Brad Keselowski currently pilots the No. 88 U.S. NAVY Chevrolet for JR Motorsports in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.  He has two Top-5 and nine Top-10 finishes in 45 career NASCAR Nationwide Series races.

Keselowski, who is 24 years old hails from Rochester Hills, Michigan, and got his start in racing at Waterford Hills in Waterford, Michigan.  Brad began racing at Waterford Hills when he was 12 years old in Quarter Midget competition.

He is a third-generation driver who follows in the footsteps of his father, Bob and grandfather, John.  Bob won his one and only NASCAR race in the 1997 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Richmond International Raceway.  Brad’s brother, Brian competed in four NASCAR Nationwide Series races last season. The first race Brad ever won was a go-kart race in Pensacola, Florida.  He was 7 years old and was in Florida with his family for the ARCA race his dad was competing in.

In 1998 at age 14, he began racing in the Senior Honda 120 Quarter Midget division, collecting six feature and five heats wins.  Keselowski then moved to the Senior Honda 160 Quarter Midget Division one year later and registered eight feature victories and eight heat wins in just 12 starts.  In 2000, he moved to Factory Stocks and won nine events, including Rookie of the Year honors at both the Auto City and Dixie Speedways in his native Michigan.  From 2001-2003, he ran Limited Late Models and Super Late Models, and posted five wins during that time period.

Keselowski made his NASCAR national series debut in 2004 when he competed in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.  He made eight starts for his father’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series team, including his series debut at Martinsville Speedway where he started the race 26th and finished 33rd.  In 2005 he ran a full schedule for his father’s team in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, and finished 21st in NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points.

Last year he ran in only three NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races, but competed in 13 NASCAR Nationwide Series races with Keith Coleman Racing, and joined JR Motorsports in July after KCR suspended operations.  Keselowski was third in the NASCAR Nationwide Series Raybestos Rookie of the Year standings and finished the year 25th in series points.

He presently resides in Mooresville, North Carolina. While off the track, Keselowski enjoys racing his quarter-scale car, playing video games, especially football, and learning more about our country’s history, especially World War II.

Here is more with Brad Keselowski. Q & A

Most memorable moment so far in your racing career?
My most memorable moments of racing are road trips to various race tracks with my family when I was growing up. My family often drove to whatever track we were competing at on a given weekend, from late models, to ARCA and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.

Who/What inspires you?
I am inspired by anyone who can make the most out of the opportunities they are given. At this time I think that Kevin Harvick personifies this trait, as he is successful at racing and owning/operating his own team.

Favorite track, why?
I don’t have a favorite track. My theory is that if you don’t have a favorite track, you can’t have a least-favorite track.

If you weren’t a racecar driver, what would you be?
If I wasn’t racing, I would most likely be an attorney because I like to ask questions and argue.

If you could have dinner with two people who are no longer alive, who would they be?
That’d have to be Thomas Edison and either John F. Kennedy or Abraham Lincoln.

Describe yourself in 3 words or less.
Inquisitive

Nicknames?
It depends on who you ask. I probably have more than 20 or so different nicknames.

Most prized possession?
I don’t really place a lot of value on possessions, so there isn’t one thing I hold above the rest. (When asked what he’d take from his house if it was on fire, he responded, “I’d just make sure I got out OK. I wouldn’t really miss anything. I’d probably grab my coat and be irritated that I had to clean up the debris.”)

CREDIT: NASCAR PR 

CONCORD, N.C. (May 5, 2008) – The calendar flip to May revs more than engines in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, where competitors run four consecutive night races and end the month with one of the series’ biggest races.

Under-the-lights excitement and drama began with last Saturday’s night race at Richmond International Raceway. It continues with this Saturday’s night event at historic Darlington Raceway.

Closing the streak are consecutive races at 1.5-mile Lowe’s Motor Speedway – the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race on May 17, followed by the 49th annual Coca-Cola 600 on May 25 – a major reason why 48 NASCAR Sprint Cup teams are participating in a two-day NASCAR-sanctioned test on Monday and Tuesday.

