Slow and steady: Keselowski believes Team Penske has room to grow after another strong run
While Kevin Harvick's incredible hot streak has understandably generated a lot of headlines, Team Penske is quietly putting together a stellar season as NASCAR heads into its first off weekend.
Penske drivers Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano already have won races this season, and Sunday at Martinsville Speedway, Keselowski nearly made it two victories in a row, coming up just short of winner Denny Hamlin. Logano started from the pole and finished a strong third.
With six of 26 races complete in NASCAR's regular season, Logano is second in points with his Daytona 500 victory, three top fives and six top 10s, while Keselowski is fourth, on the strength of a win at Auto Club Speedway, a pair of top fives and five top 10s. Both drivers are all but guaranteed slots in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup for the second consecutive year.
Despite their early season success, the Penske Fords need to find more speed if they hope to challenge Harvick and his Stewart-Haas Racing teammate, Kurt Busch, Keselowski said after Martinsville.
"Right now the 4 (Harvick) and the 41 (Busch) are the best on the mile-and-a-half tracks, and the championship always comes down to the mile-and-a-half tracks," said Keselowski. "You look at the Chase, that's how it is. The 4 and the 41 are the best cars there."
As Keselowski correctly noted, there is adequate time for Penske to improve.
"We've all got some work to do to catch up to them," Keselowski said of SHR. "But there's, what, seven months until then? Or six months at least? And when that time comes, you know, that's when you need to be fast. A lot of time to keep developing and pushing to get better, and everybody will. Gibbs has always had good cars, and I wouldn't be shocked if by that time they were one of the favorites to beat. But you just never know."
Harvick took the championship last year, with Logano and Hamlin also advancing to the final round at Homestead-Miami Speedway along with Ryan Newman.
Logano also said he thought the Penske Fords need to get racier, especially since Martinsville will host a Chase race in October.
"The track seems to change a lot from the spring to the fall, but, directionally, I think there are things we can improve on still," said Logano. "We're only good for a certain amount of time, and we just need to make our cars a little faster for a longer time."
