BROOKLYN, Mich. -- On Friday, many of the big stars of NASCAR admitted that Brad Keselowski was now a regular threat and could challenge for the title if he makes the Chase.
Sure enough, he lived up to the hype on Sunday, moving up to 12th in points after finishing third at MIS, just a stone’s throw from his hometown of Rochester Hills. This follows a 2nd place run at the Glen, and a win the week before at Pocono – just days after he broke his ankle during testing at Road Atlanta. Not too shabby, and this is from a guy who not too long away was sitting 23rd in points and hoping he could just get to the top 20 and contend for a wild card..

Asked about his incredible run, Brad said: “I wish I could bottle it up”.
I don’t think he has to worry though. With the team clicking like this, he should be able to put on a decent show in the Chase. Heck, if he keeps getting top-5 runs, he might even make the top 10 and not need to use a wild card to get into the Chase.
Brad has a very positive attitude about the whole thing, which is key to success. He’s not stressing whether he wins the title, which could be key to him possibly winning it.
“I don’t think I’ll be hearing any voices. The voices that I heard early in my career were, ‘You’re never going to make it’. Everything from here on out, you know, is peaches. It’s good,” Keselowski said Sunday following his third-place run.

Déjà vu – Biffle dominates, then fades
Just like in the June race, Greg Biffle dominated early, but he couldn’t come home with a win. It was an all too familiar story, and Biffle seemed confused as to why he fell all the way to 20th – a far too common occurrence for this team that has struggled in 2011.
“I don’t know what happened. I am not sure. I have a feeling we kinda got a bum set of tires and then we got off on our adjustments,” Biffle said. “ It was really really tight and we adjusted on it and then I think I was too loose the rest of the day but I really don’t know what happened to be honest with you. I really don’t know right now.”

His teammate Matt Kenseth also was up front most of the day, but he stayed up in the top 10, finishing 10th.
“We ran okay. Most of the day we had really good track position but we didn’t have the balance or the grip that we had here in June and we weren’t a threat to win which is disappointing. Overall we stayed up front most of the day, except the last lap,” Kenseth said.

Kyle wins, establishes himself as best driver so far this season
Up until now, I have said there is no dominant driver in NASCAR this season … with so many winners I’ve lost count.
By winning his fourth race of the year and clinching a spot in the Chase before anyone else, Kyle Busch is taking the lead in that category, and could establish himself as the man to beat if things continue this way in the next few races leading up to the Chase.
Kyle stopped short of proclaiming himself a title favorite, but said he’s happy with the team’s progress.
“We feel pretty good with where our program is heading. What Dave has been doing has been awesome. All the guys have pulled through and done a really nice job,” Kyle said. “Our intention is to win every single one of them.”

Tony not happy
Count Tony Stewart in the group of people not happy with their performance lately. He’s still in the Chase, but not contending like he wants to, so it doesn’t really mean much to him at this point.
"We just...I don’t' know what we have to do one balanced for a day but we can't. We haven't figured it out you. We were on both sides of the coin all day long. Just back and forth between tight and loose. We'll just take what we can get I guess,” Stewart said. "I will be perfectly honest, at this point of the deal, if we are going to run this bad, it really doesn't matter whether we make the Chase or not because we are going to be occupying a spot in the Chase that somebody else that actually can run for a championship is going to be trying take because our stuff is so bad right now, we're wasting one of those top-12 spots right now."

Martin happy to run fast
Mark Martin has struggled this year in comparison with his Hendrick teammates, but he had a good day at MIS – finishing fourth.
“It is an incredible privilege to drive stuff like that. Thanks to Hendrick Motorsports. Great race car and a tremendous engine,” Martin said.” They really had a fast race car all weekend. It is just a privilege to get to race at Michigan International and drive fast stuff. Had a fast truck on Saturday and a really fast car today. We were right there. Could see the lead. Anytime you can see the lead, you've got a crack at it. I feel very fortunate.”

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