Ford Performance’s Brad Keselowski made a last-lap pass on Team Chevy’s Kurt Busch to win the GEICO 500 at Talladega Sunday, the Team Penske driver’s fourth win at the 2.66-mile track and 19th of his career.
With just two laps to go, Keselowski found himself leading the 188-lap race and chose the top lane for the restart. When the green flag came out, he got a push from Chevy’s Jamie McMurray behind him and was able to pull out ahead of Busch to take the win. However just as the No. 2 crossed the finish line a large portion of the field wrecked behind him – one of the day’s many multi-car crashes.
The race saw a total of 10 caution periods, with the biggest coming on Lap 161. Kurt Busch was running behind Hendrick’s Jimmie Johnson when he accidentally tapped his bumper, sending the No. 48 Chevrolet into a spin that took out the No. 48 of Paul Menard and 18 other cars.
No less than 20 laps later on Lap 181, a 12-car wreck sent Matt Kenseth sliding on his roof and put Danica Patrick hard into the wall. It was the second time in the day a car had gone upside down, with rookie Chris Buescher’s Ford tumbling down the track in a spectacular Lap 96 wreck that also involved six other cars.
Earlier in the day, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the No. 88 Chevrolet crashed out after Earnhardt lost control and traffic and took out his Hendrick teammate Kasey Kahne. Jr. returned to the track following some quick repairs, however he was put in the wall by Carl Edwards’ after his Toyota blew a tire, ending his day.
Finishing behind Keselowski was Kyle Busch in the No. 18 Toyota in second and Austin Dillon in the No. 3 Chevrolet in third. A gaggle of Chevys landed in the top ten, with McMurray, Chase Elliott, Ty Dillon (who was filling in for Tony Stewart), Clint Bowyer and Kurt Busch finishing fourth, fifth, sixth seventh and eighth, respectively.
Click here for full results from Talladega and here for a full schedule for next weekend’s NASCAR festivities at Kansas Motor Speedway.
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