Keselowski earns stripes, more praise at Darlington

DARLINGTON, S.C. -- Before he even thought to wipe the dirt collected on his red face from running a humid, 500-mile race Saturday night, Brad Keselowski surveyed his car.

Looking side to side and front to back, Keselowski smiled and said of his first Sprint Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway: "I wanted to see how big my stripe was. You have to grade your stripe and I think I got like a B."

Brad Keselowski

Cup Series Results

Site	Car	Start	Finish
Texas*	25	37	19
Homestead*	25	31	23
Las Vegas^	25	13	38
Texas^	25	40	23
Talladega^	09	9	1
Darlington^	25	31	7

* 2008 | ^ 2009 | • Stats

Referring to the black scrape marks most drivers accumulate from running close to the wall at the uniquely configured oval, Keselowski's No. 25 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet fared well in the Southern 500; he brought it home for a seventh-place finish amongst a slew of veterans who returned to the garage with more than just stripes.

"I'd like to say I stayed out of trouble, but I got myself into trouble a couple of times, but that just means you're trying hard," Keselowski said. "We had a great car and ran our race. We were strong at the end when it mattered most."

It's a finish that suggested Keselowski's win at Talladega two races ago perhaps wasn't the restrictor-plate fluke many critics described it to be. With only six Cup starts is his career including four this year, Keselowski isn't sure where to set his standards at this point.

"Talladega kind of threw some expectations, so if I hadn't ran Talladega I probably be jumping up and down right now," Keselowski said of his second consecutive top-10 finish (he didn't race at Richmond). "But I'm still very happy and look forward to more races with this group and trying to prove myself so I can find the right sponsor so I can run a full-time ride next year. That's what it comes down to, finding the right sponsors and teams to do it with ... the marquee sponsor that can pair me up with a strong Cup team."

Keselowski, who runs full time in the Nationwide Series for JR Motorsports, has four more Cup races this season in the 25 car and seven with the No. 09 Chevrolet owned by James Finch of Phoenix Racing. The 09 car is what Keselowski drove to Victory Lane at Talladega, but his performance at Darlington did not go unnoticed by those at Hendrick Motorsports.

"If you look at Brad Keselowski and all the guys at Hendrick they did an amazing job," points leader Jeff Gordon said.