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Special feature

Captain's Corner: Brad Keselowski reflects on his first Daytona win

As part of Motorsport.com’s content partnership with Team Penske, we will provide fans with exclusive content each week from the organization’s drivers, crew members and staff throughout the 2017 season.

Roger Penske

Roger Penske

Scott R LePage / Motorsport Images

Race winner Brad Keselowski, Team Penske Ford
Race winner Brad Keselowski, Team Penske Ford celebrating with Roger Penske
Race winner Brad Keselowski, Team Penske Ford
Brad Keselowski, Team Penske Ford takes the checkered flag

One year ago, Brad Keselowski won his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at the famed Daytona International Speedway.

That was special in and of itself, but it also marked the 100th victory in the Cup series for legendary team owner Roger Penske.

This weekend, Keselowski returns to the site of that victory for Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 well on his way toward the goal Penske set the night of that Keselowski win – reaching win No. 200.

Becoming etched in a part of Team Penske lore holds special meaning for Keselowski.

“We always kind of joke that there isn’t much you can give someone like Roger. It was a huge honor for me to win him his first Cup championship in 2012 and the 100th Cup win that we got for him last year ranks right up there, too,” Keselowski told Motorsport.com.

“I can tell you that both Joey (Logano) and I really wanted to do that for him, because he has accomplished so much in his career and there isn’t much left for him to do. We are getting close enough to 500 overall wins for Team Penske to start looking at that, and I can promise you that is a race I want to win as well.”

Penske called collecting win No. 100 on Fourth of July weekend last season “something amazing.”

“But it’s a byproduct of all the good people we have, and to me we’ve got to continue to remember that,” he said at the time. “I just think that (Keselowski crew chief) Paul (Wolfe) and the team, we lose more than we win in this business, and you've got to know how to deal with the downs and take advantage of the ups.

“I guess 100 wins puts us in a good position, but you look at (Joe) Gibbs and you look at (Richard) Childress and certainly (Rick) Hendrick, these guys have won a lot of races.”

Keselowski had already amassed an impressive NASCAR resume prior to last season’s win with championships in both the Cup and Xfinity series but winning at Daytona holds a special place in any NASCAR driver’s heart.

“Obviously when you think of NASCAR, whether you are a fringe fan or a diehard, you always think of Daytona. From running on the beach back in the day, to the speedway to NASCAR headquarters, Daytona Beach and NASCAR are intertwined,” he said.

“Daytona International Speedway is our biggest stage and to win on it puts you on par with the greats of our sport, whether it’s the Daytona 500 or the Coke Zero 400 in July.”

But that was last year. What about this year?

Keselowski enters the race with two victories already this season and locked into the NASCAR playoffs again. He is fifth in the series standings with nine top-five and 11 top-10 finishes in 16 races and has also won one pole.

He wrecked out of the season-opening Daytona 500 but finished seventh and led 31 laps at the spring Talladega race. He and Logano both look like strong contenders this weekend.

“Team Penske has always run well on the restrictor-plate tracks, going back to the days when Rusty Wallace was in the No. 2 Ford. Both he and Kurt Busch ran really well on those tracks, but for various reasons just never could finish it off in the No. 2 car,” Keselowski said.

“So, we always have confidence that we will have cars that can win when we go to Daytona and Talladega, and this week is no different. Getting that first Daytona win was almost like getting a monkey off our backs because we had also run really well there over the years. Now we hope the wins starting coming frequently.”

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