Keselowski Wins at Talladega

Brad Keselowski won the Geico 500 from Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday afternoon to pick up his first victory of 2021.

Keselowski ran up front for most of the day, but he didn’t get to the lead until the very final lap.  Matt DiBenedetto attempted to block a run from the high line, which opened up the bottom for Keselowski to come through.

Keselowski held off William Byron and Daytona 500 champion Michael McDowell at the line, and Keselowski said he knew a strong run was coming when the field came off of Turn 4.

“I saw it coming,” Keselowski said.  “Everybody’s just racing hard and pushing hard.  That’s Talladega.”

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The victory was Keselowski’s sixth at Talladega, which tied him with NASCAR Hall of Famers Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Keselowski said he never expected to tie two legends of the sport at one of the hardest racetracks on the schedule.

“We’ve been so close here, it just didn’t seem to want to come together the past couple years,” Keselowski said.  “I’ve been on kind of a four-year drought.  I’d have never believed I’d tie Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr.; those guys are really legends.”

Keselowski was involved in an accident at the end of Stage 1 that saw his teammate Joey Logano go airborne.  Keselowski said his team was able to repair the damage to keep him in the race.

“We had an accident there early, and they recovered and got it fixed up to where I could keep running,” Keselowski said.  “Really proud of my team.”

“What an awesome day.  The whole race we had a couple chances to take the lead, but I just kept thinking to keep the car in one piece for the end.”

Unofficial results:

1. Brad Keselowski

2. William Byron

3. Michael McDowell

4. Kevin Harvick

5. Matt DiBenedetto

6. Kaz Grala

7. Tyler Reddick

8. Austin Dillon

9. Ryan Blaney

10. Cole Custer

11. Chase Briscoe

12. Anthony Alfredo

13. Ryan Newman

14. Ryan Preece

15. Aric Almirola

16. Ross Chastain

17. Christopher Bell

18. Kyle Busch

19. Bubba Wallace

20. Harrison Burton

21. Chris Buescher

22. Corey LaJoie

23. Daniel Suarez

24. Chase Elliott

25. BJ McLeod

26. JJ Yeley

27. Erik Jones

28. Cody Ware

29. Timmy Hill

30. Justin Haley

31. Martin Truex Jr.

32. Denny Hamlin

33. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

34. Joey Gase

35. Kurt Busch

36. Josh Bilicki

37. Quin Houff

38. Alex Bowman

39. Joey Logano

40. Kyle Larson

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