“That’s how the sport goes”: Brad Keselowski not ruing the result despite losing a potential win in sight with fuel saving issues at Indianapolis

Brad Keselowski had a competitive car, but luck didn’t favor him during Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Keselowski faced a challenging situation during the closing laps of the Brickyard 400, where a potential win slipped through his hand due to fuel-saving issues.

Keselowski was leading the race when Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin were involved in a wreck on turn 3 with one lap to go. As a result, the incident brought the caution and sent the race into overtime. Keselowski, who was running on low fuel, didn’t have enough to finish the race, and that forced him to adjust his strategy and settle for a P21 finish in the end.

Despite losing the chance to win NASCAR’s crown jewel race, Brad Keselowski maintained a positive outlook, recognizing the unpredictable nature of the sport while speaking about the situation in a post-race interview.

Speaking to Bob Pockrass, here’s what Keselowski said:

“Maybe we could have fought it off; maybe not; I would've liked to have seen. We have top 10 speed; we're not dominant; we're really competitive. … I felt like we had control of the race. We didn't get yellows, but we needed yellows to win today, so, you know, that stuff comes and goes, and it'll come back to us at some point. People will say we were really lucky, and they'll forget days like today, and that's how the sport goes.”

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Why Brad Keselowski was on low fuel in the closing laps at Indianapolis?

It was a tough weekend for Brad Keselowski. He started the race in 26th place, then was penalized for a pit exit violation on Lap 41 that saw him finish Stage 1 in P36. However, the #6 Ford Mustang driver recovered from there, finishing Stage 2 at P21, and quickly made his way up to first place during the final stage.

RFK Racing driver/co-owner spent the last few laps trying to extend the fuel mileage longer than anyone else, and it appeared he may have enough fuel to beat both Ryan Blaney and eventual race winner Kyle Larson as he went through the final turns of 158 of 160 originally scheduled laps.

The moments later, Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin wrecked on Lap 159, sending the race into overtime and putting the #6 car in a position where he was certain to run out of fuel.

Coming off Turn 4 to take the green flag in overtime, his car ran out of fuel as he did not have enough fuel to last overtime restart and finish the race. Due to low fuel, he had to give up his P1 spot and a chance to win. However, Brad Keselowski was able to finish P21.