NASCAR: 5 drivers who could be in serious trouble
By Asher Fair
NASCAR drivers in jeopardy: No. 4 – Brad Keselowski
It doesn’t get more obvious than this, does it?
RFK Racing driver/co-owner Brad Keselowski found himself in 16th place in the point standings and 17th in the playoff picture, four points below the playoff cut line, following the season’s fifth race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
That was before he was issued a 100-point L2-level penalty because a violation was found during teardown inspection of his #6 Ford at the NASCAR R&D Center after the race.
Keselowski has recently gotten himself back up into the top 30 in the standings (he had dropped to 35th place), a significant development because of the fact that a win only makes a driver eligible for the playoffs if he ranks inside the top 30 in points.
However, even if not for that 100-point penalty, he would still be below the playoff cut line. So more than likely, he needs to win one of the regular season’s final 17 races in order to make it into the playoffs, as getting in on points doesn’t appear to be a legitimate possibility.
He could pull it off, though. While RFK Racing don’t appear to be on par with some of the sport’s top teams, they have been as good as anybody in the superspeedway races.
Talladega Superspeedway is scheduled to host a race this Sunday, Daytona International Speedway is scheduled to host the regular season finale in August, and we can’t forget that the quasi-superspeedway of Atlanta Motor Speedway is scheduled to host another race between the two in July.
Keselowski hasn’t missed the playoffs since the 2013 season, and he hasn’t gone winless since the 2010 season, his first season with Team Penske. Could his playoff streak end with perhaps another winless season in his first year with a new team?