On the move

For longtime stock-car fans, the name Keselowski brings back memories of Ron Keselowski coming south from his Michigan home to race Dodges on NASCAR's elite circuit. Or they might think of his brother, Bob, who raced mostly in the Craftsman Truck Series and won at Richmond in 1997.

NASCAR But the Keselowski that most NASCAR newcomers know is Bob's 24-year-old son, Brad, who drives the No. 88 Chevrolet in the Nationwide Series for Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s JR Motorsports.

Fittingly, his car number is the same one that his uncle Ron ran for several years, runs that occurred years before Brad was born. Ron had 68 starts in the sport's top circuit with two topfives and 11 top-10 finishes.

Brad has raced most in the Nationwide Series. He has run 43 races with two top-five finishes and nine top-10s. In the Craftsman Truck Series, he has 42 starts, most of them in a truck owned by his father.

But it was a performance at Memphis (Tenn.) Motorsports Park last year in a Germain Racing Toyota that put him on the fast track to a top ride.

He was tapped to fill in for Ted Musgrave, who was serving a one-race suspension for rough driving.

Keselowski started on the pole, led 62 laps and was leading late in the race before a run-in with eventual winner Travis Kvapil took him out of contention. But he wound up a big winner anyway, because two weeks later, he was behind the wheel of Earnhardt Jr.'s car in the Nationwide Series.

His steady performance earned him a permanent job, and this year he has shown substantial improvement.

He was in position to win the third race of the season, at Las Vegas, but was spun from the top spot. He bounced back with three straight finishes of sixth or better, and now is sixth in the points standings, 186 points behind leader Clint Bowyer.

Not surprisingly, he gives much of the credit for the improving performance to his crew.

"I think we just elevated the whole program, and are getting better every week," he said. "That's why you're seeing better results."

Somewhat surprisingly, he says he's not getting many driving tips from his car owner.

"We haven't really talked about that all that much," Keselowski said.

"He's got his hands full with the Cup stuff.

"Obviously, if I'm doing something wrong, he'll try to point me in another direction, but he's mostly there to tell me if I'm doing something right."

And equally astonishing - and refreshing - is his attitude about the Vegas incident, which saw him robbed of at least a top-three finish when Mark Martin bumped Carl Edwards into then-leader Keselowski with five laps to go. Martin won; Keselowski finished 23rd.

"I don't even remember that far back," he said. "It's over. I moved past that. Every week is a new opportunity to go win."

He said he's feeling more confident with each race he runs, but he tries to be careful to not get too sure of himself.

"There's a balancing act between being confident and being cocky," he said. "You have to straddle that and always know that you're never too good to learn and to get better.

"As you gain confidence, you get better and make better moves."

Nationwide Series driver Brad Keselowski has risen to sixth in the series points standings.