How Cooper Standard and Draw-Tite have made a big difference at BKR

For 241 of 283 total team starts in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, Cooper Standard has been a partner with the two-truck team owned by 2012 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski.

The first race for the Novi, Michigan-based company was  Daytona in 2012 with Keselowski and Parker Kligerman fielding the company colors on their trucks.

Current Cup competitor Ryan Blaney began driving a Cooper Standard sponsored truck midway through the 2012 season and gave the team and sponsor their first win together in Iowa in July and the rest, they say is history.

Blaney took the No. 29 Cooper Standard truck back to Victory Lane the next season at Pocono Raceway and added another win on the road course at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario in 2014.

Reese and Draw-Tite came on board in 2013 with Joey Logano competing in the first race sponsored by the company. Keselowski took Draw-Tite to Victory Lane for the first time at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2014 capturing his first truck series win.

In 2015, the wins kept coming as Tyler Reddick scored the team’s biggest win to date, winning the season opener at Daytona with the No. 19 truck, and Logano added another win for Cooper Standard in the No. 29 truck in Martinsville two months later.

Blaney and Reddick both drove Cooper Standard to wins in Bristol in 2015 and Las Vegas last fall, respectively. In 2017, both companies remain partners with BKR as they bring along Ford Development driver Chase Briscoe and his teammate Austin Cindric.

The duo has shown promise during their rookie campaigns, with Briscoe scoring poles at Dover and Gateway in the No. 29 Cooper Standard entry.

Since 2012, BKR has scored nine wins with 157 top-10 finishes among 16 drivers to sit behind the wheel with Cooper Standard and Draw-Tite a part of success with the team every step of the way.

“As a young driver in my first season in NASCAR, I’m honored and grateful to have Cooper Standard believe in me and our team,” Briscoe added. “They are the reason that we get to do this. My goal is to get my No. 29 Cooper Standard Ford into Victory Lane a few times this season, and hopefully we get to celebrate big with a championship at the end of the season with them.”

For Cindric, who’s already captured six top-10 finishes in just 18 starts in his No. 19 Draw-Tite Ford F-150, the opportunity is vital as he makes his transition from primarily road racing to NASCAR.

"The opportunity to drive for an established team like Brad Keselowski Racing with strong support from Draw-Tite is so important," Cindric said. "It gives me an opportunity for success as I begin my NASCAR career."

Look for both the No. 29 Cooper Standard Ford F-150 and the No. 19 Draw-Tite Ford F-150 this weekend at Michigan Speedway.