Brad Keselowski wins from the pole at Kentucky Speedway
June 28, 2014
Chris Knight
NASCAR Wire Service
Sometimes the fastest car doesn’t always win. Tonight, at Kentucky Speedway, it did.
Battling
back from varying pit stop strategies, Brad Keselowski climbed six
positions over the final 47 laps to pick up his second win of the season
in dominating fashion in
Saturday night’s Quaker State 400 presented by Advance Auto Parts. By
winning, Keselowski guarantees himself a berth into the Chase and also
becomes the first two-time winner at the 1.5-mile speedway in three
years.
“Our
car was awesome,” said Keselowski, who earned his 12th career NASCAR
Sprint Cup Series win. “The team did a great job and I’m just really
thankful to have a car this good.
I don’t know how else to put it. The Miller Lite Ford Fusion was
hauling and I just can’t wait to get deeper in the season and the
post-season. I think this is where we need to be to have a shot at
another championship, so I’m just real proud of everyone
right now.”
Pole
sitter Keselowski led the opening 27 Laps until Denny Hamlin wrecked in
Turn 4. The first yellow flag of the night would also serve as the
scheduled competition caution.
Keselowski
brought the field down pit road, where teams tried varying strategies.
The top 10 cars elected for two tires, while the others took on four
tires.
The Lap
34 restart kept Keselowski in control and by Lap 60 he had extended his
lead to 3.5-second over Kevin Harvick. The gap would close on Lap 77
for Kyle Larson, who lost
a right-front tire and slammed the Turn 2 wall.
Under
the yellow, everyone took four tires, with outside pole sitter Joey
Logano beating his teammate off pit lane ahead of Keselowski, Kyle
Busch, Ryan Newman and Kasey Kahne.
Logano
set the field back into racing conditions, but Keselowski was determined
to put his Ford Fusion back at the helm, moving past the No. 22 on Lap
88 and by Lap 104 had
extended his lead to 2.7 seconds. By Lap 125, Busch had knocked a chunk
out of his lead, but a lap later, the yellow flag waived for debris in
Turns 3 and 4.
Pit
road became a very busy place and for the second time of the night,
Keselowski lost the lead on pit road to Logano with Ryan Newman, Kyle
Busch, Keselowski and Dale Earnhardt
Jr. leading the parade back onto the racetrack.
The race resumed on Lap 132, but 15 laps later, Keselowski took the lead back from Logano.
A
three-car incident on Lap 154 for Aric Almirola, Alex Bowman and Jamie
McMurray brought out the fourth yellow of the night and sent the lead
lap cars to pit road, where Keselowski
and others taking two tires and fuel. Once again, Logano had the better
stop and took the lead from Keselowski.
While
Logano led for the Lap 161 restart, Keselowski didn’t waste any time and
reasserted his control on Lap 163 and led until a Lap 177 caution for a
solo spin by David Stremme.
Pit road opened with the leader deciding to stay out, as did much of
the top 10.
86 Laps
remained when the green flag flew, with Keselowski fumbling, which
allowed Logano to take advantage, but not for long as the ‘Blue Deuce’
quickly pedaled back to the
point.
The
Rochester Hills, Michigan native led through Lap 215, when Almirola lost
a tire and hit the Turn 1 wall. The sixth yellow flag of the night was a
welcomed sight for the
lead pack, as they were within a few laps of having to pit under green
flag conditions.
Kyle
Busch, Ryan Newman, and Earnhardt Jr. remained on the track as they
pitted before the caution waived and became the top-three leaders.
Meanwhile, a two-tire stop allowed
Paul Menard to beat Matt Kenseth off pit road and they restarted fourth
and fifth respectively. Keselowski was sixth.
The Lap
220 restart saw Busch trying to fend off Ryan Newman, with the Team
Penske cars of Keselowski and Logano stalking them from the rear.
Keselowski made the move around
Newman for second on Lap 233 and set his sights on leader Busch, who
grew his lead to 1.7 seconds.
As the
laps ticked away, Keselowski began to catch the No. 18 of Busch and when
the No. 18 ran into trouble passing the lapped machine of Reed
Sorenson, Keselowski was able
to make up nearly 1.1 seconds over three laps to grab the lead from him
on Lap 249.
Over
the next 18 laps, Keselowski drove to a 1.015 second margin over Busch
and claimed his second checkered flag of the season, his first since
winning at Las Vegas Motor
Speedway in March.
Even
with the fastest car of the night, the 2012 NSCS champion wasn’t sure he
would have enough to catch Busch at the end. “It was gonna be tough,”
he said when thinking about
having to chase him down. “I knew it was gonna be really, really
tough. I figured we’d get to him, but I didn’t really think I’d be able
to pass him. I caught a little break in lap traffic and the car was
just that good. I was able to take advantage of
it and get the lead. That was awesome.”
Keselowski
trip to Victory Lane was momentarily interrupted, as he cut his right
hand while opening a champagne bottle, which exploded in his possession.
He rushed to the infield
care center, where he received four stitches, changed his race uniform
and returned to Victory Lane for additional post-race celebrations.
“We
were playing around with some champagne bottles and as I told my good
friend, ‘We should have stuck with beer.’ We were having too much fun
with champagne and one of the
bottles broke and I cut my hand open. It’s no big deal,” the 30-year
old said.
As for Busch, who racked in three top-three finishes across NASCAR’s three National divisions this weekend.
“We
were a lot better than we’ve been all year long and that’s a testament
to what the guys did overnight fixing this M&M’s Toyota Camry into
what I could drive today and making
it fast,” Busch sounded. “We had good speed, so I was real proud of
that effort. I got so loose there at the end -- the loosest I’ve gotten
all day and the loosest I’ve been in traffic all day too. I just
couldn’t hold on and couldn’t keep it where I wanted
it, and was sliding all over the place and just trying not to wreck
basically.”
Ryan Newman, Matt Kenseth and Dale Earnhardt Jr. rounded out the top-five.
For Newman, it was his first top-five finish since joining Richard Childress Racing this season.
“It’s a
big gain for us and our Caterpillar Chevrolet,” he said. “All the guys
at RCR and ECR got us that first top five of the season. I’ve got to
thank everybody from Caterpillar
and Quicken Loans for the opportunity they’ve given us this year. It
was a good run. The No. 2 (Brad Keselowski, race winner) was obviously
the fastest car all night. The No. 18 (Kyle Busch) got a little bit
better there at the end. We were pretty solid. We
never really changed the car. It felt like we were pretty neutral and
didn’t want to screw it up. So, we ended up where we did.”
Jeff
Gordon finished sixth ahead of Kevin Harvick, Kasey Kahne, Joey Logano,
with an alleged down cylinder and Jimmie Johnson comprised the remainder
of the top-10.
Jeff
Gordon remains the point’s leader over Jimmie Johnson by 24 points (618
to 594). Dale Earnhardt Jr. is third (-24), Keselowski fourth (-58) and
Kenseth fifth (-63).
Next up
for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is the Coke Zero 400 from Daytona
International Speedway on Saturday, July 5, 2014. Reining NASCAR Sprint
Cup champion Jimmie Johnson
is the defending champion of the event.
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