KESELOWSKI WINS & SECURES A SPOT IN THE ROUND OF 12
RICHMOND, VA – September 14, 2020 – Brad Keselowski called it when he predicted the No. 2 Ford Mustang would run well at Richmond and be in victory lane. And that’s exactly what happened. Keselowski led a race high 192 laps out of the 400-lap race on his way to collecting the NASCAR Cup Series Federated Auto Parts 400 trophy at Richmond Raceway, Saturday night. In addition, securing the second spot in the Round of 12 for Ford Performance.
“Congratulations to Brad, Jeremy, and the No. 2 crew,” said Doug Yates, President and CEO of Roush Yates Engines. “Brad and the No. 2 team executed all night, on the track and in the pits. It was all about executing their plan and the team did an outstanding job. We are proud to celebrate our 100th NASCAR win with Team Penske and to have two Ford Mustangs secured in the next round of the Playoffs.”
After battling Team Penske teammate Joey Logano for the better half of Stage 2, Keselowski was able to make a late stage pass to take the Stage 2 win and put his team in a good position for the final stage of the race. The No. 2 team split the final stage up into a two-pit strategy. The team executed on pit road and Keselowski passed for the lead on lap 48 for the final time. The No. 2 finished with an impressive 2.568-second margin of victory over Martin Truex Jr. for the win.
When asked how awesome his Ford was, Keselowski commented, “It was really good. Our Mustang was really hauling. This car was really strong, and I really got a great rhythm out on the racetrack. You’ve got to get a really precise rhythm for how you get around here and I was able to find that very early on, put a lot of thought into what I was gonna do and it paid off.”
Five Ford Mustangs finished in the top-10. Following Keselowski was Team Penske teammate Joey Logano in P3 and Stewart-Haas teammates Kevin Harvick P7, Aric Almirola P8, and Clint Bowyer P10.
With one race left in the Round of 16, five Ford drivers find themselves above the cut line. Harvick is on top of the leader board in P1, Keselowski P2, Logano P4, Almirola P10, and Bowyer P12. Cole Custer, Matt DiBenedetto, and Ryan Blaney will be putting it all on the line to make it into the Round of 12.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series held their last double-header of the season in Richmond. The Ford Performance drivers Austin Cindric and Chase Briscoe competed well, but finished P4 and P11 respectively in Friday night’s Go Bowling 250. At the completion of the Virginia is for Racing Lovers 250 on Saturday, Cindric finished P10 and Briscoe P16.
At the conclusion of Saturday’s race, Cindric with five wins, 16 top-5s and 20 top-10s on the year, was awarded the Xfinity Series Regular Season Championship. The No. 22 driver collects 15 bonus points for the playoffs and will be the No. 1 seed going into the Xfinity Playoffs at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in two weeks.
“We sat down as a team at the beginning of the year and we all wrote down our top-three goals.” Cindric commented. “I am not a big proponent of setting goals, but we put something on paper and my number one was the regular-season championship. From the outside looking in that was maybe a lofty goal, but we have a lot of speed and a lot of fight and I am really proud of that effort.”
The NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs head to Bristol for the final race before the Round of 12 cutoff. In addition, the Xfinity Series wraps up their regular season at Bristol and looks forward to starting the Xfinity Playoffs at Las Vegas.
27 CHAMPIONSHIPS – 406 WINS – 363 POLES!
*Photos courtesy of NASCAR Media & Getty Images
About Roush Yates Engines Roush Yates Engines is a leading-edge engine development company based in Mooresville, NC consisting of two state-of-the-art facilities – Roush Yates Engines and Roush Yates Manufacturing Solutions, a world class ISO 9001 / AS9100 certified CNC manufacturing facility. The company’s core business includes designing, building and testing purpose-built race engines.
Ford Performance in partnership with Roush Yates Engines is the exclusive engine builder of the NASCAR FR9 Ford V8 engine and Ford Mustang 5.2L V8 engine, used in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge series.
With an unparalleled culture of winning and steeped in rich racing history, Roush Yates Engines continues to follow the company’s vision to lead performance engine innovation and staying true to the company’s mission, provide race winning engines through demonstrated power and performance.
