Race cautious to conserve tires and the chances at winning go out the door.
Push too hard and the likelihood of blowing a tire skyrockets.
RFK Racing’s Brad Keselowski sees the middle ground between these two options as the fine line to walk when the NASCAR Cup Series arrives at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway for the Bass Pro Shops Night Race on Saturday.
“You try to be smart, which is always a double-edged sword,” Keselowski said. “We’re all trying to figure out where (the line) is in real-time. Sometime you step over and sometimes you don’t push hard enough.”
The truth of Keselowski’s statement was evident during the Hollywood Casino 400 last Sunday at Kansas Speedway, as several contenders had their playoff hopes marred by tire failures.
Martin Truex Jr., Bubba Wallace and RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher were the victims.
“Chris having the failure there with the tire at the end of the race in Kansas really shook things up,” Keselowski said, referring to the playoff standings. “The No. 17 still has a cushion somewhere over 10 points…that’s better than nothing certainly and better than being in the red. But, not as much as we’d hoped.”
Buescher finished 27th at Kansas after blowing his right-rear tire with six laps to go.
Wallace finished 32nd, while Truex Jr. was scored 36th.
“You look at these scenarios and there are a lot of opportunities to be aggressive and gain some positions, but they come at a higher risk. You’re just constantly doing risk analysis,” said Keselowski, who ranks fifth in the standings.
The double-edged sword cut Keselowski last year during the fall race at Bristol, when his tire blew with 87 laps to go at the .533-mile concrete track. He had won the first stage and led 109 laps in his No. 6 Ford Mustang.
He was one of several Ford drivers, including Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney, to have tire issues that night.
“I blew a right-front. The 21 (Harrison Burton) did. I think the 2 (Austin Cindric) blew a right-front too, so hopefully we learned from those to go back and not have any mistakes,” Blaney recalled.
The No. 12 Ford driver is entering the final Round of 16 race 25 points above the cutline, but Blaney admitted that any mistake — such as another tire failure — could essentially wash away his championship hopes.
“I wouldn’t consider myself in the danger zone. I would say you can have problems and you’re going to be in a little bit of a situation,” Blaney said. “Twenty-five points can go away just like that if you have an issue early in the race.”
Buescher is the defending winner of the Bristol Night Race.