Mooresville, NC. March 23, 2015. Brad Keselowski piloted his No. 2 Wurth Team Penske FORD Fusion powered by Roush Yates Engines to victory lane at Auto Club Speedway on Sunday. The team’s never give up attitude propelled Keselowski to his 17th career Sprint Cup victory.
“On the restart we were able to find our way through the lanes and get to the front,” said Keselowski after the race “That’s kind of a race car driver’s dream and this is one we’re gonna sit back and go wow for a while on.”
Keselowski restarted in 17th on lap 200 and by the backstretch he was already up to sixth before another caution flag flew. On the final Green-White-Checkered, Keselowski started fifth and rocketed his way to the lead in just a single lap.
Keselowski only lead 1 lap but it was the most important lap of the race surging to the front on the second attempt of a Green-White-Checkered finish. He passed Kurt Busch on the inside going into turn 1 of the white flag lap and held off a hard charging Kevin Harvick for the win.
“To have both cars in the Chase is exceptional,” said Roger Penske, “Today was special for me, this is a track we built, I think back in ’97 was the first time we had a race here. We haven’t won a race here with a NASCAR car since I think it was 2002. To me, two cars in the Chase at this time, I think we’re going in the right direction.”
With his first win of the season, Keselowski joins Team Penske teammate Joey Logano having qualified for the Chase. Both Team Penske cars are the first two cars in the Chase for FORD Performance and Roush Yates Engines. In 2014, it took seven races for both Keselowski and Logano to become qualified while in 2015 it took just five races. It also marked the 22nd race in a row where Logano has led at least one lap in Sprint Cup competition which is a NASCAR record.
Durham Racing Engines had a 1-2 finish with Earl Pearson Jr. and Scott Bloomquist at Brownstown Speedway for the Lucas Oil Late Model DIRT Series with the RY45 engine package engineered by Roush Yates. It was the third win of 2015 in dirt late model competition for Andy Durham as Pearson Jr. muscled his way to his second win of the season on the LOLMDS. Bloomquist finished a close second to give Durham a top two finish at the Icebreaker.
“Andy Durham builds a great engine and I want to thank him for all of his horsepower he is providing us this year”, said Pearson Jr. in victory lane. “It’s Kemp Lamm’s birthday, so what a way to celebrate by winning here at Brownstown.”
The next stop for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is Martinsville this Sunday for the STP 500. The LOLMDS heads south to Jackson Motor Speedway in Mississippi and Ark-La-Tex Speedway in Louisiana for a $10,000 to win doubleheader.
Roush Yates Engines would like to thank our partners FORD Performance, Mahle Clevite, Cometic Gasket, Del West, Rottler Manufacturing, Mitsubishi Materials U.S.A. and Safety Kleen. Roush Yates relies on these products each week in our engines as they play a vital role in our success.