Brad Keselowski finished ninth at Pocono Raceway, a respectable result considering his challenging season, but a chance for victory slipped away due to two critical mistakes. These errors prevented the 2012 NASCAR Cup Series champion from capitalizing on a promising race and potentially reaching Victory Lane.
The first major misstep occurred when Keselowski entered pit road during Stage 2 while the pit lane was officially closed, resulting in a penalty that forced him to surrender the race lead. Despite this setback, Keselowski remained confident that the race could still turn in his favor.
During Stage 3, Keselowski held an advantage in fuel strategy, staying out on track while others pitted to utilize the clean air ahead. However, as his lap times began to fall off, his team recommended a pit stop. Keselowski insisted on remaining on the track to maintain position. His decision was ultimately undercut by a late caution caused by Shane van Gisbergen’s spin, which disrupted pit cycle timing and left Keselowski stuck back in 24th place, too far from the front to compete for the win.
NASCAR analyst critiques Keselowski’s key mistakes at Pocono
Jordan Bianchi, a NASCAR insider from The Athletic, evaluated the No. 6 team’s decisions on The Teardown podcast, expressing disbelief that such avoidable errors came from an experienced driver.
You’re leading the race, and you pit when pit road is closed? It wasn’t a situation where there was a vehicle on pit road and you thought, ‘OK, they’re gonna clear out.’ It’s like a very straightforward approach here of how to do this, and to mismanage that, to have miscommunication be the reason — you can’t do that. That, to me, is the glaring thing,
Bianchi said.
And then the call of we’re going to stay out again, we’re going to try to play the game and then they got bit by the caution. They didn’t do a very good job of managing this right.
Bianchi emphasized how these mistakes severely impacted Keselowski’s track position in a race where strategy and timing are crucial, turning what looked like a winning opportunity into a tough recovery effort.
How late-race strategy decisions affected Keselowski’s chances
Keselowski’s race strategy took another hit in the closing laps. After the initial pit road penalty, he fought back through the field. However, a pivotal moment came when Keselowski chose to stay out longer on worn tires, hoping to maximize clean air while leading the race.
Jeff Gluck, a seasoned NASCAR reporter from The Athletic, explained how this choice backfired due to timing and unforeseen circumstances.
It was interesting to hear both [Carson] Hocevar and [Denny] Hamlin behind Brad fake coming to pit road because they didn’t want Brad to realize his error and suddenly stay out. They were like, ‘Oh, we’ll come with you.’ … I think the other mistake — it’s tough because was it a mistake? It was really bad timing,
Gluck said.
Suddenly, he goes from traffic and dirty air to he’s got nothing but clean air in front of him. So, he’s like, ‘Sweet.’ He’s ripping laps. But sooner than I expected — it sounded like sooner than Brad expected — they say, ‘Pit this time by.’ And he’s like, ‘Oh, can we not go out, maybe stay out one or two [laps] more?’ And they’re like, ‘You’re losing time now to the cars who have come in and got fresh tires.’
So, I think he, on his own, said, ‘I’m going to stay out one more lap here.’ Of all things that happens, SVG spins and causes a caution as he’s gonna come to pit road on the extra lap he stayed out to run. He just wanted that clean air one more lap before he came in. And it bit him, and it ruined his race. He ran up from 24th back to ninth, but [that doesn’t matter].
This late caution disrupted Keselowski’s pit sequence and forced him to play catch-up for the remainder of the race. The gamble for clean air ended up costing valuable track position that was impossible to regain.
Implications for Keselowski’s playoff hopes and season trajectory
Heading into the Pocono race, Keselowski ranked 32nd in points, with his playoff chances largely dependent on winning one of the remaining nine regular season events. Though the ninth-place finish moved him up slightly to 30th in the standings, the result underscored the slim opportunity left for Keselowski to return to postseason contention.
The combination of penalties and strategy missteps at Pocono has raised concerns about consistency and communication within the team at a critical stage in the season.
It was like every time they put themselves in a position to capitalize, they took a shotgun to their foot and then they gotta play catch-up again. That’s a really hard spot to be in a race where track position is everything. This is a strategy race and you’re doing two things that are inherently going to hurt your track position in a significant way? That’s a deficit that you can’t overcome. For a team that’s in a must-win position, that’s not good.
Keselowski and his team now face mounting pressure to avoid further errors, refine their tactical decisions, and seize one of the upcoming chances to secure a playoff berth. With each race becoming more critical, the lessons from Pocono will be essential to turning the season around.
