Brad Keselowski wins NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway
Brad Keselowski went to the high side of the track with seven laps to go for the lead and won his second career race at Kansas Speedway on Saturday night.
Keselowski took the lead from Alex Bowman with his bold move in the No. 2 Ford, and after a caution, held off Erik Jones and Bowman for an overtime win in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Digital Ally 400 on Saturday night.
The win was Keselowski’s third of the season for Team Penske and second at Kansas Speedway, where the 2012 Cup champion won in 2013. It was his 30th career win.
Jones finished second in the Joe Gibbs No. 20 Toyota, and Bowman, a runner-up in the previous two races at Dover and Talladega was third. Chase Elliott was fourth, and Clint Bowyer of Emporia was fifth, his best finish at Kansas in 12 years.
Pole-sitter Kevin Harvick had dominated the race, having led 105 of the first 162 laps before he started having issues with the right front of his No. 4 Ford and pitted tires and an adjustment.
That turned the race into a battle between Bowman and Kyle Busch, but Busch was sent to the back of the field for going through too many pit stalls while making a stop.
Elliott, winner of the 2018 fall race at Kansas, was second to Harvick in the first stage, followed by Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Kyle Larson, Kurt Busch, Chris Buescher, Keselowski, Bowyer, Jones and Joey Logano.
Bowyer, the crowd favorite from Emporia, started on the front row alongside teammate Harvick after another SHR teammate Aric Almirola was bounced to the rear of the field for failing pre-race inspection. Bowyer, winless in his 21 starts at Kansas Speedway, stayed on Harvick’s rear bumper early, and led 12 laps in the first stage before Harvick regained the lead by gaining 10 places on a re-start.
Elliott ducked under and past Harvick with 15 laps to go in the second stage and won the stage, just as he won the second stage en route to victory at Talladega two weeks ago.
Before the race even started, 11 cars, including five of the eight fastest qualifiers, failed pre-race inspection and were sent to the rear of the field. And three cars — those of reigning Cup champion Logano; last October race winner Elliott and Larson — failed a second time, and not only had to start from the rear, but lost a crew member for the race.
The cars of Almirola, who had qualified second and Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Daniel Suarez (fourth); 2017 two-time Kansas winner Martin Truex Jr. (sixth); Ty Dillon (15th); Michael McDowell (23) Landon Cassill (25th), Joey Gase (38th) and Timmy Hill (39th) all failed the initial inspections as teams grappled with the new racing package implemented this season for 1.5 mile tracks.
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This story was originally published May 11, 2019 at 10:03 PM.