INDIANAPOLIS – Fresh tires and a spirited charge on the final restart allowed Brad Keselowski to storm to his second crown-jewel victory in as many weeks on Monday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, as he won the 25th annual Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard.
Keselowski, who took advantage of a late debris caution with 17 to go to pit for two fresh tires, charged from seventh in the final 12 laps to steal the win away from Denny Hamlin. He quickly picked his way into the top five and was running third when a final yellow flag waved with seven laps remaining, a hard crash between Landon Cassill and Jeffrey Earnhardt in turn three bunching the field for a three-lap dash.
On that final restart, outside front-row starter Clint Bowyer spun the tires and bottlenecked the top lane, while Hamlin and Keselowski dashed away to the top two spots entering turn one. Keselowski then laid in wait until turn one of the next lap, making his move to Hamlin’s inside as the two traded paint.
Hamlin eked out an advantage on the outside coming onto the backstretch with a lap and a half left, but Keselowski was not going to be denied. He charged into turn three and didn’t let up, eventually clearing Hamlin in turn four coming towards the white flag.
Once Keselowski was in clean air, there was no looking back. He powered away over the final two and a half miles to win by .904 of a second, while Erik Jones overhauled Hamlin for second in the end.
“I have to give credit where credit is due, because my crew chief Paul Wolfe made a heck of a call to pit there,” Keselowski said. “We pitted kind of late in that run, then the caution came out and we were eighth. He gave me the ball and I had to make a play. I was like, ‘dang, this is going to be tough.’
“We weren’t a dominant car by any means, but Paul and the guys executed an incredible race. I just had to do my job and here we are in victory lane at the Brickyard.”
Keselowski’s win in the rain-postponed race was his second in a row in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and the 26th of his career, but most importantly, it was team owner Roger Penske’s first Brickyard 400 win in a quarter-century of trying.
Team Penske had five runner-up finishes in the historic race before Monday’s triumphant moment.
“It feels good to give Roger Penske his first Cup win here at the Brickyard; it’s an incredible feeling,” Keselowski noted. “(To have) 499 wins for the team is great. We were hoping this would be 500 wins and the Brickyard, but we don’t care what number it is. It’s the Brickyard.”
After Bowyer and Matt Kenseth split the opening two stages, the final stage kicked off with 55 laps left and everyone in need of one pit stop to make it to the checkered flag. Though rookie William Byron led the field back to the green flag, it wasn’t even two corners before Bowyer was soaring around the outside to resume command out in front of the pack.
