Brad Keselowski won the GEICO 500 from Talladega
Superspeedway to move on the Eliminator round of the Chase on Sunday afternoon.
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| Photo courtesy Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images |
Talladega was a do-or-die race for Keselowski, who
needed to win the race to move on to the next round of the Chase. Keselowski said he had a great car that he
had faith in to get the job done.
“I knew it was fast the last time we were here, and
then we got caught up in wrecks,” Keselowski said. “I thought that if we could just get through
one of these superspeedway races we could win.
We were fortunate enough to do that today.”
Keselowski’s victory comes one week after getting
into numerous on- and off-track altercations with Denny Hamlin, Tony Stewart
and Matt Kenseth. Keselowski said they
only had one job this weekend.
“We had one job to do, and that was to come to
Talladega and win. I think it was very
easy to write ourselves off after the last two weeks. I know there’s probably some people out there
who aren’t happy I won…we went through a lot of adversity, and that makes this
week a little more special.”
Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. also came into
Talladega needing a victory to move on to the Eliminator Round. Johnson seemed to be the odds-on favorite
throughout the day, leading a race-high 84 laps before fading late without
drafting help to finish 24th.
Earnhardt led 31 laps, and seemed poised to return
to victory lane at Talladega. But his
Championship hopes ended when he was spun by Greg Biffle during the first
green-white-checkered finish. He wound
up finishing 31st.
Kyle Busch may have taken the biggest hit when his
Chase abruptly came to an end. Busch
seemed like a sure participant in the Eliminator Round, but he was spun by
Austin Dillon as drivers scattered to avoid a wreck on lap 103. Busch hit the wall hard, and his team worked
feverishly in the garage to repair his car.
Busch ended up finishing in 40th place, which ended his 2014
Championship hopes.
Unofficial results:
1. Brad Keselowski
2. Matt Kenseth
3. Clint Bowyer
4. Landon Cassill
5. Ryan Newman
6. Travis Kvapil
7. Kurt Busch
8. Marcos Ambrose
9. Kevin Harvick
10. Casey Mears
11. Joey Logano
12. Kasey Kahne
13. Austin Dillon
14. Reed Sorenson
15. Cole Whitt
16. Michael Waltrip
17. Kyle Larson
18. Denny Hamlin
19. Danica Patrick
20. Brian Vickers
21. Carl Edwards
22. Ryan Blaney
23. AJ Allmendinger
24. Jimmie Johnson
25. Greg Biffle
26. Jeff Gordon
27. Martin Truex Jr.
28. Josh Wise
29. David Gilliland
30. David Ragan
31. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
32. Trevor Bayne
33. Terry Labonte
34. Tony Stewart
35. Jamie McMurray
36. Paul Menard
37. Michael Annett
38. Mike Wallace
39. Aric Almirola
40. Kyle Busch
41. Michael McDowell
42. J.J. Yeley
43. Alex Bowman
The top eight drivers now move on to the Eliminator
Round of the Chase. The next three races
at Martinsville, Texas and Phoenix will decide the final four drivers who will
race for the Sprint Cup Championship at Homestead in the final weekend of the
season. Below are the “Eliminator 8.”
1. Joey Logano
2. Kevin Harvick
3. Brad Keselowski
4. Jeff Gordon
5. Carl Edwards
6. Denny Hamlin
7. Ryan Newman
8. Matt Kenseth
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| Photo courtesy Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images |
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