Keselowski, driver and co-owner of RFK Racing’s No. 6 Ford, bounced back from an early-race pit stop miscue and maximized his pit strategy to finish third in Sunday’s race at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.
It’s Keselowski’s third consecutive finish of third or better and fifth in his last seven races, which includes his May 12 victory at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway. During that same span, he’s moved from 18th to ninth in the series standings and qualified for the 2024 playoffs.
“That was solid strategy,” Keselowski said. “We got behind early for sure, but we kept putting ourselves in position to keep moving forward. It was a really hard-fought day for everyone.
“We will take a lot of good momentum from this one for sure.”
During the caution in the first stage for an incident involving Cody Ware and Derek Kraus, Keselowski was forced to pit twice due to what he believed was a loose wheel. After starting seventh in the race, he dropped to the rear of the field.
In the final stage, Keselowski was among those who remained on the track as long as possible in the final stage before making their final green flag stop and had much fresher tires at the end of the race.
He also gained a spot when fellow Ford driver Ryan Blaney – who was leading at the time – ran out of fuel in the final laps.
“We were in position early and we had the issue there on pit road. The guys kept their heads down and recovered,” Keselowski said.
“We had some good strategy and made some good passes on that last restart to start stage three and on the long run we were really strong. We’re just making it all count where we can.”
Asked whether having the win and being a team owner aided him in making the decision to run long before his last stop, Keselowski said, “Ultimately, I have the steering wheel, so I can always make the call, but I just felt confident.
“Our car wasn’t falling off and I just wanted to keep going and see it out and see if maybe we could catch a yellow. If not, I felt more good things would happen for us.”
Through 15 races this season, Keselowski has now matched his top-five finishes from last season (seven) and has eight top-10s (half of his 2023 season total).
