Brad Keselowski, No. 6 team have Iowa circled on calendar

Brad Keselowski needs a good run in the worst way in Sunday's Iowa Corn 350 at Iowa Speedway. 

The 2012 NASCAR Cup Series champion enters Sunday's race 19th in the standings and 50 points out of a Chase berth. If Keselowski were to miss the postseason, he'd be doing so in consecutive seasons for the first time in his career.

Iowa a big opportunity for Brad Keselowski

But crew chief Jeremy Bullins doesn't see that 50-point gap, which Keselowski and the No. 6 team have four races to make up, as insurmountable by any stretch. In fact, starting the four-race dash to the Chase at Iowa is about as good of a situation as Keselowski could hope for, given that he's finished 10th and third in the two Cup races at the track and led 68 laps a year ago. 

"Arguably, it was probably one of our better races last year," Bullins said Wednesday on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. "Good stage points and a good day overall. Hopefully we can improve from what we had last year, be a little bit better and close the deal."

Keselowski, who broke his leg in the offseason but has not missed a race this year, enters the weekend riding an 81-race winless drought. 

A victory at Iowa on Sunday wouldn't only be huge in Keselowski's quest to make the Chase, but also a streak-snapping victory that would serve as a symbolic end to his healing process.