Keselowski, Preece fall just short at Iowa, finish top five in back-to-back weeks

Chris Buescher and Ryan Preece continue to fight for the 16th and final NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs spot, while Brad Keselowski looms outside the bubble, trying to win his way in.

A Keselowski victory nearly happened Sunday afternoon at Iowa Speedway as the No. 6 Ford driver and 2012 series titleholder swept the first two stages, but ultimately came up short in third place as William Byron stretched his fuel tank 144 laps to score his first checkered flag since the season-opening Daytona 500.

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“We had an opportunity today, but yeah, it’s disappointing to not be able to get the win,” Keselowski said after the race. “We put ourselves in position. We can’t control what we can’t control, and we need to focus on what we can. We couldn’t control all the yellows that shifted the dynamics of the race today away from us. It’s unfortunate, but I love the position we were in and the speed that we had.”

A pivotal moment during the 350-lapper occurred in the latter portion of Stage 2 as drivers such as Byron, Chase Briscoe, Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott pit during a green-flag cycle. However, Keselowski was among those who stayed out in hopes that a caution would come out.

That caution did come as Shane van Gisbergen spun on Lap 171, pinning the drivers who came down pit road a lap down and on the back foot to catch up to those who stayed out.

However, cautions were the name of the game after SVG’s spin as 10 yellows flew between Lap 181 and Lap 282.

It caused a jumble in strategy in the field, and Byron benefited from the free pass on the initial SVG caution to put himself in position to win and take the gamble on fuel.

“He did a great job,” Keselowski said of Byron. “He caught all the breaks and he took the opportunity and maximized it. He deserves credit for that. That’s what this sport’s about. You got to be fast, you got to execute, and you got to have some luck, and they did all three today.”

Keselowski’s teammate, Ryan Preece, was also a beneficiary of staying out before the van Gisbergen caution in Stage 2.

Preece ran outside the top 25 for the early portions of the race and needed a big swing to have any chance of a quality result. The multitude of restarts throughout the day worked into the No. 60 driver’s hand as Preece used the highest groove to drive through the field and squeeze out his second consecutive top five.

“We were struggling in dirty air, and I think [crew chief] Derrick [Finley] knew the easiest way to make up spots is on restarts,” Preece said. “We had a pretty badass one there when I think we went from 26th to 12th in about two corners. I don’t really know what the actual number was, but we did our job there. He [Finley] gave me a great car to stick it where I needed to, and that was fun.”

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The short run worked perfectly for Preece, and he found himself in third with a chance to pull off another Iowa triumph, the track where he scored his first NASCAR national series win in the Xfinity Series in 2017.

But the longer the runs went, the harder Preece’s car was to drive, and the No. 60 faded to fifth in the final 64-lap run to the checkered flag.

“Once we settled in and we got about 20 laps into that run, I just started getting really loose,” Preece said. “Brad caught me. Figured, even though I hate losing another spot in the points, I knew it was the right thing to do with how fast he was at the time and how many laps he led. Ultimately, still a good finish from how it started. I thought we were going to run in 28th to 30th, and had a little bit of luck. Got a break on that caution, and then some good adjustments gave us the opportunity to have a solid day.”

Preece added that he wouldn’t have given Keselowski the spot in the closing laps if he weren’t a teammate and noted the double-edged sword of wanting RFK to succeed as a whole, even in the position he’s in regarding the playoffs.

“I want to do the best thing I can for him and do what’s right for the company,” Preece said. “It’s the right thing to do for the situation we were in. If I didn’t get as loose as I did and I felt like I could challenge the 19 or the 24 for the win, yeah, I would’ve raced the [expletive] out of him. But at that point in time, it was damage control and try to not lose more time to anybody behind us.”

Buescher struggled Sunday and finished 22nd. It narrowed the gap between him and Preece for the final playoff spot to just 23 points heading into Watkins Glen next Sunday (2 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), where the No. 17 driver is the defending winner.

As for Keselowski, he once sat outside the top 30 in points, and after four consecutive finishes of 11th or better, the No. 6 driver sits 21st in the playoff standings with three more opportunities to win his way into the postseason.

“I just feel like we can win any of these next three races, and that’s a good feeling,” Keselowski said. “Can’t take anything for granted. Ultimately, we need to get wins, and I think we all know that.”

There will come a point later in the year when Preece will celebrate his best Cup season to date. However, his 10th top 10 of the year will only stand as a statistic for the Cup journeyman until that first triumph comes or if he can point his way into the postseason.

“I think if we continue to do what we did at the end of this race and throughout the race, we’ll have our day.”