The Cinderella story of 2011 has to go Brian Keselowski who qualified 12th for the Daytona 500 with a little help from his brother, Brad Keselowski.
Driving a four-year old car Dodge, purchased from Ray Evernham, and pushed by his brother Brad, Brian will make his debut in NASCAR’s biggest race of the year.
By qualifying and racing his way into the Daytona 500, the K-Automotive Motorsports team stands to win at least $261,000, which was the lowest payout at the Speedway last year.
While Brian, 29, is older than Brad, 27, who drives a Dodge for Penske Racing, his racing resume doesn’t have the credits of his younger brother. He’s trying to make up for lost time and he admits some jealously.
“Well, we get along a whole lot better now that we don't live together” Brian said.
“We're both really competitive with each other. We both wanted the exact same position at the exact same time. It's a tough thing growing up. I couldn't afford to go racing. I worked on my family's truck team.”
“When we got a little bit of money, got a little bit of sponsorship, Brad got to go quarter midget racing, but by then I was too old. I couldn't find a car to drive, we couldn't afford to go run a local car, but we could afford to do a quarter midget or something.
“I didn't get to start driving till I was 18 years old. By then, he had two or three years of experience, winning championships. I started in the highest local division I possibly could. My dad made me build the thing from the ground up,” Brian explained.
The brothers ran with each other in one of the twin 150-mile qualifying races and instead of jealously there was cooperation. Brad pushed his brother right into NASCAR’s richest race.
“What a day,” said Brad Keselowski. “I pushed my brother to the Daytona 500. That’s pretty cool. It feels good for him.
“We really wanted to win, but it was nice to do that with Brian. Our objective is always to win, but we just weren’t there today. We got a solid run out of it. We just have to keep working on it.
“I’m excited to finally get the chance to work with my teammate (Kurt Busch) on Sunday. I think that we can do some good things together,” brother Brad said.
Brian and his father, Bob, are basically a two-person team running on a limited budget.
“If there's anybody that can stretch money, that's us,” said Bryan. “My dad has been doing that for years. That's how we've always had to race. Until we got a little bit of decent sponsorship in the truck, the ARCA side there, man, we struggled. That's all we've ever done, really since the '60s.”
“This means I can pay my bills off finally. It's been a really rough winter, I'm telling you. It means I get to go to Phoenix next week. Honestly, that's two of the best things I could ever need right now,” he concluded.
Driving a four-year old car Dodge, purchased from Ray Evernham, and pushed by his brother Brad, Brian will make his debut in NASCAR’s biggest race of the year.
By qualifying and racing his way into the Daytona 500, the K-Automotive Motorsports team stands to win at least $261,000, which was the lowest payout at the Speedway last year.
While Brian, 29, is older than Brad, 27, who drives a Dodge for Penske Racing, his racing resume doesn’t have the credits of his younger brother. He’s trying to make up for lost time and he admits some jealously.
“Well, we get along a whole lot better now that we don't live together” Brian said.
“We're both really competitive with each other. We both wanted the exact same position at the exact same time. It's a tough thing growing up. I couldn't afford to go racing. I worked on my family's truck team.”
“When we got a little bit of money, got a little bit of sponsorship, Brad got to go quarter midget racing, but by then I was too old. I couldn't find a car to drive, we couldn't afford to go run a local car, but we could afford to do a quarter midget or something.
“I didn't get to start driving till I was 18 years old. By then, he had two or three years of experience, winning championships. I started in the highest local division I possibly could. My dad made me build the thing from the ground up,” Brian explained.
The brothers ran with each other in one of the twin 150-mile qualifying races and instead of jealously there was cooperation. Brad pushed his brother right into NASCAR’s richest race.
“What a day,” said Brad Keselowski. “I pushed my brother to the Daytona 500. That’s pretty cool. It feels good for him.
“We really wanted to win, but it was nice to do that with Brian. Our objective is always to win, but we just weren’t there today. We got a solid run out of it. We just have to keep working on it.
“I’m excited to finally get the chance to work with my teammate (Kurt Busch) on Sunday. I think that we can do some good things together,” brother Brad said.
Brian and his father, Bob, are basically a two-person team running on a limited budget.
“If there's anybody that can stretch money, that's us,” said Bryan. “My dad has been doing that for years. That's how we've always had to race. Until we got a little bit of decent sponsorship in the truck, the ARCA side there, man, we struggled. That's all we've ever done, really since the '60s.”
“This means I can pay my bills off finally. It's been a really rough winter, I'm telling you. It means I get to go to Phoenix next week. Honestly, that's two of the best things I could ever need right now,” he concluded.