(WOMR file photo)
Brad Keselowski cruised between Kyle Larson and Kevin Harvick as they fought side-by-side for the lead with 16 laps to go, survived a restart with six laps to go and then sprinted away to win the Chase-opening Sprint Cup Series race at Chicagoland Speedway on Sunday afternoon.
The victory was the fifth of the season for Keselowski, assuring that team a place in the next round of playoffs. Also this victory came two years after he won the 2012 Chase-opener at Chicagoland and then went on to win the championship.
“Man, crazy day,” Keselowski said in Victory Lane. “I’m not sure that I know everything that happened.”
But with a determined charge through the field, and a couple of opportune cautions in the final 35 laps, Keselowski regained lost track position ,and put himself in position to make a dramatic race-winning move after a restart on Lap 250.
What happened was one incredible pass when Larson and Harvick appeared to be battling for the victory! For a few laps, Harvick and Larson were running door-handle-to-door-handle for the lead.
With third-place finisher Kyle Larson battling Kevin Harvick for the lead on Lap 252, Keselowski powered between the two cars off Turn 2, not fearing to go where no man had been during the day, and grabbed the lead.
“I just saw a hole, and I went for it,” Keselowski said.
He held the top spot for a restart on Lap 262, after an accident involving the cars of Danica Patrick and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and pulled away to win his fifth race of the year and the 15th of his career by 1.759 seconds over Jeff Gordon, who passed Larson for the second spot in the closing laps.
Check out the unofficial results of the MyAfibStory 400.
Here is the updated standings after the race at Chicagoland.
As you can see the four drivers that are now at the bottom of the sixteen drivers, and could be facing elimination are; Ryan Newman, A.J. Allmendinger, Greg Biffle, and Aric Almirola.
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
