Keselowski hoping to finish out season in JR's 88 car

BROOKLYN, Mich. -- With a pair of top-15 finishes in three Busch Series starts, Brad Keselowski is apparently close to cementing a deal that would land him in the No. 88 Chevrolet for the rest of the 2007 season.

"Well, we know for sure we're going to run two [more] races, contractually," the Michigan native said Saturday at Michigan International Speedway. "Verbally, Junior wants me to run the whole year. I think that's probably what will end up happening.

Brad Keselowski

"We're just going to finish this out and see how it works. If we're running up front, everybody's going to be real happy and we'll go from there."

In his debut with JR Motorsports, Keselowski wound up 14th at Chicago. He led five laps at St. Louis before getting collected in a mid-race accident and finishing 26th. He then scored a top-10 finish at O'Reilly Raceway Park.

Keselowski sat out the last two races, as road-racing veteran Andy Pilgrim handled driving duties at Montreal and Watkins Glen.

For a 23-year-old driver, trying to be aggressive enough to run near the front -- but patient enough to keep from tearing up the equipment -- is a real challenge. Keselowski was given a chance to drive for Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s team for that specific reason: He's good at keeping the car between the walls.

"You're always balancing that, no matter who you're driving for," Keselowski said. "Obviously, different teams have different goals. Guys like Kasey Kahne and that are here to win and everything else doesn't mean that much to them.

"We're here with a little bit different goals, obviously, it's a balancing act. It's kind of tough to balance it sometimes. You learn from experience what you can and can't get away with."

So what kind of feedback has he gotten from Junior?

"Very positive," Keselowski said. "I think he wants the same thing I want, to run better every week and show some consistency. We're working on that and I think we're getting that, too.

"He's pretty happy with that. Eventually, he wants his car to be up front and be winning, and that's what I'm going to try to do."

Keselowski, a third-generation racer, drove three seasons in the Craftsman Truck Series for the family racing operation, with a best finish of seventh at Daytona in the 2005 season-opener. Stepping up to the Busch Series near the end of 2006, Keselowski began 2007 with Keith Coleman's No. 23 Chevy, but that team ran short on funding after 15 races.

After winning the pole and leading 62 laps as a sub for the suspended Ted Musgrave in a CTS race at Memphis, Keselowski was tabbed to replace Shane Huffman on a temporary basis. (read more)