Keselowski breaks long drought with dramatic Darlington win
Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images
DARLINGTON, S.C. — A combination of stubbornness and patience paid off handsomely for Brad Keselowski on Sunday at Darlington Raceway, where the driver of the No. 6 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford ended a 110-race winless streak with victory in the Goodyear 400.
Keselowski’s triumph, which came at the expense of hard-luck teammate Chris Buescher and pole winner Tyler Reddick, gave the Ford Dark Horse Mustang its first NASCAR Cup Series victory this season in 13 races and led to a heated exchange between Beuscher and Reddick on pit road after the fact.
It was also Keselowski’s first win as a principal in RFK Racing, his second at Darlington and the 36th of his career.
“What a heck of a day,” exulted Keselowski, who finished 1.214 seconds ahead of runner-up Ty Gibbs. “It’s Darlington, so whether it’s your first win, your last win, this is a really special track. The history of NASCAR, it’s as tough as it gets, and that battle at the end with my teammate and Tyler Reddick, we just laid it all out on the line, it was freaking awesome.
“I thought it couldn’t get much better than Kansas. It did today. That was awesome. I’m so glad you guys got to see that (addressed to the fans). That was incredible. Thanks for being here.”
Keselowski was stubborn in the way he raced Reddick after the final restart on Lap 261 of 293, aggressively staying beside the No. 45 Toyota and running him up the track in Turn 3.
For four straight laps, Keselowski and Reddick battled side-by-side, allowing Buescher to slip past into the lead at the start/finish line on Lap 264. Reddick cleared Keselowski shortly thereafter and took off in pursuit of Buescher.
That’s when Keselowski exercised patience as stayed within striking distance, waiting for the drama that unfolded ahead of him.
On Lap 284, Reddick’s ill-timed bid for the lead went awry, and his No. 45 Camry slid up the track into Buescher’s Ford, pinning it against the outside wall in Turn 4. Both cars were damaged and unable to maintain pace, and Keselowski charged into the lead on Lap 285.
Buescher, still smarting from last week’s loss to Kyle Larson at Kansas in the closest finish in Cup Series history (0.001 seconds), confronted Reddick on pit road after the drivers climbed from their cars.
“We got wrecked,” Buescher said later. “That one’s clear as day. Don’t need any cameras to tell us. I don’t know what to say. We’ve raced really clean through the years, tried to be really respectful about it, and we get used up.
“It (Reddick’s move) is just something that you know is not going to work. I’m just really pissed off about it right now. We certainly had a chance to win another one. I’m proud to have that speed. Just huge congratulations to Brad and the 6 bunch on their win. That’s awesome, but I wanted it for our group right here.”
Reddick took responsibility for the incident and punctuated his conversation with Buescher with the words “I know. I (screwed) up—I’m sorry.”
Reddick elaborated after he and Buescher separated.
“I completely understand where he is coming from,” Reddick said. “He was running the top, running his own race, running his own line to keep me at bay. I made a really aggressive move and was hoping I was going to clear him. When I realized I wasn’t going to, I tried to check up to not slide up into him, but, yeah, I wish I wouldn’t have done that.
“I completely understand why he is that mad. He did nothing wrong. Just trying to win the race, and to take myself out—that’s one thing—I can live with that, but just disappointed it played out the way that it did, and I took him out of the race as well.”
All but lost in the late-race drama was Gibbs’ career-best second-place finish. The driver of the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota also finished second in Stage 1 and third in Stage 2 behind respective stage winners Kyle Larson and Reddick.
Josh Berry finished third in his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford, followed by Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe. William Byron, Bubba Wallace, Alex Bowman, Justin Haley and Michael McDowell completed the top 10.
Hamlin led one lap during a cycle of green-flag pit stops in the final stage, extending his streak of consecutive races with at least one lap led to 17.
Larson (34th on Sunday after a late-race crash) leads the series standings by 30 points over Martin Truex Jr., who finished 25th after suffering alternator issues.
