The Chase is on: Top seed Keselowski races to win in opener
Brad Keselowski made a daring and dramatic late-race pass to win Sunday's MyAFib.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway and draw first blood in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
Keselowski, who began his 2012 championship run with a victory here, split Kyle Larson and Kevin Harvick with 16 laps to go and drove to a decisive victory. It was his second consecutive race win, his series-high fifth of the year and eighth of the season in 27 races for Team Penske.
Jeff Gordon finished second in his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet ahead of Larson's Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Chevrolet, Keselowski's teammate Joey Logano and Harvick in a Stewart-Haas Racing Chevy.
Keselowski's victory means he automatically advances to the Contender Round of the Chase, which will begin with the fourth race of the Chase.
"The next two weeks are going to be a lot of fun, knowing that we don't have to worry too much and we're going to move up to the -- what is it, the Contender Round that's next?" Keselowski said.
Asked what it means to be locked in to the next round, Keselowski said, "It means we're going to drink a lot more beer tonight. We're going to have fun with it."
Second-place finisher Gordon waged a tooth-and-nail battle at the end with rookie Larson for second place and was pleased to start his Chase on a high note. "I'm really proud of Kyle Larson," said Gordon. "Man, what a great effort and such a young talent. I really wanted to see him win that race because I like him, but I didn't want see those other guys win it, either."
It was a spirited and intense race and a great start to NASCAR's playoff round, with hard racing for virtually the entire 400 miles.
Kyle Busch, fresh off his victory in Saturday night's NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race here, started from the pole, flanked by Ryan Newman.
The race stayed green until Lap 66, roughly one-quarter distance, when a caution came out for debris in Turn 2. Busch retook the lead on pit road by virtue of a two-tire pit stop.
VIDEO: Troubles on pit road at Chicagoland Speedway
After the restart, a sensational four-way battle for the lead broke out among Busch, Larson, Keselowski and Gordon, with Gordon racing hard to get past Busch on Lap 88.
Following another caution, Jamie McMurray led briefly, until Keselowski got him on Lap 107, with Gordon moving back to second.
At the halfway point, Lap 134, Keselowski led Gordon by 2.5 seconds, with Harvick closing fast in third ahead of Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kyle Busch. Harvick moved into the second nine laps later.
After a round of green-flag pit stops, Harvick took his first lead of the day on Lap 152.
A caution for debris on Lap 182 sent the field down pit road. Keselowski surrendered second place when he had to make a second stop for a suspected loose wheel. That dropped the 2012 champion from second to 16th.
At the Lap 200 mark, Harvick led by 1.336 seconds, as Kyle Larson took second from Gordon.
Almost immediately, Larson began to cut into Harvick's lead, while further back, Keselowski worked his way all the up to eighth by Lap 215.
By Lap 220, Larson caught Harvick, and the rookie muscled past him on Lap 228 to assume the point for the first time.
Two laps later, Carl Edwards had a flat to bring out a caution and at the same time, Aric Almirola lost a motor after a strong run that saw him get into the top five.
The green flag flew on Lap 238, with Larson leading Harvick.
Clint Bowyer pancaked the wall on Lap 245 to send the track yellow once again.
When the green came out, Larson and Harvick waged a tremendous fight for the lead, but Keselowski split the two with 16 laps to go in what would prove to be the race-winning pass. Asked how he made the move, Keselowski said, "I'm not really sure. I'm going to have to watch the replay to figure it out."
But it wasn't over yet.
NASCAR's power couple, Danica Patrick and Rick Stenhouse Jr. crashed to bring out another caution with 10 laps to go.
That set up a final shootout for the victory, with Keselowski driving to victory, as Gordon and Larson fought hard for second, the veteran eventually winning the battle. Gordon finally secured the spot when Larson bounced off the wall near the end of the race.
"I had a lot of fun ripping the wall," said Larson of his penchant to run the high line. "I ran inches of it the whole race and finally got into it there battling Jeff. … For a backup car that was amazing."
Clearly, though, the day belonged to Keselowski.
"Man, that was a crazy day," he said. "I'm not even sure I know what really happened."
VIDEO: Danica Patrick tangles with boyfriend Ricky Stenhouse Jr. to bring out a late caution
