Keselowski Dominates in Martinsville Victory

Originally written for CLNS Media.

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

Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

Keselowski dominated throughout the afternoon, and led a race-high 446 of 500 laps.  Throughout the race, Keselowski was followed by Chase Elliott, but Keselowski was able to hold off NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver over the final run to pick up the victory.

Keselowski said his pit crew helped keep him up front during some of the most important pit stops throughout the day.

“That’s what this team does,” Keselowski said.  “They never give up and I’m very proud of them.  Just great for our team; awesome execution on pit road.”

Keselowski led all but 54 laps, and he said he studied how Elliott drove the track when he found himself behind the younger driver.  Keselowski said he used that knowledge to hold Elliott off in the closing laps.

“I don’t know if we were as good as [Elliott],” Keselowski said.  “He passed me there with about 200 to go, and I watched him and studied him.  Kind of broke it down to where I knew what I had to do to hold him off with that fast of a car.”

Elliott started to run Keselowski down with just a handful of laps remaining, but ran out of time to make a move.  Elliott said he wished he’d changed his line sooner to catch Keselowski.

“I tried to move up there at the end, I don’t know if I could have got to him,” Elliott said.  “I tried to get him there in Turn 3, and was pretty well content on moving him out of the way.”

Unofficial results:

1. Brad Keselowski

2. Chase Elliott

3. Kyle Busch

4. Ryan Blaney

5. Denny Hamlin

6. Kevin Harvick

7. Clint Bowyer

8. Martin Truex Jr.

9. Aric Almirola

10. Daniel Suarez

11. Austin Dillon

12. Kurt Busch

13. Ty Dillon

14. Alex Bowman

15. Paul Menard

16. Ryan Preece

17. Bubba Wallace

18. Kyle Larson

19. Joey Logano

20. Matt DiBenedetto

21. Chris Buescher

22. William Byron

23. Ryan Newman

24. Jimmie Johnson

25. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

26. David Ragan

27. Daniel Hemric

28. Landon Cassill

29. Matt Tifft

30. Erik Jones

31. Michael McDowell

32. DJ Kennington

33. Corey LaJoie

34. Ross Chastain

35. Jeb Burton

36. Cody Ware

Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images