Keselowski counting on Ford speedway advantage

As the defending July winner at Daytona International Speedway it should come as no surprise Brad Keselowski is looking for more of the same Saturday night.

A four-time winner at Talladega, last summer was Keselowski's first win at Daytona. It came in dominating fashion as the No. 2 Ford led 115 of the race's 160 laps. In the two restrictor-plate races earlier this season, Keselowski led a combined 33 laps and enters the Coke Zero 400 as one of the favorites as he is the only repeat winner in the previous six plate races.

"This is a good race for us," Keselowski said. "It's the one that we're looking for big results from because of the success that we've had."

Admitting he doesn't get too attached to racecars because he once saw one he considered in good shape sitting in the junk yard, Keselowski isn't sure what chassis he's piloting this time around. It may or may not be what he had at Talladega. Regardless, Keselowski knows his Team Penske group has some improvements for this weekend.

"We had a really strong practice session," said Keselowski, who qualified third. "We came off our worst track last weekend (Sonoma) with a solid finish. A few weeks before that we were quite lackluster, a bit dismal. Wrecking out at Charlotte and Dover and not really getting the run we wanted at Michigan.

"We kind of have the ups and downs right now and hoping to have the wave of momentum with the 'ups.' We're coming off a strong run at Sonoma and entering a track where we won last year and feel like we're going to have a really, really strong racecar. ... We're expecting big things (Saturday)."

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. starts on the pole and has garnered the most attention already this weekend with it being his potential final Daytona race. The opportunity for a storybook ending with one more win has swept through the garage. However, what Keselowski has going in his favor is that Ford has won five of the last six restrictor-plate races.

"The Fords right now are the best cars on the speedway tracks for a number of reasons," Keselowski said. "One of which is the power in their engines is very stronger at the higher rpm's. And with the current gear rules and current engine packages at Daytona and Talladega, the engines sustain higher rpm for the duration of running in the pack.

"And I think with the bodies, the Ford body on the Gen6 car lends itself well to the restrictor-plate tracks with having high efficiencies with respect to its drag characteristics. ... I would agree that the Fords have some strengths right now on the restrictor-plate tracks probably behind on the other racetracks.

"Like anything, if your golf game is good on the greens and not good on the driving range you have to make the putts. So, the Fords are doing a good job at that."