Brad Keselowski led a race-high 115 laps on Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway, including the final 17, to claim his 20th career victory and 3rd this season. The final caution period forced the race one lap past its scheduled distance. On the restart, Keselowski darted away from the field and beat runner-up Kyle Busch to the checkered flag by fifteen one-hundredths of a second. Trevor Bayne finished 3rd with Joey Logano 4th and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr 5th.
Fords claimed 4 of the 5 top finishing positions with Busch’s Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota the only “outsider” among them. Pole sitter Greg Biffle led just one lap and finished 8th in the 40-car field. Keselowski started 5th in his #2 Team Penske Ford, took his first lead 9 laps into the race and ran steadily in the top 5 throughout the night. His 3 wins tie Busch for the series lead as drivers start thinking about seeding for the post-season Chase that begins in 2-1/2 months.
Saturday’s race included 5 cautions, most notably for a massive crash that gobbled up half the field early in the second half of the race. The 22-car melee was triggered when Jamie McMurray brushed teammate Kyle Larson and then went up the track across the nose of Jimmie Johnson’s Chevrolet. Dale Earnhardt, Jr and Kevin Harvick were among those victimized. Earnhardt was able to complete the race and finished 21st. Harvick could not and he placed 39th, watching his regular-season points lead shrink to 14 over Keselowski – who advanced from 4th to 2nd in the standings with 9 races remaining before the Chase opens.
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– story by John Singler
www.mrn.com
Concord, NC
