Carrying On A Tradition

In late 2010 it was announced that Brad Keselowski had been nabbed to take over the famous No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge from Kurt Busch. To understand the history of the No. 2 NASCAR Sprint Cup car you have to go back to the 1990s and Rusty Wallace.

Rusty Wallace in 1990 was the reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion (previously known as the Winston Cup Series) and uncertain of his future past 1990. Wallace was driving for the Blue Max Racing team owned by Raymond Beadle. Wallace and Beadle constantly collided off the track so the fact that Wallace and Beadle were able to put their differences aside and win the Winston Cup Series Championship in 1989 was truly remarkable. Wallace wanted to leave the team after the 1989 season because sponsor Kodiak was leaving to go to the Hendrick Motorsports' No. 25 car.

Wallace was stuck where he was because of his contract which didn't end till after the 1990 season. For the 1990 season Miller Brewing Company's Miller Genuine Draft beer signed on to sponsor Wallace in the No. 27 car. The contract was a personal service contract with Wallace, meaning that it was tied to Wallace and not the Blue Max Racing team.

By June of 1990 it was announced that Wallace would be leaving the Blue Max Racing team. Wallace eventually hooked up with legendary car owner Roger Penske. Penske had become a champion car owner in Indy cars with multiple drivers and had won the Indianapolis 500 multiple times. His most famous driver was Rick Mears.

Wallace and Penske previous had a history in the Winston Cup series as Penske fielded a car for Wallace for 2 races in 1980, the first 2 races of Wallace's Winston Cup career. Wallace finished 2nd and 14th in those 2 races for Penske. Penske had previous fielded a Winston Cup car during the 1970s, most noticeable with driver Bobby Allison. Allison won 4 races driving for Penske. Penske would not field another Winston Cup car till he hooked back up with Wallace in 1991.

Wallace signed to drive with Penske in 1991 and brought his Miller Genuine Draft sponsorship with him and they choose to use the No. 2. The car make was Pontiac which Wallace had driven with the Blue Max Racing team, which ceased operations after the 1990 season. Wallace struggled through much of the 1991 and 1992 seasons winning just 3 races including finishing a disappointing 13th in the final drivers standings of 1992.

In 1993 everything came together for Wallace and Penske as Wallace won a career high 10 races in route to finishing 2nd to Dale Earnhardt in the final drivers points standings by just 80 points. But all wasn't well for Wallace during the season. Wallace suffered 2 violent crashes, one at the season opening Daytona 500 and the other at Talladega. In both crashes Wallace's car got airborne and flipped violently several times. He was officially credited as flying in the final running order at Talladega after his crash left him with an 8th place finish.

After Penske Racing made the switch to field Fords, Wallace was nearly as good in 1994 winning 8 races and finishing 3rd in the final drivers standings. Wallace won twice more in 95 and 5 more times in 1996. In the 4 years from 1993-1996 Wallace won 25 races, had 59 top 5's and 78 top 10's in 123 races. It was in that 4 year stretch that Wallace became known for being the short track king. As of Wallace's retirement after the 2005 season he holds the Sprint Cup record with 34 short track victories.

Wallace drove the No. 2 for Penske Racing from 1991 till his retirement after the 2005 season. In 494 races in the No. 2 car Wallace had 37 wins, 143 top 5's, 244 top 10's and 28 poles.

After Rusty Wallace announced his retirement Kurt Busch, after a long contract battle between Roger Penske and Busch's then current team owner Jack Roush, was tabbed to take over the No. 2 car.

Busch won in just his 5th start of 2006 at Bristol. It was fitting that his first win in the No. 2 car came at Bristol as Wallace made Bristol his most famous track by winning there 9 times including 7 times in the No. 2 car. Wallace won his 1st career race at Bristol in 1986 and his 50th career race at Bristol in 2000.

Busch would drive the No. 2 from 2006 till 2010. Busch won 8 races in the No. 2 car while racking up 37 top 5's, 74 top 10's and 9 poles. Busch's run the No. 2 car was marred by inconsistencies that saw him finish with a best drivers points finish of 4th in 2009 and disappointments of 16th in 2006 and 18th in 2008.

This brings us back to Brad Keselowski. Keselowski got off to a slow start in 2011 but then in the summer time heat Keselowski turned up the heat and rallied off 3 wins and made The Chase finishing the season 5th in the final drivers points standings. One of Keselowski's wins was at the famous Bristol night race in August. For the No. 2 car it was the first time it had visited Victory Lane since Busch won there at 2006.

On Sunday Brad Keselowski visited Victory Lane again at Bristol after leading a race high and career high 232 laps in a dominating win. It was the first time the No. 2 car won back-to-back races at Bristol since Wallace swept the Bristol races in 2000.

Brad Keselowski has picked up the tradition of winning in the No. 2 car and more importantly winning at Bristol. But Keselowski has a his sights on doing something that not even the legendary Rusty Wallace was able to do, and that's take the No. 2 car to a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship victory.