By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor
It’s hard to believe, but of Brad Keselowski’s 21-career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victories none have come at his hometown track — Michigan International Speedway. Keselowski always puts extra pressure on his shoulders when he comes back home, and he talked about that a few months ago.
“It is a key weekend for us as a whole. For that I am thankful that I am from that same town as well,” Keselowski said. “For me it puts a lot of pressure coming to this race. Both races really. I have had to be really careful to try to take a step back because I get really mad when we don’t win this race and we haven’t won it yet. Maybe that means the day I win it, if we win it, I will be ecstatic. It is really a key race for me personally and for the sport. I am glad we get to come here twice a year.”
Keselowski has finished as high as second in 14 attempts at the 2-mile speedway, but is still looking at his first taste of Michigan’s spoils of victory lane. Perhaps this weekend he can get it done.
Despite starting his career with four finishes of 24th-or-worse at this track, Keselowski has become quite consistent at this super-fast race track in recent years.
Keselowski has finished inside the top-10 in seven of his last 10 outings at Michigan, and he also led 10 laps earlier this season in Michigan before settling for a fourth place finish. It was Keselowski’s teammate, Joey Logano that won the race that day, so it appears that Keselowski’s race team — Team Penske — has some momentum at this facility.
In all, Team Penske cars have won a total of eight races in Brooklyn, Michigan, and Keselowski’s manufacturer — Ford — has won over half of the Sprint Cup Series races ran at the track since it opened in 1969.
This weekend marks the 100th start for Team Penske at this storied race track, and for whatever reason it just feels like its lining up to be a dream weekend for Keselowski. If he’s in position late in the race, expect Keselowski to turn up the wick on his No. 2 Ford Fusion in an effort to score his first win at Michigan International Speedway.
