Team Penske Tries to Stay in Front of the Pack
By Richard Tix
Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano and Team Penske have started out the 2014 NASCAR season better then anyone could have expected. I think if you ask both drivers they would both look at you and say that it has been a dream first three races.
After just three races Brad Keselowski is all but locked into the Chase after a win at Las Vegas. "It's just such a reliever for everyone on the team to get that win in early, and be able to enjoy the races and opportunities that we have instead of being stressed out about them," Keselowski said. "You know, I think if anything it actually lends itself to better racing." This being said after the Vegas race this past Sunday. It should give the #2 team the freedom to take a few extra chances, sort of like what Dale Earnardt Jr did at the end of the race when he ran out of fuel.
The past two weeks, Vegas and Phoenix, have had starting front row's of Brad and Joey. Brad Keselowski won the Pole over Joey at Phoenix and the two flip flopped at Las Vegas. The Team Penske Fords have been locked in to start the 2014 season, which comes as a relief after the 2013 season seemed to be a tough year for all Ford manufactured teams.
So far team Penske (the #2 and #22) have a combined 5 Top 10's, 5 Top 5's, 2 Poles, and 1 win in 3 races. The only non top 10 (or top 5 for that matter) was Joey Logano's 11th place finish at Daytona. I would say that is a start any team owner would be proud of.
Combined the two Penske drivers have an average finish of 4.33. Both drivers have also led a lap in each race to start the season. The two drivers have also seemed to figure out the new qualifying system fast. In the two knock out style qualifying attempts this year Team Penske has won both Poles (Daytona qualifying was run as it has in the past, non knock out style).
"It gets crazy out there," said Logano, who earned his eighth career pole at Las Vegas "I think it's way cooler than old-style qualifying, don't get me wrong. It's awesome. We're all learning right now. It's all new to us, but we're having fun with it. I enjoy it. I think it's cool."
And obviously he and Team Penske have figured it out and been ahead of the curve, "That's the whole point of this," Logano said "A lot more preparation goes into it, a lot more communication between myself, my spotter, my crew chief. Not really about our race car, but how are we going to go out there, and what's our game plan? Every time we've had a game plan going into it, it's changed so far. At least we're pulling audibles and they're working."
If Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, and Team Penske can stay ahead of the learning curve they could put themselves into a good position to make a Championship push. One thing is for sure, racing well early in the season sure will take some pressure off of you. Winning early should give you extra time to work out all the kinks and learn what gambles may and may not work. Guys who have a win early can start to look deeper into Chase strategies for track that they visit during the last 10 races.
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