CHARLOTTE, N.C. – There was “rubbin’ ” that wasn’t intentional and “racin'” that was when officials with Charlotte Motor Speedway kicked off Bank of America 500 race week Tuesday with a parade through the city streets featuring 2012 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski.
“It is great to see people come out; I always like seeing the faces and seeing everybody getting excited and pumped up,” said the driver of Team Penske’s No. 2 Ford. “It’s a great way to promote the good things our sport does and build the excitement that makes motorsports so much fun for communities.”
Keselowski didn’t seem to mind the slower pace, putting a bumper to the pace car in front of him a half dozen times or more during the trek around the city.
Some folks were caught off-guard, many likely headed back from lunch when police on motorcycles, sirens blazing, led Keselowski and company through the city streets. Others were prepared, some even hanging out their car windows to snap photos and take videos with their smartphones.
The parade, which included fellow NASCAR XFINITY Series driver Garrett Smithley (JD Motorsports), started and ended at the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Only moments after it ended, there was contact between one of the parade vehicles and a local citizen’s SUV while the two were for vying the same piece of asphalt.
“That. Just. Happened,” noted a surprised Keselowski.
CMS plays host to the opening race of the Round of 12 in this year’s NASCAR Playoffs, with the Bank of America 500 scheduled to get underway Sunday (2 p.m., NBC, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR). It’s a race Keselowski has won once before, in 2013. A victory in the opening race of the second round would be most welcome.
He has less than 20 laps on the tri-oval under race conditions this season — a crash in the Coca-Cola 600 this past May put him out of commission after only 19 laps around the 1.5-mile track. He finished 39th and that’s been the only real blemish on his CMS record in recent years.
Charlotte, Talladega and Kansas make up the three stops for the Round of 12; eight drivers will advance while four others will see their title hopes end.
“I see those two mile-and-a-halves (tracks) which is mostly about the aerodynamics … and that’s important to get all that right,” Keselowski said of the Charlotte and Kansas stops. “And then Talladega which is just … I felt like before the stages it was a little easier to control your destiny there. You could run up front and kind of stay away from it all.
“Then with the stages, you could run up front, somebody would short pit and cycle you to the back. … That just mixes up the field; it means there’s no safe place to be.”
Keselowski is fourth in points after the round-ending reset. Martin Truex Jr. (Furniture Row Racing) and Kyle Busch (Joe Gibbs Racing) are 1-2 in the standings.
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Busch won the final two races of the previous round and Charlotte is the only active track where he has yet to earn a points victory. Meanwhile, Toyota teammate Truex has scored four of his five wins this season on 1.5-mile tracks.
They’re two of the favorites to advance to Homestead-Miami Speedway for a shot at this year’s championship. Along with Keselowski, the remainder of the NASCAR Playoff field consists of Chip Ganassi Racing teammates Kyle Larson and Jamie McMurray, Kevin Harvick (Stewart-Haas Racing), seven-time series champion Jimmie Johnson and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott, Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin (JGR), Ryan Blaney (Wood Brothers Racing) and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (Roush Fenway Racing).
Stage points, awarded to the top 10 drivers at the conclusion of each stage during a race, have been essential. That will continue to be the case, Keselowski said, as the playoffs continue.
“You can run fifth and not score any stage points and you’re not going to score the fifth-most points on the day, you’re going to score about the 10th-most points,” he said.
Keselowski won the opening stage at Dover and was eighth in the second stage. As a result, he finished with more total points than four drivers who finished ahead of him in the race.
“Those stages are (crucial), as they were meant to be,” he said. “They were meant to put an emphasis on running up front early in a race and not just riding around and cruising.”
Qualifying to set the 40-car field for Sunday’s Bank of America 500 is scheduled for Friday at 7:20 p.m. ET.