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Indy ORP: Brad Keselowski preview

CLOSING IN ON CLINT - Brad Keselowski, driver of the No. 88 Navy Chevrolet for JR Motorsports, is closing in on NASCAR Nationwide Series point leader Clint Bowyer. Keselowski, currently ranked second in the standings, has gained 32 points on Bowyer ...

Published: Jul 24, 2008, 12:48 AM

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CLOSING IN ON CLINT - Brad Keselowski, driver of the No. 88 Navy Chevrolet for JR Motorsports, is closing in on NASCAR Nationwide Series point leader Clint Bowyer. Keselowski, currently ranked second in the standings, has gained 32 points on Bowyer in the last two races to move to within 170 points. That's the closest the point margin has been in the Nationwide Series standings at this point of the season since 2005. Keselowski's second-place standing is also the highest a Nationwide Series-only driver has ranked (after multiple races) since Martin Truex Jr. won the 2005 NNS Championship.

HOT SUMMER STRETCH - Summer marks the warmest time of year, and for Keselowski this summer has been a hot one. Keselowski has been on fire in the Nationwide Series since the end of May - notching nine top-10 finishes in-a-row, including six top fives. The 24-year-old driver has also jumped from seventh in the point standings after the race at Darlington to second as he heads into this weekend's race at O'Reilly Raceway Park.

KESELOWSKI AT ORP - Last year's Kroger 200 was Keselowski's first NNS start at O'Reilly Raceway Park. In his third race with the JR Motorsports team he qualified 15th and took the checkered flag in 10th position. It was Keselowski's career-first top-10 finish.

BACK TO VICTORY LANE AT ORP - Keselowski will be looking to get back to Victory Lane this weekend at ORP. His family operated a NASCAR Truck Series team for about 10 years with a number of different drivers, including Terry Cook who won the 2002 Power Stroke Diesel 200 at ORP in the No. 29 truck. That season Keselowski served as the team's engineer.

CHASSIS NO. 434 - The No. 88 Navy Chevrolet team will utilize Chassis No. 434 this weekend at O'Reilly Raceway Park. Keselowski has raced this car three times so far this year, scoring finishes of 12th at Phoenix, eighth at Milwaukee and 10th at New Hampshire.

KESELOWSKI TO HONOR USS INDIANAPOLIS SURVIVORS - Keselowski and Navy Fleet Honorees from Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) will honor survivors and lost-at-sea family members from USS Indianapolis (CA 35) in a 4 p.m. ceremony Friday, July 25 at the USS Indianapolis Museum located inside the Indiana War Memorial in downtown Indianapolis. The survivors and family members from USS Indianapolis will also be recognized with a special decal on the No. 88 Navy Chevrolet this weekend at ORP as July 30 will mark the 63rd anniversary of the USS Indianapolis sinking, just days after the top-secret delivery of the key components of the first atomic bomb, "Little Boy."

KESELOWSKI (on battling for championship…) - "The No. 88 JR Motorsports team has been very consistent the last few months. We've run up front, led a bunch of laps and had a string of top finishes. We're all very focused on the big picture this year and I think last weekend was a perfect example of that. We were running well and made contact with another car that put us in the back of the field with about 50 laps to go. The team could have easily hung up their hats and called it a day, but they fixed the damage on the Navy Chevrolet and sent me back out. We ended up gaining 15 spots in the remaining laps, came home with a top-five finish and even managed to gain a few points on Clint [Bowyer]. It's races like that that make the difference at the end of the season."

KESELOWSKI (on racing at ORP…) - "I've been going to races at ORP for years. My family owned a team that competed in the Truck Series, so I've gone to ORP every year since 1993 and it'd be really awesome to score a win there.I've always liked ORP. It's a cool little track and the racing is always great. I've run one Truck and one Nationwide race there and I had a blast there last year. I can't wait to get back and race at ORP."

KESELOWSKI (on meeting USS Indianapolis survivors this week in Indy…) - "One of the cool things about working with the Navy is the opportunity I get to meet a number of really great sailors who are doing awesome things for our country. To have the opportunity to meet and shake hands with some of the folks who served aboard USS Indianapolis - a ship that served a mission that would begin the end of World War II - is an honor."

-credit: jrm

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