Even with Brad Keselowski persistence to win the All-Star Race, he came second best to Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson.
Using a three-wide move in the final 10-lap segment of the race, it felt like the All-Star Race was Team Penske No.2 drivers for the taking. However, the in-form Hendrick Motorsports No.5 driver succeeded in taking over Keselowski with seven laps to go and went on to win the race.
HMS has gathered eight wins, nine if the All-Star race is counted, this season. In light to their performances in the last months, Keselowski feels that even coming second best to them seems like an accomplishment now.
“It feels like running second to the Hendrick cars right now is an accomplishment. They are just stupid fast,” Keselowski said. “I had (Larson) off Turn 4 but they just have so much speed. He just motored right back by me – like, damn!
“It feels like a first-in-class day. The team did a great job of executing and getting us in position, we just didn’t have enough speed to make the most of it. It was good execution day, though, and I am proud of that.”
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The Team Penske driver said the car was the best car he has had at Texas. However, it was not sufficient to oust Larson.
“I could get to like five or six feet and then the draft stopped working. His car is so fast down the straightaway. Even with this package, you can’t draft those Hendrick cars. They are so fast,” he said.
“We have work to do. I feel like my team really executed the race very well and got us in position, we just didn’t have the raw speed we needed to close it out.”
It not for Hendrick Motorsports, Team Penske had a good night at Texas. They occupied three of the top-five finishing positions with Joey Logano fourth and Ryan Blaney fifth.