Early career woes end with title for Keselowski

HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- In one year, Brad Keselowski has gone from getting spun out in the Nationwide Series' final race to celebrating his first championship with a few donuts of his own doing.

That's one heck of a turnaround, literally. And part of the credit comes from an amazing run of consistency. Keselowski completed all but one lap in 2010 and set a series record with 26 top-five finishes. After finishing 17th at Dover, he strung together seven consecutive top-five finishes -- including wins at Charlotte and Gateway -- to clinch the title with one race to spare.

Along the way, the 26-year-old Michigan native showed a maturity perhaps lacking in his first two full-time Nationwide seasons. Keselowski even seemed a little philosophical when asked how the consistency he showed while winning this championship could further his racing career with Roger Penske and reach new heights for a championship team.

"There are so many things [to look at] on any given weekend," Keselowski said. "You can kind of magnify the picture and look at, whether it's one lap and one groove, or one pit stop and how to get into pit road better.

"[It's building] a legacy of being able to win and what that does for your team and for your name. [It lets] guys like Roger continue to drive greater and bigger sponsors and so forth, or for guys on the pit crew or on the road, just to keep their spirits up or even to continue to bring new talent in and build depth throughout the company."

At the same time, Keselowski admits the big picture gets a little fuzzy when he's racing for wins on the track with the laps winding down.

"Throughout the year, I think if you look at the way we've raced, we haven't raced in a championship mode for the most part," Keselowski said. "We've raced in a 'let's go for wins' mode. We took gambles at tracks like Atlanta and so forth. Those were gambles to win the race.

"I probably lost some spots because of that, but we're all about doing what we can to win races. We kept that up and got even more aggressive with it [at Homestead]."

It's hard to imagine a time when Keselowski was struggling to find a job. But twice, he found himself out of work because the team for whom he was working suspended operations. It wasn't until Keselowski landed a ride with JR Motorsports' No. 88 Chevrolet for 2008 that he finally got a chance to display his raw but impressive talents.

Two years later, he's a series champion.

"It's been a long ride to get right here, and it's been a good ride, a lot of fun," Keselowski said. "It's pretty amazing, you know. Just a few years back, [I went from] not having a job in this sport and really thinking I was going to have to get a real job, to being out here and winning the championship and kind of establishing myself."

Certainly, Keselowski's performance this season justified the faith Penske displayed when he put together the No. 22 Dodge operation for 2010. And even if NASCAR officials decide to prohibit Cup drivers from competing for a Nationwide title next season, Penske wants Keselowski behind the wheel.

"Brad wants to run," Penske said. "I think he thinks it's helping him to become a better driver. He's learned a lot. And I think that obviously our goal is to see his game get better. We've got to have better cars.

"Our sponsors are going to want us to win races and Brad did that. We need to be sure that we're in a position. The Challenger, we think, is going to be a great car. We've had good success with that already, and that's something we're focusing on for next year."

Certainly, Keselowski understands the value of being able to build off a winning season.

"It's not just valuable to me, it's valuable to us all," he said. "If I win, Roger wins, and if Roger wins, I win. So you try to keep that in perspective. That's kind of how I feel about it and hopefully we'll get the opportunity to run next year for the championship."