“Everybody kind of considers this their backyard,” said Casey Mears (No. 5 Kellogg’s/CARQUEST Chevrolet), the defending Coca-Cola 600 champion during a Monday visit to the infield media center, “so it’s a big pride thing to win the All-Star Race. And hopefully we can come back and hold our title for the 600.”

Also on this week’s test agenda: Preparing for the 17 events at 1.5-mile tracks that remain on the 2008 series schedule, including the two at Lowe’s.

This year marks the first fulltime campaign for NASCAR’s new race car, which competed in 16 of 36 events last year, and teams continue to refine, and learn more about, driving it.

“I think right now we’ve got a good product,” Mears said. “It’s putting on good races. We’re having fun with it. But to think that anything can come out brand-new and be perfect right out of the gate, I think everybody knows that’s not the case.

“It’s a great car. It’s a safe product. We put on some good races with it and some good shows, but is there room for improvement? Absolutely.”

Joining Mears in the media center Monday was David Ragan (No. 6 AAA Ford), who echoed Mears’ thoughts.

“I think these cars on the mile and a half tracks have been tough to drive, but that's something that will get better in the future, and obviously we all have the same rules to work with,” Ragan said. “We all have the same guidelines and the same race cars to work with, and it's just a matter of who does the best job on Sunday and they'll get the win.  Guys like Kyle Busch (No. 18 M&M’s Toyota) and my (Roush Fenway Racing) teammate Carl Edwards (No. 99 Office Ford), they've been doing a great job and they've got some wins and some good finishes.

“It's a tough sport; no need to complain about it, just go out and do the best you can.”

That’s been both Mears’ and Ragan’s mantra this season. Mears, in his second year with Hendrick Motorsports, is working with a new team – the No. 5 – and a new crew chief, Alan Gustafson. Poor early-season luck had plummeted them in the series standings, but Mears slowly is inching toward the top 20 (he’s 23rd heading to Darlington).

“Alan and I were just talking the other day how we feel like we're just now kind of starting to feel like we're getting on the same page,” Mears said, “and I think with the things that we've been learning lately and the way that we've been moving up in points, we've just got to continue to do that and focus on having a good year.”

Ragan, a second-year NASCAR Sprint Cup driver, is an unheralded 14th in the standings heading to Darlington and thinks a berth in the 2008 Chase for the Sprint Cup isn’t out of his realm.

“We've got to continue to perform like we have,” he said. “I've got to keep working on not making mistakes inside the race car. I think we've got a great pit crew that we can depend on when I come down (pit road). (Crew chief) Jimmy Fennig has been making a lot of the right calls. Things have just been working our way.”

Busch, Gordon Upbeat … Last Saturday’s runner-up finish at Richmond boosted Kyle Busch atop the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings for the second time this season. He leads second-place Jeff Burton (No. 31 AT&T Mobility Chevrolet) by 18 points heading to Darlington. Earlier this season, Busch led the standings for four weeks, following the second event of the season at Auto Club Speedway.

“Hopefully we can keep doing that throughout the year and have a good test session here at Lowe’s Motor Speedway and get into Darlington and see what we can learn there,” he said during a Monday visit to Lowe’s infield media center. “With the new facility, the new race track and the new paving job (at Darlington), hopefully we can have a great run out there to keep our momentum going. It’s been good and hopefully it keeps going that way.”  

Four-time series champion Jeff Gordon (No. 24 DuPont) – currently 13th in the standings and six points out of 12th, the cutoff for Chase eligibility – also visited with the media.

“We’re learning about the grip of the tires, the grip with this car on this track,” said Gordon, one of the first drivers on-track Monday at Lowe’s. “Obviously this was not a scheduled test and so I think it’s just great for us to get extra information. We’re just gathering all kinds of data with the car and looking for speed and sometimes that just takes more time. When you only have a couple of hours of practice when you get to the race track, sometimes it’s tough to find that. You can take your time a little bit more and try things.”

CREDIT: NASCAR PR