Brad Keselowski Dominates in Richmond

Originally written for CLNS Radio.

Brad Keselowski won the Federated Auto Parts 400 from Richmond International Raceway on Saturday night to clinch the top seed in the Chase.

Rainier Ehrhardt/Getty Images

Keselowski was dominant in the race, starting from the pole and leading 383 of 400 laps.  He never fell lower than second throughout the entire race.  Keselowski said his car was so perfect he thought he was dreaming.

“It was just flying,” Keselowski said.  “We want to run for another cup.”

Keselowski won the 2012 Sprint Cup Championship, but failed to make the Chase last year.  He said his team seems poised to win the title this year following last year’s disappointment.

“I think last year was a kick in the butt…enough to push us all and push us to another level.  We didn’t progress enough last year and this year we really upped our game.”

Keselowski started the race on the pole, and he only gave up the lead to Kevin Harvick twice in the first half of the race.  But following a caution for debris on lap 125, Keselowski took the lead and led the final 275 laps on his way to the victory.

The race was slowed with 70 laps to go for a very unusual reason – a fan had climbed on top of the catchfence in Turn 4.  NASCAR had to throw a caution so that security could get the fan off the fence for his safety.

Unofficial results:

1. Brad Keselowski

2. Jeff Gordon

3. Clint Bowyer

4. Jamie McMurray

5. Kevin Harvick

6. Joey Logano

7. Kurt Busch

8. Jimmie Johnson

9. Ryan Newman

10. Aric Almirola

11. Kyle Larson

12. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

13. Brian Vickers

14. Kyle Busch

15. Tony Stewart

16. Danica Patrick

17. Kasey Kahne

18. Paul Menard

19. Greg Biffle

20. Austin Dillon

21. Denny Hamlin

22. Carl Edwards

23. AJ Allmendinger

24. Reed Sorenson

25. Martin Truex Jr.

26. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

27. Marcos Ambrose

28. Justin Allgaier

29. David Gilliland

30. Cole Whitt

31. Casey Mears

32. Josh Wise

33. David Ragan

34. Landon Cassill

35. Mike Bliss

36. David Stremme

37. Michael Annett

38. Alex Bowman

39. Travis Kvapil

40. Joe Nemechek

41. Matt Kenseth

42. Ryan Truex

43. J.J. Yeley

Next weekend, the Sprint Cup Series heads to Chicagoland Speedway for the first race of the Chase.  The MyFibStory.com 400 is next Sunday at 1:00 p.m. EST on ESPN.

Photo courtesy Rainier Ehrhardt/Getty Images