Congrats to Brad Keselowski

The Keselowski
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Second fav driver next to Gordon. Was lucky as hell. Congrats!
 
ChexOrWrex said:
Second fav driver next to Gordon. Was lucky as hell. Congrats!
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I think Paul knew what he wanted to do right from the start. When the late caution came out and messed up the strategy, he made the right call to get Brad tires and gas a little later than everyone else. Then Brad pushed Jr into perhaps using more gas than he needed to. He was driving hard to get along side Jr, then Jr really poured it on for a lap or 2 and stretched his lead out a bit more than he needed to. That just may have been the difference.
 
FenderBumper said:
I think Paul knew what he wanted to do right from the start. When the late caution came out and messed up the strategy, he made the right call to get Brad tires and gas a little later than everyone else. Then Brad pushed Jr into perhaps using more gas than he needed to. He was driving hard to get along side Jr, then Jr really poured it on for a lap or 2 and stretched his lead out a bit more than he needed to. That just may have been the difference.
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Certainly Paul & Brad knew the situation but Brad was lucky that Jr didn't save just a quarter lap more of fuel
 
ChexOrWrex said:
Certainly Paul & Brad knew the situation but Brad was lucky that Jr didn't save just a quarter lap more of fuel
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I see it differently because Brad put the pressure on him and made sure Jr couldn't save enough. Getting to Jr and driving the wheels off the #2 to make it a race is what decided the outcome, not luck.
 
FenderBumper said:
I see it differently because Brad put the pressure on him and made sure Jr couldn't save enough. Getting to Jr and driving the wheels off the #2 to make it a race is what decided the outcome, not luck.
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I agree. I'm sure Paul told Brad to keep a lot of pressure on Jr and Brad did an excellent job of keeping him from saving any fuel.
 
How could anyone that watched disagree really? Its not like the announcers weren't talking about exactly that in the closing laps. Brad even thanked Carl in victory lane for letting him go and giving him a chance to run Jr. down so he couldn't go into fuel save mode.
 
SlicedBread22 said:
How could anyone that watched disagree really? Its not like the announcers weren't talking about exactly that in the closing laps. Brad even thanked Carl in victory lane for letting him go and giving him a chance to run Jr. down so he couldn't go into fuel save mode.
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Yep, but Carl was in save mode too, so he really couldn't race Brad for too long.
 
FenderBumper said:
Yep, but Carl was in save mode too, so he really couldn't race Brad for too long.
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Most of these guys are trying to save on fuel each and every week. It was going on throughout the entire race on Jr's side and I'm sure many others as well. I can't be disappointed in yesterday's outcome. Heck, saving fuel gave my guy a second place finish. Letarte/Earnhardt knew for a long time leading up to the end of that race that they were short on fuel and they did everything that they could to conserve.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
Most of these guys are trying to save on fuel each and every week. It was going on throughout the entire race on Jr's side and I'm sure many others as well. I can't be disappointed in yesterday's outcome. Heck, saving fuel gave my guy a second place finish. Letarte/Earnhardt knew for a long time leading up to the end of that race that they were short on fuel and they did everything that they could to conserve.
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I think, or hope, these long range fuel saves will fall by the wayside. The 2 car made the right move coming in for fuel and tires. The fuel load also lowers the spoiler, and that probably helped his speed on the straights. Brad sure was fighting the wheel in the turns though. He almost lost it with 4 to go, and fell back a few lengths.
 
FenderBumper said:
I think, or hope, these long range fuel saves will fall by the wayside. The 2 car made the right move coming in for fuel and tires. The fuel load also lowers the spoiler, and that probably helped his speed on the straights. Brad sure was fighting the wheel in the turns though. He almost lost it with 4 to go, and fell back a few lengths.
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As long as tires outlast the fuel, fuel saving will always be a consideration. With 20 laps to go, Letarte radioed Earnhardt Jr. to tell him he was about a half lap short. He nailed that call.

I just got done listening to Earnhardt's in-car audio from yesterday's race. I record it each week. The software that I use cuts out the blank audio sections and only records the conversations. Yesterday's race condensed down to a little over 32 minutes of scanner chatter. There's always some good stuff in there that I miss while watching the race.
 
