May 31, 2020 | By Lee Spencer

After Elliott wrecks Logano, Keselowski steals a win a Bristol

After Joey Logano and Chase Elliott wrecked while battling for the lead on a five-lap dash to the finish, Brad Keselowski—with two fresh tires on his No. 2 Team Penske Ford—stole victory in Sunday’s Supermarket Heroes 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

With two laps left, Elliott’s Chevrolet slid up into Logano’s Ford as the cars sped into Turn 3. Keselowski charged past on the inside lane, with Clint Bowyer following into second place and Jimmie Johnson into third.

In a race that featured 17 cautions for 102 laps, Keselowski, who started on the pole, crossed the finish line .471 seconds ahead of Bowyer, who posted his best result since running second at Texas on March 31, 2019.

"Oh, my goodness, I think everybody on this Discount Tire Mustang team is going to go to Vegas,” said Keselowski, who won for the second time this season, the third time at Bristol and the 32nd time in his career. “Things have been going our way, from the luck of the draw on the qualifying to the last few laps there.

“…I could see Joey and Chase. They were really racy there. I didn’t know what was going to happen, but I knew if I just kept my eyes open, something good might happen, and, sure enough, it did… This was a never-give-up effort, and that’s what we’re becoming as a team.”

Logano and Elliott finished 21st and 22nd, respectively, the last two drivers on the lead lap.

“He wrecked me,” Logano said. “He got loose underneath me. The thing that’s frustrating is, afterwards, a simple apology, like, ‘Hey, man, my bad…’ I had to force an apology, which to me is just childish…

“We had a shot to win it. That’s all you can ask for. Passed him clean. It’s hard racing at the end—I get that—hard racing. But, golly, be a man and take the hit when you’re done with it.”

Elliott didn’t debate the cause of the accident.

“I'll certainly take the blame,” said Elliott, who was trying for his second victory in a row after winning Thursday night at Charlotte. “I got loose and got up into him. I felt like that was my shot. He was really good on the short runs. I had to keep him behind me to win the race. I hate that we both wrecked, but you can't go back in time now.”

Kyle Busch finished fourth, followed by Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Erik Jones. Austin Dillon, Kurt Busch, William Byron, rookie Christopher Bell and Bubba Wallace came home sixth through 10th, respectively.

Kevin Harvick sustained damage to his No. 4 Ford during contact with Jones on Lap 433. Harvick finished 11th, ending a streak of 13 straight top-10 results, dating to last year.

A freak accident on Lap 198 eliminated the strong entry of Ryan Blaney, who had led 60 laps to that point in his No. 12 Team Penske Ford. Running second at the time, Blaney was racing in the high line while chasing Keselowski for the lead and spun.

Unable to avoid the stopped car, Ty Dillon ripped the nose off Blaney’s Mustang, damaging his own No. 13 Chevrolet beyond repair in the process.

“I didn’t think I was that high and all of a sudden I hit a slick spot,” Blaney said after leaving the infield care center. “I was way high, and that’s obviously not where I wanted to be, but I didn’t think I was that high getting in there. It might have just been trying to get too much and got in the marbles and spun out. 

“I thought we were going to be OK, and then we got destroyed about six seconds later, so that’s just Bristol and a part of Bristol. I probably shouldn’t have been pushing that hard, but  (I was) trying to get back to the lead.  I thought we found some speed up there, just a mistake on my part.”

Though two cars were destroyed, that wreck was small change when compared with the multicar pileup that followed on Lap 229. Matt Kenseth’s Chevrolet twitched loose, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. slowed slightly behind him. A tap from Jimmie Johnson’s Camaro sent Stenhouse’s Ford spinning toward the inside wall.

Stenhouse’s car subsequently shot up the track, pinching Kurt Busch’s Chevrolet into the outside wall and collecting the cars of Alex Bowman, Tyler Reddick and Cole Custer, knocking all three out of the race.

“We just got crashed,” said Stenhouse, who retired from the race in 34th place, three days after finishing fourth at Charlotte. “Our Kroger Camaro was just so good. Two weeks in a row, I feel like, we had one of the best cars I’ve had at that given race track. We were just racing hard. The No. 42 (Kenseth) had to check-up and the No. 48 (Johnson) just ran into our left rear and spun us. 

“It was a bummer. I felt like we had a really good shot at racing them for the win. We were getting it dialed in there. Starting on the inside was a little tricky on re-starts in trying to get yourself up, and we were starting to get some momentum back to the top five there and just got crashed. He about got us last week. He got us this week. But it’s just part of it. It’s short-track racing. Hopefully, our guys bring another good car to Atlanta next weekend, and we’ll go get ‘em.”