Brad Keselowski needed track position late at the ROVAL Sunday afternoon, but came up short in advancing to the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Playoffs with an 18th-place finish in the Castrol Edge Ford.

“It’s not the day we wanted for sure, but we’ve got a lot to be proud of,” Keselowski said. “We kept clawing and it just wasn’t enough today. I felt like I could have done a few things better and obviously it’s frustrating when you don’t advance and you don’t get what you want out of the day, but we’ve got a lot of great things going on and we’ll learn from it and come back stronger.”

Keselowski overcame an early deficit after being penalized on lap 17 for short-cutting the frontstretch chicane. An ultimate pass through penalty down pit road put him near the tail end of the field. He remained on track through the end of the opening stage, finishing 18th, before pitting for the first time in the stage break.

A timely caution though on lap 48 worked in favor of the No. 6, as Keselowski had just pitted five laps prior. The caution resulted in the stage two end under yellow – and stage break – with Keselowski finishing it 20th. He restarted 11th, however, and 10 laps later worked his way into the top-10.

From there, Keselowski rode inside the top-10 for much of the closing laps, before going for a spin late. With no cautions in the final 10 laps, Keselowski was unable to manage any more track position to finish 18th.

Up Next

Las Vegas Motor Speedway hosts the first race in the Round of 8 next weekend. Race coverage on Sunday is set for 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC, with radio coverage on PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.