Graveyard Ghosts: Brad Keselowski’s No. 88 U.S. Navy Chevrolet Monte Carlo

Ron Lemasters | 5/7/2018

News Racecar Graveyard

Brad Keselowski's career was just getting started in 2007 when this week's entry to the Racecar Graveyard had an unfortunate ending late in the running at Kansas Speedway.

Driver: Brad Keselowski

Car: No. 88 U.S. Navy Chevrolet Monte Carlo

Track: Kansas Speedway (Sept. 29, 2007)

Bio: Brad Keselowski has a Cup championship to his name now, but in 2007 he was climbing the ladder toward the pinnacle of the sport. The first major rung on that ladder was at JR Motorsports, and 14 races in the U.S. Navy No. 88 helped kick-start his rise to the top of the charts in the Cup Series.

That said, this is an example of how, no matter how hard you try, you’ll have a bad day at the track on occasion. At Kansas Speedway in the fall of 2007, Keselowski was running 19th with 25 laps remaining in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race when he popped a right front tire, with predictable results.

Entering Turn 3, the back end of the blue-and-white Chevrolet kicked out and kept going, straight into the outside retaining wall. The impact heavily damaged the left rear of the car, from the C post on back, and he hit the wall with the left front as well, collapsing the rear clip and damaging the front corner as well. It was about a month after the famous wall-climbing crash at Auto Club Speedway that kicked off the Racecar Graveyard project.

Given the sheer amount of damage done to the rear clip, the car wouldn’t race again, as evidenced by the absence of one in the photos. It was taken to the Racecar Graveyard via flatbed and installed with several of its sisters in a cozy nook by the creek that runs through the site.