint Cup Series title. The Rochester Hills, MI native has won two of the opening six races (Chicago and Dover) and his worst finish in the six chase races is 11th at Charlotte two weeks ago.
While as good as Keselowski has been in these opening six races, ultimately it is the last four race tracks that Keselowski has struggled mightily at. Judging by the numbers, Martinsville is the best remaining track for Keselowski. In five career races on the 1/2 mile oval, Keselowski has two top-10 finishes with a best finish of ninth in the spring race this year.
However in order to remain neck and neck with Jimmie Johnson all the way to Homestead, he will have to score his best runs at Texas and Phoenix. These are two tracks that have not served well for Keselowski in recent history. In eight career starts at Texas Motor Speedway, Keselowski has never scored a top-5 or a top-10 finish. In fact his best finish on the 1.5 mile oval is 14th back in the 2010 spring race. During that eight race stretch, he has led only 34 laps and has an average finish of 25.2. Phoenix has not been much better. In six career starts on the 1-mile oval, he has only one top-5 finish to go along with an average finish of 22.2.
To win this championship, Keselowski will have to have his best career races in the next four weeks. In fact he will have to match Johnson step for step on two of Johnson’s best tracks, Martinsville and Phoenix. But should Keselowski weather Martinsville, Texas and Phoenix, he will be in a position at Homestead to fight for the title. But if past history rears its head, this could be ultimately the stretch that Keselowski loses his shot at the title.
