Brad Keselowski began the season with a bit of goofiness, posting on Twitter during a red-flag stoppage at the Daytona 500.
He’s ending the season with a far more serious pursuit – for his first Sprint Cup championship.
Keselowski is off to a fine start after an impressive victory over Jimmie Johnson on Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill. In the opening race of the Chase for the Sprint Cup, the 28-year-old Keselowski outlasted Johnson for the first Chase win of his career. Keselowski also took over the lead in the points standings for the first time.
“There’s no better place to start than in the lead, right?” Keselowski said. “It feels like Round One of a heavyweight title bout. It’s a 10-round bout, and Week One’s done. We might have won the round, but didn’t by any means knock ‘em out.”
Keselowski and his No. 2 Dodge got ahead of Johnson after a crucial pit cycle with about 35 laps remaining and led the final 26 laps in the 400-mile race. Johnson finished 3.171 seconds behind, and he said he thought Keselowski crossed a restraining line too early when exiting after that pit stop near the end.
The incident was reviewed and there was no infraction called, and Johnson never made much of a run at catching Keselowski during the final laps.
“He did cut up early. It did impede my progress,” Johnson said. “But it didn’t affect the outcome, I don’t believe. The way he made quick work in traffic and stretched it out on me, I’m not sure I would have held him off. At the time it messed me up, but I don’t think it played an outcome in the race.”
Enumclaw’s Kasey Kahne finished third and climbed into a tie for fourth in the driver standings.
All 12 of the Chase drivers finished in the top 18, with the exception of Jeff Gordon, who went into the wall with about 80 laps remaining.
DRAG RACING UPSET
Shawn Langdon raced to his first career Top Fuel victory, beating Tony Schumacher in the final of the rain-delayed O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Nationals in Concord, N.C.
Langdon edged Schumacher with a 3.785-second run at 326.71 mph in the first event in the six-race NHRA Full Throttle Countdown to the Championship. Schumacher finished in 3.808 at 322.27.
“To start the Countdown with a win is great for the team,” Langdon said. “… We’ve really turned things around over the past couple races, and it builds my confidence as a driver. It was an excellent job all-around for the Al-Anabi team.”
Ron Capps topped the Funny Car field, Jason Line won in Pro Stock, and Andrew Hines took the Pro Stock Motorcycle competition.
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