FenderBumper said:
I see it differently because Brad put the pressure on him and made sure Jr couldn't save enough. Getting to Jr and driving the wheels off the #2 to make it a race is what decided the outcome, not luck.
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What else would Brad do but drive as hard as he could at that point of the race?

I could see your point if Brad was leading and Jr was trying to catch him. But late in the race with Jr way out in front, Brad had no other option but to race as hard as he could.
 
mreed said:
I could see your point if Brad was leading and Jr was trying to catch him. But late in the race with Jr way out in front, Brad had no other option but to race as hard as he could.
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This is what I was talking about. With Jr way out infront he could have backed off a few laps - even if Brad caught him - theoretically Jr would now have the gas to race him to the checkers. Dale had a faster car anyway so he very well may have been able to hold em off.
 
Said in the race thread, Wolfe and Kez are probably the second best CC/driver combo in Nascar.
 
ChexOrWrex said:
This is what I was talking about. With Jr way out infront he could have backed off a few laps - even if Brad caught him - theoretically Jr would now have the gas to race him to the checkers. Dale had a faster car anyway so he very well may have been able to hold em off.
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I agree Dale could have tried that, and maybe he did.

But with Brad being so far behind, and the word being the 88 was only 1/2 to 3/4 of a lap short on fuel, Brad had no choice but to run as hard as he could to catch Dale.

1/2 to 3/4 of a lap short on fuel is not enough of a margin for Brad to try to sit back and wait for the 88 car to conk out.
Brad/everyone knew if the 88 was that close on fuel they may be able to make it to the end, so all Brad could do was run as hard as possible.
 
mreed said:
What else would Brad do but drive as hard as he could at that point of the race?

I could see your point if Brad was leading and Jr was trying to catch him. But late in the race with Jr way out in front, Brad had no other option but to race as hard as he could.
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So we agree it was hard driving and not just luck. Cool. I think everyone saw Brad driving that thing sideways to keep the pressure on. Great driving for sure.
 
ChexOrWrex said:
This is what I was talking about. With Jr way out infront he could have backed off a few laps - even if Brad caught him - theoretically Jr would now have the gas to race him to the checkers. Dale had a faster car anyway so he very well may have been able to hold em off.
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That's exactly what Jr did, but Brad got to him quickly and applied some extra pressure. When he actually drove real hard and took the lead, Jr had to get on the gas. How some think the right strategy and great execution are luck is beyond reason. Brads passing 3 cars on the restart was largely ignored, but that was a key move.

I feel like the new 'win and in' format play right into Brad and Pauls wheelhouse. I'm not sure JJ and Chad haves made the mental adjustment yet, but when they do, watch out.
 
FenderBumper said:
So we agree it was hard driving and not just luck. Cool. I think everyone saw Brad driving that thing sideways to keep the pressure on. Great driving for sure.
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Yea, that was amazing strategy on Brad's part to race hard like that.

I'm sure Brad racing as hard as he could in the final laps of the race will be used as a clinic on driving strategy for years to come. lol
 
mreed said:
Yea, that was amazing strategy on Brad's part to race hard like that.

I'm sure Brad racing as hard as he could in the final laps of the race will be used as a clinic on driving strategy for years to come. lol
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Definitely. "How to drive REALLY hard and not wreck" may be a good name for it. lol

Any thoughts on Paul choosing the right strategy being pure luck? :p
 
FenderBumper said:
That's exactly what Jr did, but Brad got to him quickly and applied some extra pressure. When he actually drove real hard and took the lead, Jr had to get on the gas. How some think the right strategy and great execution are luck is beyond reason. Brads passing 3 cars on the restart was largely ignored, but that was a key move.

I feel like the new 'win and in' format play right into Brad and Pauls wheelhouse. I'm not sure JJ and Chad haves made the mental adjustment yet, but when they do, watch out.
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I talked to Brad , he's willing to take you back as a fan , if you want .:)
 
FenderBumper said:
This year I'm a Joey fan. I promised Slicedbreadloaf.
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Oh crap! You mean there's two now? Damn, this is going to be a long year. Can you two just go ahead and create the seven Joey threads now, one for each day of the week? Better yet, maybe you can get a sticky. :D
 
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