Brad Keselowski racing for history, first win of the season at Talladega

This weekend’s Yellawood 500 could just be another race. Or, it could be a historic Sunday for Brad Keselowski. There are a lot of accomplishments the 2012 NASCAR Cup Series champion has in his career, but six wins at Talladega is up there with the most impressive.

Brad Keselowski is tied with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon for second-most wins at Talladega all-time. Of course, The Intimidator, Dale Sr. has the most with 10 checkered flags at the superspeedway.

So, is it Keselowski’s time? It might be. Is he thinking about making history? Absolutely.

NASCAR.com’s Zach Sturniolo spoke with Brad Keselowski ahead of the Yellawood 500 about his expectations and chasing that seventh win at Dega.

“I think every win is meaningful, but I think there’d be a lot of things that if we were able to win, it would come together at once. You know, my family is going to be there and I want to be able to win with them there and I want to be able to break into that second place,” Keselowski told Sturniolo. “Dale Sr.’s record is still pretty far away, but it still would be nice to own second place.

“And then be able to get my first points win with RFK and at this time in the playoffs, to not have to worry about the (Charlotte) Roval would be huge. I really need those five (playoff) points. If we get to the next round, I need five more points for that next round, so that would be huge. There’s a lot of things that would make it a really big deal and I’m excited to see that play out.”

NASCAR history, RFK history – it’s all on the line this weekend.

Brad Keselowski hasn’t won as an owner

Beyond NASCAR history, Keselowski wants his first win as an owner at RFK Racing. Chris Buescher now has four wins in two years, three this year alone. The No. 6 was pushing the 17 to the finish line at Daytona just six weeks ago.

For the former Cup Series champion, it feels overdue. A win has felt like it was coming at multiple times this season. However, this or that happens, another driver ends up being faster, and a restart goes bad – racing happens.

Brad Keselowski has four top-10s in the playoffs. No one else has been that consistent. Others have been faster, but none have finished four races better than that.

While top-10 finishes are going to help get into the Round of 8, it won’t last long. Playoff points will be important in the later rounds. Keselowski is the odds-on favorite to win the Yellawood 500, this might just be his time to go to victory lane.