NASCAR Cup Series Race Number 13
Race Results for the Goodyear 400 - Sunday, May 12, 2024
Darlington Raceway - Darlington, SC - 1.366 - Mile Paved
Total Race Length - 293 Laps - 400.238 Miles
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Sunday, 5/12/2024 @ 06:35 PM Eastern
Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Stage 1 Pos Stage 2 Pos Pts Status Tms Laps Playoff Pts
1 2 6 Brad Keselowski Castrol Ford 293 3 2 57 Running 5 37 5
2 4 54 Ty Gibbs He Gets Us Toyota 293 2 3 52 Running 1 34
3 33 4 Josh Berry # Harrison's Ford 293 34 Running
4 7 11 Denny Hamlin Yahoo! Toyota 293 8 36 Running 1 1
5 13 14 Chase Briscoe Mahindra Tractors Ford 293 32 Running
6 5 24 William Byron Axalta Throwback Chevrolet 293 9 6 38 Running 1 2
7 8 23 Bubba Wallace McDonald's Toyota 293 10 9 33 Running 1 6
8 18 48 Alex Bowman Ally Throwback Chevrolet 293 29 Running
9 28 51 Justin Haley NC Fraternal Order of Police Ford 293 28 Running
10 16 34 Michael McDowell Long John Silver's Ford 293 27 Running
11 9 1 Ross Chastain Busch Light Throwback Chevrolet 293 10 27 Running
12 31 9 Chase Elliott UniFirst Throwback Chevrolet 293 25 Running
13 12 20 Christopher Bell DEWALT 100 Years Toyota 293 24 Running
14 36 10 Noah Gragson Overstock.com Ford 293 23 Running
15 15 38 Todd Gilliland gener8tor Ford 293 6 27 Running
16 24 7 Corey LaJoie Razzle Dazzle Chevrolet 293 21 Running
17 26 41 Ryan Preece United Rentals Ford 293 20 Running
18 34 15 Kaz Grala # N29 Capital Partners Ford 293 19 Running
19 30 43 Erik Jones AdventHealth Toyota 293 18 Running
20 25 2 Austin Cindric Freightliner Ford 293 17 Running
21 14 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 293 4 23 Running
22 35 21 Harrison Burton DEX Imaging Ford 293 15 Running
23 20 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Oscar Mayer/Artesano Bread Chevrolet 293 14 Running
24 19 99 Daniel Suarez Quaker State Chevrolet 293 13 Running
25 10 19 Martin Truex Jr. Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota 293 5 18 Running
26 21 77 Carson Hocevar # Premier Security/NLEOMF.org Chevrolet 293 11 Running 1 2
27 11 8 Kyle Busch zone Chevrolet 293 10 Running
28 23 3 Austin Dillon Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet 293 9 Running
29 32 16 Derek Kraus projectwyoming.com Chevrolet 292 8 Running
30 3 17 Chris Buescher Fifth Third Bank Ford 291 7 7 15 Running 1 21
31 22 42 John Hunter Nemechek Family Dollar Toyota 291 6 Running
32 1 45 Tyler Reddick MoneyLion Toyota 291 4 1 22 Running 4 174 1
33 29 31 Daniel Hemric Black's Tire Chevrolet 290 4 Running
34 6 5 Kyle Larson HendrickCars.com Throwback Chevrolet 252 1 5 19 Accident 1 15 1
35 27 71 Zane Smith # Focused Health Chevrolet 161 2 Accident
36 17 12 Ryan Blaney Menards/Maytag Ford 129 8 4 DVP 1 1
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 12 Mins, 30 Secs. Average Speed: 124.75 MPH Margin of Victory: 1.214 Seconds
Stage 1 Top 10: 5, 54, 6, 45, 19, 38, 17, 12, 24, 23
Stage 2 Top 10: 45, 6, 54, 22, 5, 24, 17, 11, 23, 1
Caution Flags: 6 for 38 laps; Laps: 92-98 (Stage 1 Conclusion [77]); 122-128 (#42 Spin Turn 4 [3]); 130-134 (#12, 17, 19 Incident Turn 2 [41]); 164-169 (#71 Incident Frontstretch [21]); 187-193 (Stage 2 Conclusion [42]); 255-260 (#5 Incident Turn 3 [47]).
Lead Changes: 16 among 10 drivers; T. Reddick 1-37; B. Wallace 38-43; R. Blaney 44; T. Gibbs 45-78; K. Larson 79-93; B. Keselowski 94; T. Reddick 95-225; B. Keselowski 226-237; W. Byron 238-239; D. Hamlin 240; C. Hocevar # 241-242; B. Keselowski 243-256; T. Reddick 257-261; B. Keselowski 262; T. Reddick 263; C. Buescher 264-284; B. Keselowski 285-293.
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
Next Race: May 19, 2024 - North Wilkesboro Speedway
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CURRENT STANDINGS
Darlington Raceway
Goodyear 400
UNOFFICIAL Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Sunday, 5/12/2024 @ 07:04 PM Eastern UNOFFICIAL
Rank Driver Car Starts GL Points Ldr Nxt Race Wins Stage Wins Playoff Pts
1. Kyle Larson 5 13 0 486 0 0 2 7 17
2. Martin Truex Jr. 19 13 0 456 -30 30 0 2 2
3. Denny Hamlin 11 13 -1 447 -39 9 3 3 18
4. Chase Elliott 9 13 1 437 -49 10 1 1 6
5. William Byron 24 13 -2 400 -86 37 3 0 15
6. Tyler Reddick 45 13 1 396 -90 4 1 2 7
7. Ty Gibbs 54 13 -1 390 -96 6 0 2 2
8. Ryan Blaney 12 13 2 371 -115 19 0 1 1
9. Alex Bowman 48 13 0 365 -121 6 0 0 0
10. Ross Chastain 1 13 0 358 -128 7 0 1 1
11. Brad Keselowski 6 13 -4 344 -142 14 1 0 5
12. Chris Buescher 17 13 1 331 -155 13 0 1 1
13. Kyle Busch 8 13 1 324 -162 7 0 0 0
14. Chase Briscoe 14 13 0 322 -164 2 0 0 0
15. Christopher Bell 20 13 2 320 -166 2 1 2 7
16. Bubba Wallace 23 13 0 316 -170 4 0 0 0
17. Joey Logano 22 13 0 292 -194 24 0 1 1
18. Daniel Suarez 99 13 0 263 -223 29 1 0 5
19. Noah Gragson 10 13 6 239 -247 24 0 0 0
20. Austin Cindric 2 13 -2 232 -254 7 0 2 2
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