Keselowski wins carnage-filled slugfest at Talladega

But after the smoke cleared at Talladega Superspeedway, Brad Keselowski was the fittest of those that survived. 

“This is one of the best races we’ve ever had at Talladega,” said Keselowski after his fourth win on the 2.66-mile.  “It just all came together. If you can stay up front, and you’ve got a great shot of not getting wrecked.  

“But this No. 2, Daytona didn’t go the way we wanted it to go. We thought we were gonna be better than that, but we just didn’t show the speed in the 500 and the guys went to work and they brought me a really strong care here for Talladega. I’m so proud of everybody at Team Penske.  To be back in Victory Lane with two wins this year, and we feel like we can get a lot more.  We’re growing as s team.  We made a lot of changes at Team Penske and this feels really good, really good.” 

Keselowski’s victory at Talladega was his 19th career win. He moved from ninth to seventh in the standings.

Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon, polesitter Chase Elliott and Jamie McMurray rounded out the top-five finishers. 

After 187 laps, only 21 cars remained on the lead lap but there were fewer when the No. 2 Ford actually crossed the line after Cole Whitt turned Kevin Harvick coming to the flag and launched the No. 4 Chevy into the fence. AJ Allmendinger and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. were also involved in the last lap wreck. 

Mother Nature certainly played head games with the field of the Geico 500. Despite a threat of rain, it never came. However, the race was slowed by 10 cautions for 40 laps — seven involving contact.

Dale Jr. loses it, Buescher rolls

Dale Earnhardt Jr. lost control of the No. 88 Chevy to trigger the first wreck on Lap 50. Ten laps later, Casey Mears was collected in a wreck involving Michael Waltrip and Aric Almirola. The first  accident for the highlight reel occurred on Lap 96 after Michael Annett punted Chris Buescher, who rolled down the backstretch. Seven cars were involved in that wreck including Austin Dillon, who was also involved in a second wreck, later applauded NASCAR for its safety initiative. 

“I went flying last year at Daytona, and that's not fun,” Dillon said. “For guys that haven't done it, it's just not a fun thing to be a part of. I don't know how to fix it personally. I know NASCAR will put their efforts towards fixing it. I know they will. They've made the car safer. That's the reason why we're walking away from these crashes.  I think as a group, all of us want it to be where we're not leaving the ground.            

“We'll get some smart people on it.  I have total faith in NASCAR that they'll do their job and work on that.  But, man, wild day.” 

Although Carl Edwards led the points entering the race, he cut a tire on Lap 110 — to sideline himself and Earnhardt, who had returned to the race. The hits kept on coming with 28 laps remaining, when Kurt Busch bumped drafted Jimmie Johnson into Paul Menard. 

“C’mon Kurt, how far are you going to push me,” Johnson said over the radio. The No. 48 team was able to repair the car and Johnson finished 22nd, six laps down but some of the other 20 drivers involved in the incident weren’t as lucky. 

Kenseth goes upside down

On Lap 180, Clint Bowyer triggered a wreck by hitting Michael McDowell that caused a chain reaction on the backstretch. McDowell turned Danica Patrick who sent Matt Kenseth flipping into the inside wall. Kenseth led 39 laps before the wreck that involved 12 cars. 

Keselowski led the field to green for the final restart with three laps remaining. While Kurt Busch made a charge on the restart for the lead, Keselowski came back and extended his advantage over Kyle Busch be 0.111-seconds at the end. 

“The last three or four restarts before that the high lane had went and as the leader a lot of it is out of your control,” Keselowski said. “You need the cars behind you to push and a couple of them they did and a couple they didn’t. That’s just part of racing and there was nobody at fault with that. We actually lost the lead and got a better run.  

“Jamie McMurray behind me gave me a great push and then Kyle Busch gave me a push that was big to clear the 41 and without those two I couldn’t have made it to the front, so thank you to them. It’s Talladega. This is my fourth win here. I never thought I’d win at Talladega four times and I’m super-pumped. This is awesome.”

Despite finishing 15th, Harvick assumed the point lead. He has a nine-point advantage over Kyle Busch.

 "Got lucky, got out of here in one piece,” Kyle Busch said. "Second is not where we want to be. Second hurts the most. But upside down is no fun either."