Four-tire call propels Brad Keselowski to surprise victory at Fontana
March 22, 2015
By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service
FONTANA, Calif.—After Sunday’s Auto Club 400, there may be a warrant issued for Brad Keselowski.
After
all, the driver of the No. 2 Team Penske Ford committed his own version
of “Grand Theft Auto” at Auto Club Speedway—he stole an entire race.
Benefitting
from a four-tire call on the last lap of regulation and two opportune
cautions that extended the event nine laps beyond its scheduled
distance, Keselowski passed polesitter Kurt Busch on the final lap (209)
and pulled away to win his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race of the
season.
Trying
to make one last desperation run at Keselowski, Busch scraped the wall
in the final corner at the two-mile track, allowing Stewart-Haas Racing
teammate Kevin Harvick to pass him for the runner-up spot.
Keselowski
arrived at the finish line .711 seconds ahead of Harvick,
simultaneously taking the checkered flag and leading his first lap of
the day. The 2012 champion, who led the series with six victories last
year, recorded his first victory at Fontana—and his first finish higher
than 18th—and the 17th of his career.
“At
the end, we caught some breaks, made the most of the breaks we caught,”
Keselowski said. “That was kind of the story of our race. It looked
like we were probably going to finish sixth or seventh. That yellow
came out (on Lap 185 for debris). We came in and pitted and drove up a
little bit, then caught another yellow. Now what do we do?
“So
(crew chief) Paul (Wolfe) made the call to come down pit road and put
four tires on. When he said that, I said, ‘This can either go really
good or really bad.’ Didn't know which one it was going to be. Some
guys stayed out, some guys took two tires, all different types of
strategies on the restart.
“We
were able to find our way through the lanes and get to the front there,
somehow end up in Victory Lane leading the last lap. Kind of a race car
driver's dream. This is one we're going to sit back and go 'Wow!' for a
while.”
Keselowski
can call it a break, but it was theft, pure and simple. Aside from a
stretch before the halfway point where Denny Hamlin got out front in
clean air and led 56 laps, the cars of Busch and Harvick dominated the
race, leading 65 and 43 laps, respectively.
But
Keselowski’s Wolfe made what turned out to be the winning call on Lap
200, after NASCAR called the sixth caution of the race because of debris
in Turn 4. Opting for four new tires, where the vast majority of the
field took right sides only for track position, Keselowski restarted
18th on the first attempt at a green-white-checkered-flag finish on Lap
203.
The
No. 2 Fusion quickly moved forward. When Kyle Larson lost his bumper
cover during a melee on the restart, NASCAR threw caution No. 7, and by
then, Keselowski was already up to seventh place.
Using
the new tires to full advantage, Keselowski shot into second place like
a lightning bolt after a green-white-checkered restart on Lap 208. As
Greg Biffle crashed on the frontstretch on the white-flag lap,
Keselowski rocketed past Busch off Turn 2 and pulled away for the win.
Busch
came home third, followed by Richard Childress Racing teammates Paul
Menard and Ryan Newman. Dale Earnhardt Jr., Joey Logano, Martin Truex
Jr., Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon completed the top 10.
Having
won at Las Vegas and Phoenix in the previous two races, Harvick fell
one position shy of completing a sweep of NASCAR’s three-race West Coast
Swing, but he could commiserate with Busch, who was trying to win for
the first time this season after serving a three-race suspension.
“I
hate that the 41 (Busch) wasn't able to hold on for the win there,”
said Harvick, who posted his eighth straight top-two finish, dating to
last year, and extended his series lead over Logano to 28 points. “I
would have loved to see those guys get their first win.
“But
you never know how the strategy is going to play out here. There's so
many cars on the lead lap, you didn't want to get buried in there (by
taking four tires). One little bad move for Brad, he would have been
stuck in the middle of that traffic. But it all worked out for him. The
second restart, he was in prime position up on the outside with fresh
tires.”
Busch was disappointed but philosophical about the result.
“It
was a solid day,” Busch said. “I don’t know what we could have done
different. We just got pinned in by the yellows and the sequence at the
end on which tires we needed to have to optimize how many laps were
left.
