Keselowski Wins at Martinsville

Originally written for CLNS Radio.

Brad Keselowski won the STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday afternoon.

Photo courtesy Getty Images

Keselowski had a strong car, but Kyle Busch looked to be the class of the field most of the day.  But as the race wound down, Keselowski was able to work his way around Busch to take the lead and head to victory lane.

Keselowski said he was happy to finally take home a grandfather clock as a race-winner at Martinsville.

“We’ve run so good here with the Miller Lite Ford, but something always happens,” Keselowski said.  “We were able to bring it home.”

Keselowski said joining the list of legends that has won at Martinsville is a career honor.

“A lot of legends have been able to win here, and it feels great to be able to join them,” Keselowski said.  “Martinsville is just one of those champion’s tracks, where the guys that run well everywhere run well here.”

Busch had a fast car all day, but he gave up the lead to Keselowski over the final green flag run.  Busch said his car didn’t react well to the last set of tires.

“All we did was put four tires on it and it went to junk,” Busch said.  “I hate it for our guys; they deserved better finishes than we’ve been able to produce and here’s another one today.”

“We were lights-out faster than those guys after 20 laps or so…we were really struggling; I was surprised we were able to hold off [Chase Elliott].”

Unofficial results:

1. Brad Keselowski

2. Kyle Busch

3. Chase Elliott

4. Joey Logano

5. Austin Dillon

6. AJ Allmendinger

7. Clint Bowyer

8. Ryan Newman

9. Matt Kenseth

10. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

11. Chris Buescher

12. Erik Jones

13. Trevor Bayne

14. Kasey Kahne

15. Jimmie Johnson

16. Martin Truex Jr.

17. Kyle Larson

18. Aric Almirola

19. Paul Menard

20. Kevin Harvick

21. Cole Whitt

22. Ty Dillon

23. Danica Patrick

24. David Ragan

25. Ryan Blaney

26. Michael McDowell

27. Landon Cassill

28. Corey Lajoie

29. Gray Gaulding

30. Denny Hamlin

31. Reed Sorenson

32. Daniel Suarez

33. Timmy Hill

34. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

35. Matt DiBenedetto

36. Jeffrey Earnhardt

37. Kurt Busch

38. Jamie McMurray

Photo courtesy Getty Images