GETTING IN: Keselowski locked himself into the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series All-Star Race by winning the Quaker State 400 – his first victory after the 2012 All-Star event – at Kentucky Speedway last summer.
ALL-STAR REWIND – 2012: In the closest finish of the night, Keselowski edged Kasey Kahne by inches to win the third segment of the 2012 All-Star Race. He parlayed that into a second-place finish in the final segment, marking his best-ever result in the event.
TRANSERRING FROM SHOWDOWN: In 2011, Keselowski raced his way into the All-Star Race by finishing second in the All-Star Showdown qualifying race.
A LOCK: Since his rookie season of 2009, Keselowski has not missed the All-Star Race.
FAN MOSAIC PAINT SCHEME: On Thursday afternoon, May 16, Keselowski will unveil his paint scheme for the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup All-Star Race. The series champ will pilot a No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion featuring a fan mosaic paint scheme carrying thousands of photos uploaded to a special web site by fans of the “Blue Deuce.”
DOUBLE DUTY: Keselowski will also participate in the N.C. Education Lottery 200 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) race on Friday night. He is attempting to pick up his first NCWTS victory to join his father, Bob, as the only father-son duo to win in that series.
WHY DO YOU ENJOY THE ALL-STAR RACE? “I really feel like we are in the best stretch of races of the year. The Southern 500 at Darlington and the All-Star Race and Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte are three of our premier races. I would put all three of them in the top five races of the year. The All-Star Race is definitely an event made for the fans. You won’t see guys driving any harder than you will on Saturday night. There is a huge purse on the line and I know a lot of drivers that could use an extra $2 million. If someone who has never been to a race asked me which one to go to first, I would say the All-Star Race.”
IS THERE ANY WAY A DRIVER WILL BE ABLE TO TAKE HOME THE $1 MILLION BONUS FOR WINNING EVERY SEGMENT? “That’s going to be tough, for sure. I don’t know how much faith I have in someone being able to pull that off. There are so many different strategies that teams use. It’s hard to always pick the one that will win you the segment while also setting you up for the final segment. You should see all of us going all out on each segment, which is what should happen in an all-star event.”
