Brad Keselowski 2017 Season Recap

Brad Keselowski enjoyed a quietly successful 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series campaign, recording three victories, 15 top five and 21 top-10 finishes. The 2012 champion finished third in the final standings after rallying to make the Championship 4. See Keselowski’s season highlights.

Before hitting the track in the No. 2 Team Penske Ford at Daytona, Brad Keselowski got the year started off the highest note possible, marrying longtime girlfriend Paige White on Feb. 10. Dating for a number of years before announcing their engagement in December 2016, the couple also have one child together, daughter Scarlett.

Brad Keselowski punched an early ticket into the Monster Energy Series Playoffs with his first win of the 2017 season at Atlanta Motor Speedway, overcoming a loose lugnut and passing Kyle Larson with seven laps to go for the victory.

Brad Keselowski earned a special victory at Martinsville Speedway in April. Not only was it Keselowski’s first win at the .526-mile Virginia short track, but he also scored the win in Team Penske’s 1,000th Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race, making it a sentimental day for team owner Roger Penske. Not only was it a big win for the organization, but it was also the first time Ford Performance has earned a victory at Martinsville since Kurt Busch won in October 2002.

It was an early exit for Brad Keselowski in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May, slamming into the back of Chase Elliott on the frontstretch after Jeffrey Earnhardt left a significant amount of fluid and debris on the race track. The fiery crash was a sight to see, but thankfully, both drivers walked away unharmed.

Brad Keselowski earned a pair of Coors Light Pole Awards during the 2017 season – one at Las Vegas and another in the August race at Michigan International Speedway. It was the first Monster Energy Series pole for the Rochester Hills, Michigan native at his home track.

Struggling in the search for speed throughout the summer months, Brad Keselowski and the No. 2 Team Penske brigade entered the playoffs as somewhat of a dark horse, but the 2012 champion was determined to succeed while facing adversity.

#Cheers2DaleJr: Brad Keselowski honored Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s final Monster Energy Series season with a special paint scheme at Talladega Superspeedway in the fall – a throwback to his No. 88 JR Motorsports scheme he wheeled to a pair of NASCAR Xfinity Series victories.

Brad Keselowski made the tribute to Dale Earnhardt Jr. even more memorable by winning at Talladega in his special No. 2 paint scheme. Surviving the wreck-filled event to triumph, the victory advanced Keselowski into the Round of 8 -- a catalyst to his Championship 4 berth. The win also came in his 300th career Monster Energy Series start.

Finishes of fourth, fifth and 16th in the Round of 8 was good enough for Brad Keselowski to race his way into the Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, taking advantage of other drivers’ misfortunate in the penultimate race of the year at Phoenix Raceway. Keselowski hung tough all day in Miami, but a seventh-place result wasn’t enough to earn his second Monster Energy Series title. He ended the 2017 season fourth in the final standings.