Reigning champion Brad Keselowski enters the ‘Worried Zone’

Reigning champion Brad Keselowski enters the ‘Worried Zone’

August 28, 2013: Weekend Preview

Staff Report

NASCAR Wire Service

The last time a reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion failed to qualify for the following season’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup was in 2006 when Tony Stewart failed to do so.

With only two races remaining before the Chase field is set at Richmond, 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Brad Keselowski could face a similar fate.

As the series heads to Atlanta for Sunday night’s AdvoCare 500 (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN), Keselowski finds himself in two undesirable positions – outside the top 10 in the standings that guarantees automatic entry into the postseason and outside the Wild Card picture sans a win.

“I’m not going to be out of the worried zone unless I make it (the Chase) or it’s over,” Keselowski said recently.

Keselowski, who will make his 150th NASCAR Sprint Cup start this weekend, is currently 11th in the points, four markers behind teammate Joey Logano, who has never qualified for the Chase, but is riding a streak of five consecutive top-10 finishes. During the most recent offseason, Keselowski played a large role in bringing the 23-year-old driver to Penske Racing.

A win at Atlanta for Keselowski would probably push him into the top 10, but likely at the expense of Logano. If Keselowski wins at Atlanta and then falls out of the top 10 after a poor showing in Richmond, the win could possibly be enough for him to capture a Wild Card spot, as long as he stays ahead of two of the three drivers currently ranked between 11th and 20th in the standings with a win – Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Newman and Tony Stewart.

Stewart, who is sitting out for the rest of the season after breaking his leg in a sprint car accident earlier this month, will most likely fall out of the top 20 after Atlanta.  

Of course, a lot can happen over the course of two races where drivers with wins at the tail end of the top 10 could fall out of the automatic qualifying positions and become a player for the two Wild Card spots.

“Well, we aren’t in a very enviable position (in the points standings) but we have two good tracks coming up for us,” said Keselowski, who won five races in 2012 on his way to winning his first NASCAR Sprint Cup title but has yet to visit Victory Lane this season. “We’ve tested at both Atlanta and Richmond, both with very positive results. We’re only four points outside of the top 10 – which is very doable – but we can’t have any issues.”

Through the first 24 races of 2013, he has compiled seven top fives and 11 top 10s to go along with one pole. His best finish of the season was second at Watkins Glen where he’s finished runner-up three straight years. On the flipside, he’s finished 20th or worse in nine races.

In four series starts at Atlanta, Keselowski’s best finish is third, which came in last year’s race. “I haven’t won yet at Atlanta, but I think we can do that this weekend,” he said. “If we can, everything will work itself out.”

LARSON BUILDS STEAM IN ROOKIE RACE

Kyle Larson is quietly putting together a solid rookie season in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

Although Larson is currently eighth in the championship standings, he continues to add to his rookie lead over Alex Bowman. After placing fifth in the Wednesday night Bristol race, Larson extended his lead to 67 points.

The Great Clips/Grit Chips 300 this Saturday in Atlanta (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2) will be a test for both rookies as neither of them have ever competed at the 1.54-mile track in the series. Larson, however, did finish sixth there last season in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

“I’m excited to get back to Atlanta,” Larson said. “It’s always fun when you can do some Saturday night racing. I’ve never raced at Atlanta Motor Speedway in a Nationwide Series car, but I did race in the truck series there last season, so I feel like my team and I will be ready for the race.”

For Larson, how he performs this Saturday could determine if he should be considered a dark-horse candidate to make a run at the championship. Regardless of whether he can make a serious run at the title in his rookie campaign, a top-five or top-10 finish should move him up a spot or two in the standings and further tighten his grasp on the Sunoco Rookie of the Year race.

Through the first 23 races, Larson has compiled six top-five and 13 top-10 finishes, including a pair of runner-up showings at Bristol in March and Michigan in June. Over the last 15 races, he has 14 top-15 finishes with a 30th-place finish at Watkins Glen earlier this month being the only hiccup.

“Kyle has impressed me all season so I have no doubt he can go out and contend in his first Nationwide Series race at Atlanta,” said Trent Owens, Larson’s crew chief of the No. 32 Turner Scott Motorsports Chevrolet.

HORNADAY HOLDS ADVANTAGE IN HISTORIC RACE

This weekend the Canadian Tire Motorsports Park will host a rare Sunday NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event – the Chevrolet Silverado 250 (2 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1).

However rare it is for the truck series to compete on Sundays, the race being held on a road course and north of the border are rarer. The series makes its inaugural visit to Canada and will compete on a road course for the first time since 2000.

No drivers entered in Sunday’s race competed in the last truck road-race event on June 24, 2000, at Watkins Glen, which was won by Greg Biffle, who went on the win the series title last that season.

Although Ron Hornaday Jr. missed the 2000 race at The Glen – his last road race in the truck series was there in 1999 – he has more truck series experience on road courses than the rest of the field combined. Matter of fact, the four-time NASCAR Camping World Truck champion (1996, 1998, 2007, 2009) is the only driver with experience competing on road-course tracks in the series.

In 14 races on road courses in the series, Hornaday has amassed three wins, nine top-five and 11 top-10 finishes, three poles and an average finishing position of 8.2. He’s finished first at three different tracks – Heartland Park Topeka (1995), Sonoma Raceway (1995) and Watkins Glen (1996).

In all four events he’s started at The Glen, he finished in the top five. In all five events he’s appeared in at Heartland Park he’s finished in the top 10. His lowest finish in all 14 races was a 27th-place performance in his only event at Portland International Raceway.