The defending winner of the Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard powered by Florida Georgia Line at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (Sunday at 2 p.m. ET on NBC, IMS, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) comes from a team whose owner knows how to find Victory Lane at the historic 2.5-mile track.
Brad Keselowski’s Team Penske owner Roger Penske is the winningest team owner in Indianapolis 500 history (18 victories, including this year). And Keselowski’s victory at the historic track last year made Penske a proud winner of NASCAR’s race at the venue, as well.
Keselowski is living up to the Penske tradition at Indianapolis. He won the race last year, finished runner-up in 2017 and has five top-10 finishes in nine starts. Also very telling, Keselowski has led laps in seven of the nine races he’s run – 108 laps total.
Only two drivers – Jimmie Johnson (2008-2009) and Kyle Busch (2015-16) – have won back-to-back Indianapolis races, but Keselowski has to be a favorite to become the third.
This season he has three victories in the No. 2 Team Penske Ford – at Atlanta, Martinsville, Va., and Kansas. Keselowski has nine top-five and 14 top-10 finishes through the opening 25 races – including top-10 results in five of the last six. He’s coming off top-five showings at Bristol, Tenn. (third place) and last weekend at Darlington, S.C. (fifth).
He sits sixth in the points standings and his 966 laps led with 11 races remaining is more than he totaled in each of the three previous complete seasons.
Keselowski in locked into the Monster Energy Series Playoffs and is chasing his second title after winning the championship trophy for Team Penske in 2012 with a five-win season.
NASCAR PR
