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Sprint Cup
CUP: Epic Effort From Keselowski
Brad Keselowski took it to the limit in finishing second…
Brad Keselowski and five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson battle for position during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
If Brad Keselowski ultimately loses the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup championship, it won’t be because he left any of his game in the garage.
Keselowski and five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson waged a battle for the ages in the closing laps of the AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday, with Johnson prevailing a green-white-checkered finish and Keselowski finishing second.
The two will head into the final two races of the season with Johnson ahead by just 7 points.
Sunday’s race will be one that will be remembered as battle of true heavyweights, Johnson and Keselowski punching and counterpunching through one of the year’s most dramatic finishes.
Johnson led 164 of the first 190 laps, his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet clearly dominant early on. But in the second half of the race, it was Keselowski and Kyle Busch who began to force the action, with Johnson falling back as far as fourth.
Keselowski was leading on Lap 276 when he pitted under caution. But he came in too hot and overshot his pit just a little bit, which required his Penske Racing crew to push him back to exit the pits. Instead of leading, Keselowski was ninth.
“Yellow came out, and had the issue on pit road where I just got on the brakes and couldn't get it to slow down quite as well as I needed it to and put myself in a bad position where the 10 (Danica Patrick) blocked me, and that was probably my fault,” said Keselowski. “But from there, we just had a dog fight to get some track position back.”
But he quickly started passing cars on the track, moving to sixth on Lap 297 and passing Dale Earnhardt Jr. for fifth five laps later.
On Lap 310, Marcos Ambrose lost a tire and hit the wall in Turn 1, bringing out a caution flag. All of the leaders pitted, but Keselowski and crew chief Paul Wolfe rolled the dice, electing to replace only two tires on the Blue Deuce when everyone else took four. That put Keselowski in the lead, with Busch second and Johnson third.
It was the kind of no-guts-no-glory strategy the No. 2 team has used to great advantage virtually all season.
“I thought that was the right thing to do,” said Keselowski. “Maybe it was. Maybe it wasn't. Who knows? But it was worth a shot. “
Then things got even crazier.
Kasey Kahne bounced off the wall on Lap 322, bringing out a yellow. The race restarted with eight laps to go and when it did, Johnson briefly took the lead before Keselowski got underneath him and him twice, in the frontstretch trioval and in the middle of Turn 1, both drivers nearly wrecking.
It wasn’t over yet, as the caution would fly again on Lap 331, Mark Martin was hit from behind and spun in the tri-oval, setting up a green-white-checkered finish.
On the final restart, Johnson pinched down hard on Keselowski into Turn 1, breaking the Dodge’s momentum and driving off to his second consecutive victory.
“That last yellow, I felt like restarts are like rock, paper, scissors,” said Keselowski. “Eventually you're going to lose them. It's just a matter of time. There's always time to counteract the strategy. To win two out of three (restarts), I felt lucky to do that. Obviously, I didn't win the last one that counts.”
It was a tough way to lose.
“I thought I had it until that last yellow came out, but there is nothing you can do when somebody's wrecked on the track,” said Keselowski. “So I can understand that. Just a good effort, came up a little bit short.”
But while Keselowski may be down, he insisted he is not out yet.
“I feel confident if we keep putting efforts out like this, that we can win races and be tough to beat for the championship,” he said.
Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100.
Keselowski and five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson waged a battle for the ages in the closing laps of the AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday, with Johnson prevailing a green-white-checkered finish and Keselowski finishing second.
The two will head into the final two races of the season with Johnson ahead by just 7 points.
Sunday’s race will be one that will be remembered as battle of true heavyweights, Johnson and Keselowski punching and counterpunching through one of the year’s most dramatic finishes.
Johnson led 164 of the first 190 laps, his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet clearly dominant early on. But in the second half of the race, it was Keselowski and Kyle Busch who began to force the action, with Johnson falling back as far as fourth.
Keselowski was leading on Lap 276 when he pitted under caution. But he came in too hot and overshot his pit just a little bit, which required his Penske Racing crew to push him back to exit the pits. Instead of leading, Keselowski was ninth.
“Yellow came out, and had the issue on pit road where I just got on the brakes and couldn't get it to slow down quite as well as I needed it to and put myself in a bad position where the 10 (Danica Patrick) blocked me, and that was probably my fault,” said Keselowski. “But from there, we just had a dog fight to get some track position back.”
But he quickly started passing cars on the track, moving to sixth on Lap 297 and passing Dale Earnhardt Jr. for fifth five laps later.
On Lap 310, Marcos Ambrose lost a tire and hit the wall in Turn 1, bringing out a caution flag. All of the leaders pitted, but Keselowski and crew chief Paul Wolfe rolled the dice, electing to replace only two tires on the Blue Deuce when everyone else took four. That put Keselowski in the lead, with Busch second and Johnson third.
It was the kind of no-guts-no-glory strategy the No. 2 team has used to great advantage virtually all season.
“I thought that was the right thing to do,” said Keselowski. “Maybe it was. Maybe it wasn't. Who knows? But it was worth a shot. “
Then things got even crazier.
Kasey Kahne bounced off the wall on Lap 322, bringing out a yellow. The race restarted with eight laps to go and when it did, Johnson briefly took the lead before Keselowski got underneath him and him twice, in the frontstretch trioval and in the middle of Turn 1, both drivers nearly wrecking.
It wasn’t over yet, as the caution would fly again on Lap 331, Mark Martin was hit from behind and spun in the tri-oval, setting up a green-white-checkered finish.
On the final restart, Johnson pinched down hard on Keselowski into Turn 1, breaking the Dodge’s momentum and driving off to his second consecutive victory.
“That last yellow, I felt like restarts are like rock, paper, scissors,” said Keselowski. “Eventually you're going to lose them. It's just a matter of time. There's always time to counteract the strategy. To win two out of three (restarts), I felt lucky to do that. Obviously, I didn't win the last one that counts.”
It was a tough way to lose.
“I thought I had it until that last yellow came out, but there is nothing you can do when somebody's wrecked on the track,” said Keselowski. “So I can understand that. Just a good effort, came up a little bit short.”
But while Keselowski may be down, he insisted he is not out yet.
“I feel confident if we keep putting efforts out like this, that we can win races and be tough to beat for the championship,” he said.
Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100.
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