Photo by Kyle Beckman for Ford Performance
* Brad Keselowski won the pole for this weekend’s NASCAR All-Star Race.
* This marks the second straight year Ford has won the pole after Joey Logano did it in 2024.
Ford All-Star Race Qualifying Results
1st – Brad Keselowski
6th – Joey Logano
13th – Josh Berry
14th – Harrison Burton
16th – Chris Buescher
18th – Austin Cindric
19th – Ryan Blaney
POLE-WINNING PRESS CONFERENCE
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 6 Solomon Plumbing Ford Mustang Dark Horse – IS
THIS A MOMENTUM BUILDER AND IT APPEARED ENTRY AND EXIT OF PIT ROAD WERE
CRITICAL TO YOUR LAP. DID YOU FEEL THAT WAY? “It doesn’t hurt. Being
on the pole feels really good, especially to win the pole by that much.
It’s just a total team effort. This event, this format pushes you to
your limits from a driver perspective, team perspective and pit crew. I
stuck my part. That felt really good. I knew I stuck the entry. I was
like, ‘That’s gonna be good if it’s not a speeding penalty.’ And
then on the exit I was like, ‘I may have left a little on the
table.’ It was really hard to tell, but it all came together for just
an excellent run. The pit crew, they didn’t try to be heroes. They
just gave me a really solid stop and Jeremy Bullins and the team gave me
a car that was pretty fast and, like I said, they just gave me the ball
and said, ‘Go play.’ And that’s what we did.”
YOUR CAR HAS BEEN DUBBED THE PIRATE SHIP WITH ECU COLORS WITH A LOT OF
SOLOMON PLUMBING EMPLOYEES HAVING GONE THERE. HOW DOES THAT MAKE YOU
FEEL? “My wife is an ECU grad. It’s super cool. We’re on the
other side of the Carolinas, but still there are a lot of ECU fans out
there and it’s good to be able to recognize them. It’s really good
for Solomon Plumbing. I feel so bad for them. Danny Allor, the founder,
passed away a couple weeks ago and it was a real shock. This is the
first time they’ve been on our car since that happened. Their whole
family is planning to be here, so it’s really cool to give them
something to be joyful about.”
HOW CHALLENGING HAS IT BEEN FOR YOU THIS SEASON AND HOW IMPORTANT IS IT
TO PUT ANY KIND OF MORAL POINTS ON THE BOARD TODAY? “I’m not gonna
say it’s been easy for me to weather the storm the last few months,
but part of the juice is going through the struggles because it makes
you appreciate the good times. Yeah, we’ve had some struggles, but
there’s a lot to be optimistic about. I knew it wasn’t gonna be a
walk in the park when we started this year with all the changes that we
had. I didn’t expect it to be as big of a struggle as it has been, but
that said, I see a lot of pieces that are coming together and this
obviously demonstrates that. But even beyond today I feel a lot of
pieces that are coming together and bode well for us in being able to
make a really strong run here from here on out for the 2025 season.
I’m not losing my cool. I’m putting ourselves in position and our
team is putting ourselves in position to grow and hopefully go out and
win races. We’re gonna have a shot to win this race come Sunday.”
HOW VITAL IS WINNING THE HEAT AND BEING ABLE TO START UP FRONT AND HAVE
THAT TRACK POSITION? “Yeah, we saw that last year. I think Joey Logano
led almost every lap – all but one. I don’t know which one, but it
sure wasn’t after he pitted. This race really lends itself to track
position for a number of reasons, particularly because the field size is
so small and the way the race runs out the leader generally does not
catch the back of the field, so that puts a premium on being the leader
that doesn’t necessarily ever have a chance to wash back out, so
starting on the pole here, among many other races, but here specifically
is a significant advantage.”
WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE FROM THIS TRACK GOING FORWARD? “I think
this needs to be a points racetrack. I’d like to see the All-Star Race
most likely return to Charlotte. That’s my personal opinion. I think
the Charlotte racetrack, particularly since it only has one race on the
oval, I think that’s a miss for our sport. It’s a great racetrack
and puts on some of the best racing, so it would make sense to me if we
were to revert back to that and make this a season race, and probably
get rid of a race like the Roval or something like that.”
WHY GET RID OF THE ROVAL? IT’S CREATED SOME MOMENTS. “Has it really?
I look at the stands and there are more fans that come to the oval race
and better ratings too, than come to the Roval races. I thought that’s
what we judge the sport by. I’m very strong about the Roval has got to
go.”
HOW SIGNIFICANT IS SOMETHING LIKE TONIGHT AFTER EVERYTHING THAT’S
HAPPENED THIS SEASON? “I feel like we’ve had other bright spots.
This one is one that’s tangible. It’s visible outside of our own
team circle, but they build up. They build momentum. They build
positivity inside the group that manifests itself in a higher level of
teamwork and craftsmanship just naturally. I think the team is a pretty
resilient group, but I don’t care who you are as a team we all need
some positive reinforcement and encouragement and there’s nothing
negative about today.”
YEARS AGO YOU HELPED WITH THE FORMAT OF THE ALL-STAR RACE. THIS YEAR
IT’S A RANDOM CAUTION. IS THERE MORE THAT CAN BE DONE FOR THIS RACE OR
SHOULD THIS JUST BE A RACE? “I think it’s always a great opportunity
to do something fun. I hate to put borders on it. I just think that it
should probably be back at Charlotte.”
IT SEEMS THERE HAVE BEEN MORE PENALITIES THIS YEAR. IS THAT A GOOD THING
FOR THE SPORT IN THAT NASCAR IS CRACKING DOWN OR IS IT BECOMING A THING
WHERE IT’S TOO MUCH? “I don’t have a great answer for that. There
are things to like about penalties. There are things not to like. You
just want the penalties to make a difference. The whole goal of
penalties in general is to create a level playing field and manage the
competition for the teams so that it’s cost effective and for the fans
so that the winner demonstrates some kind of distinguishing level of
ability better than someone else, and not out of bounds with respect to
things that we don’t necessarily value. So, it’s important to have
penalties. It’s also very important that those penalties align with
those goals. I think for the most part they do, but I’m not close
enough to any of the other teams outside of our sphere to always know
that.”
WHAT WAS THE COMMUNICATION LIKE IN REGARDS TO THE IDEA OF A RUN WHAT YOU
BRUNG TYPE OF RACE? “I wasn’t aware of it being a run what you
brung. I think that might be a bit oversold. I was aware of some rules
being opened up, but I was not aware of any rule being opened up that we
thought was significant enough to justify an expenditure. If it was take
a plate off an engine or something to that degree that wouldn’t have
cost us anything and would have moved the needle, I think we would have
been generally fairly supportive, but, for the most part, it was things
that I’m aware of at least, I think I’m limited to that sphere, it
was all things that I’m not entirely confident would have moved the
sport forward.”