Keselowski eager to get back to Victory Lane at Bristol

For defending race and Sprint Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski, this weekend’s action at the Bristol Motor Speedway arrives at just the right time.

Sitting second in points behind old foe Jimmie Johnson, it’s Keselowski who is the only driver to start the season with three consecutive top five finishes. But, it’s the missed opportunities that have Keselowski chomping at the bit. It’s time to get a win, says the champ, and there’s no perfect place to do it.

“It’s really good. I think our practice session proved that we have the speed to hopefully not let this one get away,” he said early Saturday morning about the race this weekend.

“It didn’t show up well as we would have liked in qualifying, but I guess that’s just par the course for us. If they would have had qualifying last week at Vegas, I think we would have been 30th, so it felt really good to not have to go through that last week. This week, to come out here with a solid qualifying effort lends itself to us having a great race.”

He was fastest in the first practice session Friday then qualified seventh for Sunday’s race, which he won last year. It was the second of three BMS races that Keselowski had won. And it’s winning that has him so upset, or the lack thereof, even though he’s off the hottest start of his career.

Following last Sunday’s race in Las Vegas where he finished third, he revealed he’d probably go home and punch something, he wanted to win that badly and it just wasn’t happening. It was a ‘what if’ scenario in the Daytona 500 because he believes had the caution flown one second earlier or one second later, he would have won the race.

Coming off a 2012 season in which he won five races and his first championship, Keselowski knows what success feels like and expects to duplicate it every week.

“I just really love coming here. I love what this track stands for and I love how it races,” Keselowski said. “I think embracing that challenge is part of our success.”

For Keselowski to have success Sunday he believes it’ll have to come from the bottom groove. Temperatures and the new car have the tires reacting differently than they did last season, meaning it might become a one-groove track again, leading to the old bump-and-run style racing.

Or at least, a race that is unpredictable. A new car leads to unpredictability, changes in the track surface lead to unpredictability and unpredictability says Keselowski, can lead to drivers making mistakes and a race that has a lot of action. Which above all else, is something everyone can agree they enjoy.

Bristol is enjoyable, but also demanding. Keselowski relates it to play Tetris except if he screws up, he’ll be hit in the head with a hammer. It’s mental and physical and for drivers, including Keselowski, once one piece gets figured out it’s onto the next one and the next one. But it all happens so fast and Keselowski thrives on that challenge. And his recent success at the track gives Keselowski the confidence to run well, something that’s just as important in the bullring as a tough bumper.

“I like how it’s an in your face track, where if you just ride around here, you wreck,” he said. “If you get too aggressive, you wreck. If you try to fall somewhere in-between, you just have a bad day, so that mental challenge – the window is so small – and I love that about it.”