Race report

NASCAR Cup Charlotte

Coke 600: Brad Keselowski snags Stage 2 win from Bowman

Brad Keselowski passed Alex Bowman with two of 100 laps remaining and held on to take the Stage 2 victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Nick DeGroot

Published: May 27, 2019, 1:00 AM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Brad Keselowski, Team Penske, Ford Mustang Miller Lite

Keselowski restarted 14th with seven laps remaining in the stage on new tires and diced his way through the field to claim his second consecutive stage in Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600.

Kyle Busch finished third, Chase Elliott was fourth and William Byron ended up fifth.

Following the break between Stages 1 and 2, several cars elected not to pit, including Keselowski, who remained the leader when the race returned to green on Lap 108.

Denny Hamlin powered to the lead on the restart as Kevin Harvick followed to take second.

By Lap 125, Hamlin had moved out to a 1.2-second lead over Harvick. Keselowski was third, Jimmie Johnson fourth and Elliott ran fifth.

On Lap 127, Chris Buescher slammed into the Turn 4 wall to bring out a caution. Buescher had tagged the wall early in the stage.

Most of the lead-lap cars elected to pit and Keselowski was the first off pit road. On the restart on Lap 132, Elliott – the first of seven who stayed out – led the way followed by Martin Truex Jr. and Joey Logano.

Clint Bowyer was penalized for speeding on pit road and had to restart the race from the rear of the field.

Ryan Blaney ran down Elliott on the backstretch to take the lead for the first time exiting Turn 4 on the restart lap.

One lap later, Keselowski got around Blaney to retake the lead.

With 60 laps remaining in the second stage, Keselowski maintained a small lead over Harvick. Kyle Busch ran third, Hamlin fourth and Byron was fifth.

After 150 laps, Logano made a green-flag pit stop. He was running 25th and struggled much of the race.

Daniel Suarez followed down pit road on Lap 157 as many of the drivers who stayed out between Stages 1 and 2 elected to make stops under green.

Hamlin had a tire go down on Lap 162 which sent his No. 11 Toyota into the Turn 2 wall and brought out a caution.

All of the lead-lap cars elected to pit under the caution with Byron the first off pit road. On the restart on Lap 167, Byron was followed by Keselowski, Harvick and Johnson.

Keselowski made his way around Byron off Turn 4 to retake the lead on Lap 168.

With 20 laps remaining in the second stage, Keselowski maintained a small lead over Blaney. Bowman was third, Byron fourth and Elliott ran fifth.

On Lap 189, Ryan Preece hit the Turn 2 wall to bring out another caution. Many of the lead-lap cars elected to pit but Bowman was among those who stayed out and took over the lead.

On the restart on Lap 194, Bowman was followed by Byron, Larson, Kurt Busch and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Keselowski, who was first off pit road among those who pit, lined up 14th.

With four laps remaining in the stage, Keselowski had sliced through the field up to the runner-up position.

With two laps to go, Keselowski went inside of Bowman entering Turn 1 to return to the top spot.

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Coke 600: Brad Keselowski wins hectic first stage

Next article Coke 600: Martin Truex Jr. rebounds to take Stage 3 win

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Why aerodynamics will become "even more important" under 2027 MotoGP regulations

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP

Qatar GP

42 min

Why aerodynamics will become "even more important" under 2027 MotoGP regulations

Sebastien Bourdais hopes latest WEC success will remind teams of his value

WEC

WEC WEC

Monza

2 h

Sebastien Bourdais hopes latest WEC success will remind teams of his value

"It's horribly painful" - Williams drops 2026 car upgrades to benefit 2027

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

3 h

"It's horribly painful" - Williams drops 2026 car upgrades to benefit 2027

The lowdown on this year’s FIA F3 title protagonists

FIA F3

The lowdown on this year’s FIA F3 title protagonists

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts