By the third stage in Coca-Cola 600, Keselowski’s No. 6 RFK Racing Ford was one of the fastest cars on the track and he was running second to Christopher Bell when the race was halted by severe weather after 249 of 400 laps.
NASCAR and track officials spent nearly two hours attempting to dry the track but ultimately called it official when it looked like it could not be restarted until well after 1 a.m. ET on Monday.
Keselowski ended up with what he described as a “pretty disappointing” second-place finish.
“I felt like we had a car to win the race,” he said. “We kind of ran down (Bell) twice and just didn’t get to see it play out. So, it kind of slipped through our fingers there.
“I would have liked to have just had more laps and ran the Coke 600. I think we ran the Coke 350 today, but all in all, I’m really happy with our performance.
“The car was really fast. Our pit stops were phenomenal. We just didn’t get to see it through. I’m bummed for our team. I’m bummed for everybody, but the weather is what the weather is.”
The finish still allowed Keselowski to move up two spots in the series standings to ninth, 95 behind new leader Denny Hamlin.
Both he and his teammate Chris Buescher have been in contention for wins over the last several weeks, with Keselowski winning two weeks ago at Darlington, S.C. Sunday night looked like another potential for a trip to Victory Lane.
“I think we had a lot more capability than what we were able to get out of it,” Keselowski said. “It was good to be that fast. You want to make it count with wins. You don’t want to be a sore loser for second.
“It stings because I know we had a car to win and if it doesn’t hurt, you’re in the wrong business. We’ve got a lot of work to do on our short track program and our road course program, but our mile-and-a-half stuff seems really good right now.”
