Brad Keselowski
CREW CHIEF: Paul Wolfe
TEAM: Team Penske
POINTS: 4th
WINS: 3 (Atlanta, Martinsville I, Talladega II)
LAPS LED: 778
TOP 5s: 15
TOP 10s: 21
POLES: 2 (Las Vegas, Michigan II)
WHAT WENT RIGHT: Keselowski had a good year, making it all the way to the Championship 4 round before finishing the season with a fourth-place finish. … He especially did well during the 10-race Cup playoffs, with one win, four top fives and three other top-10 showings. … Marked the fourth straight year and fifth in the last six that he recorded at least 20 overall top-five finishes.
WHAT WENT WRONG: Keselowski was one very frustrated man in 2017, calling out how Toyotas were faster than Fords numerous times, especially in the latter stages of the playoffs. It was the same malady that kept teammate Joey Logano from making the elimination playoffs for the first time in his Cup career.
WHAT TO EXPECT IN 2018: Unless Ford comes up with a way to make its cars faster, 2018 could be much of the same as 2017 for Keselowski, Logano and new teammate Ryan Blaney. … Keselowski has spent the last five seasons trying to replicate the championship he earned in 2012 in the final year of Dodge in the Cup Series. So far, he’s failed to do so. That’s important to Keselowski, as he wants to prove that 2012 was not a fluke, as some have claimed. Time will tell if 2018 is finally the year he does it again.
Follow @JerryBonkowski