For the fifth consecutive season, NASCAR Integrated Marketing Communications combed through the statistics to hand out a number of awards celebrating the best â and worst â Loop Data performances of 2011. The second award goes to:
“Where Did He Come From” Award: Better known as the “Most Improved Driver” Award, this award goes to the driver who had the biggest gain in Driver Rating from 2010. Brad Keselowski, please accept your welldeserved award. Keselowski entered 2011 mostly as an afterthought. He finished the 2010 season — his first with Penske Racing — with a 25th-place points finish and a Driver Rating of 65.1. Still fresh to the series, most expected those growing pains to continue. But Keselowski scoffed at any low expectations with a quick win at Kansas. Then he won at Pocono on a broken left ankle. A few weeks later, he won the Bristol Motor Speedway night race. And soon after that, he made the Chase for the Sprint Cup, taking advantage of the new Wild Card berth. Keselowski finished the season fifth in points, with a Driver Rating of 87.1 â an improvement of 22.0 points, best in the series.(NASCAR)(12-18-2011)
