Yahoo Autos Brad Keselowski Saves Fuel, Wins Kentucky Yet Again
Brad Keselowski may have briefly thought he had run out of fuel in the last two laps of today's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Kentucky, but even that wasn't enough to stop him from grabbing his second win in as many weeks.
Keselowski was strong all day, but wasn't really a contender until the last few stints. It was Kevin Harvick's race early, but he faded as the sun set, and though Martin Truex Jr. seemed to be in position to take over control of the race, he was penalized just before the race's final restart for a pit lane violation. This left Keselowski in control for a 68 lap long stint that the entire field acknowledged was certainly possible without stopping, but certainly not likely, while Truex was in the back of the field after having stopped again two laps later, seemingly in position to make the race's end on fuel.
Truex pushed hard over the race's final run, however, and after making pass after pass to get up to third on track, he stopped on his own with ten to go. Teammate Matt Kenseth, pressuring Keselowski from second, soon followed, leaving just the race leader and a few slower cars staying on the no-stop strategy. Keselowski's lead started at ten seconds, but aggressive fuel saving soon cut it to six, and when he briefly stumbled with two to go, Carl Edwards cut it to just a second. The Penske driver thought he was out of fuel, but after his car re-fired with one to go, he was able to hold off Edwards by just a tenth of a second to take his second win in as many weeks, his fourth of 2016.
The 2012 series champion now leads the season in wins and is now just 4 points short of leading the standings outright. Despite both numbers (five affiliated cars to three) and pace (eight wins to five) advantages, Joe Gibbs Racing now seems to have met a match in Penske Racing. Perennial favorites Hendrick Motorsports are still quiet, just two wins over their four main cars and three from their loosely affiliated partners at Stewart-Haas Racing, but they're doing well in the championship standings, with SHR's Kevin Harvick leading the championship and Hendrick drivers Chase Elliott and Dale Earnhardt Jr. looking good to make the Chase field on points.
NASCAR makes its final pre-Chase visit to a Chase track of 2016 next weekend at New Hampshire.
