May 2–RICHMOND — — The Sprint Cup Series’ newest star, Brad Keselowski, will not run tonight in the Russ Friedman 400 at Richmond International
Raceway. Keselowski, who drove the Dale Earnhardt Jr.-owned car Friday in the Nationwide Series race, competes in Cup for the part-time team of owner James Finch. The team is scheduled to run only eight to 10 races this season. Keselowski, 25, drove Finch’s car to victory last week at Talladega in one of the most spectacular finishes in recent Cup history. Keselowski bumped Carl Edwards, who was attempting to block in their battle for the lead in the final yards of the race. As Edwards soared through the air, onto Ryan Newman’s car and into the frontstretch fencing, Keselowski crossed the line for his first Cup victory. Keselowski, who will run in the Cup race next week in Darlington, S.C., said he is not frustrated to sit out tonight’s race. “It hasn’t even soaked in that I won, so it’s hard to be frustrated when you don’t even picture as a winner yet,” he said. “I’d love to be running (in the Cup Series). I’ve raced against 15 or 20 of the same guys over here on the Nationwide side and it’s very similar. “I think I could run against them competitively, but the (full-time) opportunity is not there, so I’m really not thinking about it.” Earnhardt was asked about possibly taking his JR Motorsports team to Cup with Keselowski as the driver.
“We would consider it, but we have to do what’s right for the company and the business,” he said.