“We
had two tires; Keselowski had four. We didn’t need that extra yellow
at the end. That last restart, I just didn’t get the job done, and I
just got out muscled by Keselowski.”
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Race - Auto Club 400
Auto Club Speedway
Fontana, California
Sunday, March 22, 2015
1. (8) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 209, $357781.
2. (2) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 209, $260130.
3. (1) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 209, $205055.
4. (11) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 209, $158505.
5. (9) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 209, $156305.
6. (17) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 209, $132045.
7. (13) Joey Logano, Ford, 209, $155803.
8. (12) Martin Truex Jr., Chevrolet, 209, $136240.
9. (14) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 209, $150831.
10. (7) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 209, $149406.
11. (23) Aric Almirola, Ford, 209, $141546.
12. (31) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 209, $135168.
13. (15) Carl Edwards, Toyota, 209, $98110.
14. (20) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 209, $128474.
15. (27) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 209, $109560.
16. (21) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 209, $136696.
17. (19) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 209, $113160.
18. (4) David Ragan, Toyota, 209, $145051.
19. (22) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, 209, $105760.
20. (33) Chris Buescher(i), Ford, 209, $93860.
21. (26) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 209, $126451.
22. (30) Brett Moffitt #, Toyota, 209, $122974.
23. (37) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 209, $119218.
24. (32) Cole Whitt, Ford, 209, $108493.
25. (40) Landon Cassill(i), Chevrolet, 209, $93610.
26. (5) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 209, $120793.
27. (25) Brian Scott(i), Chevrolet, 209, $103843.
28. (6) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 209, $106485.
29. (36) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 209, $132835.
30. (10) Clint Bowyer, Toyota, 209, $125668.
31. (3) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, 209, $128746.
32. (29) Greg Biffle, Ford, 209, $121143.
33. (28) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 208, $96932.
34. (18) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 208, $105185.
35. (43) David Gilliland, Ford, 208, $94960.
36. (35) Josh Wise, Ford, 207, $86820.
37. (41) JJ Yeley(i), Toyota, 206, $86549.
38. (24) Michael Annett, Chevrolet, 206, $80803.
39. (34) Jeb Burton #, Toyota, 205, $78240.
40. (39) Mike Bliss(i), Ford, 205, $72740.
41. (38) Brendan Gaughan(i), Chevrolet, 205, $68740.
42. (42) Matt DiBenedetto, Toyota, 203, $64740.
43. (16) Sam Hornish Jr., Ford, 155, $87585.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 140.662 mph.
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 58 Mins, 18 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.710 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 7 for 31 laps.
Lead Changes: 19 among 9 drivers.
Lap
Leaders: K. Busch 1-5; K. Harvick 6-24; A. Bowman 25; M. Kenseth
26-31; D. Hamlin 32-61; J. Gordon 62; D. Hamlin 63-88; M. Kenseth 89-94;
K. Busch 95-99; M. Truex Jr. 100-104; K. Busch 105-137; C. Edwards 138;
K. Busch 139-143; K. Harvick 144-154; M. Kenseth 155-185; K. Harvick
186-189; K. Busch 190-200; J. Gordon 201-202; K. Busch 203-208; B.
Keselowski 209;.
Leaders
Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): K. Busch 6 times for 65 laps;
D. Hamlin 2 times for 56 laps; M. Kenseth 3 times for 43 laps; K.
Harvick 3 times for 34 laps; M. Truex Jr. 1 time for 5 laps; J. Gordon 2
times for 3 laps; C. Edwards 1 time for 1 lap; B. Keselowski 1 time for
1 lap; A. Bowman 1 time for 1 lap.
Top
16 in Points: K. Harvick - 225; J. Logano - 197; M. Truex Jr. - 192; D.
Earnhardt Jr. - 164; B. Keselowski - 163; R. Newman - 162; J. Johnson -
159; K. Kahne - 159; P. Menard - 152; A. Almirola - 138; A.
Allmendinger - 137; C. Mears - 132; M. Kenseth - 127; D. Hamlin - 125;
D. Ragan - 124; J. McMurray - 120.
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