NASCAR penalizes Keselowski at Pocono – and it might not stop there
Brad Keselowski overcame an early-race NASCAR penalty and run-in on the track to contend for a win in Monday’s Axalta 400 but NASCAR may not be done with his team just yet.
Photo by: Action Sports Photography
NASCAR ordered Keselowski to pit road on Lap 28 of 180 after determining his Team Penske pit crew made unapproved body modifications to the right-side of his No. 2 Ford during the previous round of pit stops.
TV replays showed a crew member slamming his shoulder into the side panel while the car was being jacked to change tires. Theoretically, the move could help create side-force.
Despite the penalty and catching the piece of an accident involving Jimmie Johnson on the track, Keselowski finished third. However, after exiting his car and conducting a TV interview, NASCAR officials surrounded the car preventing the team from any further work.
A NASCAR spokesman said the sanctioning body wanted to take a closer look at the area of concern before anything else was done to the car.
“I don’t know what they saw so it is not really fair for me to say anything about that,” Keselowski said after the race. “I can tell you that every car I saw had some body modifications on it after pit stops out there today.
“I don’t know if ours was more egregious or even if we had one. That is for the team guys to really answer.”
Keselowski still felt he had a car able to contend with race winner Kurt Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. for the win.
“We had great pit stops, but just didn’t bring home the win. But we’re really close and been really strong and consistent lately, which is something we’re proud of,” he said. “We were awful strong (at the end) we just needed some more laps and a little more time. I think we might have had a shot at it.
“It was a pretty strong weekend. The last four or five weeks have been strong runs. We have a bunch of seconds and thirds. Not quite the win we wanted but a lot to be proud of.”
Be part of Motorsport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments