Keselowski and Kahne have wild rides
By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.
Brad Keselowski survived a close call on Wednesday, one that almost made mincemeat of his Budweiser Shootout strategy.
Early in Wednesday’s first practice session for Daytona 500 cars, Keselowski’s No. 2 Dodge spun off the backstretch after contact from Clint Bowyer’s No. 15 Toyota, as Keselowski was trying to make room for Ryan Newman’s Chevrolet in front of him. After a high-speed slide through the infield grass, Keselowski brought his car to the garage.
Fortunately for the Penske Racing team, the damage was minimal. After the crew cleaned the grass and dirt from the undercarriage, Keselowski was back on the track, thankful that his efforts to save his car during Saturday’s Shootout had not gone for naught.
Both Keselowski and teammate AJ Allmendinger ran conservatively in the back of the pack on Saturday, after both lost their primary Shootout cars in a crash during practice on Friday.
“For us, we destroyed a good racecar in practice,” Keselowski said after the Shootout. “Obviously, that put us behind in our car rotation. It was very, very important that we brought a car home from the Shootout, between AJ and I. It’s our backup car for the 500.
“So, basically, without having that car available, if something was to happen in the next few days, we’d be out of bullets. That’s not good. So we had to make sure we had cars left at the end of [Saturday’s] race. We were in kind of a unique position.”
Keselowski came home unscathed and finished fourth in the Shootout. Allmendinger wasn’t as fortunate, falling victim to a late wreck also involving Jeff Gordon, Kurt Busch, Jamie McMurray and Carl Edwards.
Keselowski and Allmendinger both hope to survive today’s Gatorade Duels 150-mile qualifying races with their primary cars intact, but in a worst-case scenario, Penske Racing has two cars ready to transport from North Carolina to Daytona.
Kasey Kahne’s slide through the tri-oval grass in Wednesday’s second session wasn’t as benign as Keselowski’s adventure on the backstretch in the first.
Kahne ripped the left-front fender off his No. 5 Chevrolet, forcing the team to go to the backup car. Consequently, Kahne will start from the rear of the field in today’s second Duel.
Only 25 teams participated in the second practice, unwilling to risk damage to their cars before the Duels.