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Team Penske Fords finish well, but fall short of return to Victory Lane
Team Penske was the team to beat last year at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and for much of Sunday's 5-Hour Energy 301 at the one-mile track it appeared Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano would contend for yet another victory.
Logano, who won the 2014 Chase race at NHMS, started Sunday's race from the outside of the front row. But he grabbed the lead on Lap 179 and stayed out front for 12 laps.
While Logano would remain a factor in the top 10 for most of the day, it was Keselowski that had one of the strongest cars all race long. Keselowski started the day 10th, but quickly made his way to the front of the field. The driver of the No. 2 Ford got by Kyle Busch to take the lead for the first time on Lap 67.
The 2012 Sprint Cup champion would continue to have one of the best cars in the field, leading four times for a total of 101 laps, more than any other driver. However, while Keselowski was strong on the track, he was forced to deal with pit strategy and ill-timed cautions.
While Keselowski was battling Kevin Harvick for the race lead with less than 60 laps to go, eventual race winner Kyle Busch came to pit road after suspecting he had a flat tire. It turned out Busch's tires were fine, but oil was on the track. The stop put Busch a lap down, but the Joe Gibbs Racing driver was determined to get by the leaders and get his lap back.
As the leaders raced closely with a lapped car with less than 50 laps to go, Busch made a bold move between Keselowski and Harvick to get back on the lead lap just before the caution flew.
When Keselowski and the rest of the leaders came to pit road for the final time of the day, Busch stayed out and assumed the lead. He stayed out front the rest of the way.
With Busch out front for the final restart, he had Keselowski to his outside. Busch was able to clear Keselowski, who was forced to deal with a hungry Matt Kenseth in third. Once Keselowski cleared the No. 20 Toyota, he set his sights on Busch, as his teammate Logano fought to take the third spot from Kenseth.
As the final laps of the race clicked away, Keselowski was able to charge within a few car lengths of Busch's car, but he could not catch him for the win. When Alex Bowman hit the wall on the final lap, NASCAR threw the caution and ended the race with Busch still out front.
After sweeping the Loudon races last season, the Team Penske drivers were forced to settle for good finishes that stopped short of a return to Victory Lane for either one. Keselowski brought his car home second, while Logano was fourth.
"We had a really fast car and led a lot of laps," a frustrated Keselowski said. "I'm really proud of the team for bringing me two fast cars these past two weekends. It's a joy to drive cars that fast."
Logano was pleased with his fourth-place finish, but said the team just needed a bit more speed to contend for the victory. He also praised crew chief Todd Gordon for pit strategy that helped him stay near the front.
"We had great execution with the Shell/Pennzoil Ford, just not enough speed," Logano said. "Todd made some great calls keeping us toward the front. We were good on the restarts and got a few when we could there. When you've got four tires you try to make something happen, but we just didn't have enough speed in our race car to go up there and race with those guys. We'll find a little bit more speed before we come back. It's still another top-five. We'll take these top-fives, they're nice to have, but right now wins are the only thing that pays."
While Logano said the team needed a bit more speed, Keselowski said the fast cars built by Team Penske is the main reason the two-car team has been so good at NHMS over the past few seasons.
"We've got really fast cars. That's the backbone of performance in this sport is having really fast cars and we had an exceptionally fast car here today," Keselowski said. "I'm just really proud to have another one here."
After the race, Keselowski took to Twitter to express his frustrations over missing out on the victory.
Frustrating finish today, but trying to keep in mind how lucky and happy I am for the really fast car. Thank you #2crew & @Team_Penske !
— Brad Keselowski (@keselowski) July 19, 2015
