NASCAR team co-owner Brad Keselowski says he decided to compete full time in the SRX Series this year because he wants more track time since practicing and testing is now limited in the Cup Series.
Keselowski says with the amount of testing and practice that existed when he entered the series he felt really prepared when it came time for a race.
“Now, I think it’s a complete 180,” Keselowski says. “I miss those reps. I see these other guys that run the dirt races, and a few guys that run the Xfinity race and truck races and that’s a bigger advantage than it ever has been given the current landscape. So, I’ve got to find a way to decrease that gap.”
In this year’s inaugural SRX Series race at Stafford, Conn., Keselowski finished ninth in the 12-car field, saying he thought he got wrecked by three different people. Denny Hamlin won the first of six events.
In the SRX Series, Keselowski races open-wheel competitors. He’s noticed a “stark contrast” in how they race in traffic as well as their approach to an event.
“They race so much less than we do in Cup, but they practice and test so much more,” Keselowski says. “So, their approach is quite a bit different to how they analyze races and prepare. When we try to apply our style to them, I don’t think it works out well and vice versa.”
Spotters aren’t used in the SRX Series, but during Monday’s Crayon 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway Keselowski had a familiar voice in his ear—his brother Brian. Regular spotter T.J. Majors couldn’t make the trip, so Keselowski turned to his brother, a former driver.
“I trust my brother,” Keselowski says. “I know his experience. I know what he knows. I know he knows what I want.”
Keselowski finished fifth in Monday’s Cup Series race at New Hampshire that ended in a muggy 88-degreee temperature.
“We’re clawing, just clawing,” Keselowski says. “We know we’re not fast enough on these types of tracks to win, but we’re getting everything we can out of these days.”
