Brad Keselowski took a surprise win in the AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway as fuel conservation proved critical in the closing stages.
On what has traditionally been one of his worst tracks, Keselowski beat Jeff Gordon to the chequered flag by just 1.08s as the latter charged home having elected to top off his fuel with 81 of the 400 laps to go.
Mark Martin ran the same strategy as Gordon to wind up third, while Keselowski’s title rival Jimmie Johnson began the final stint with the lead but fell to fourth as he was forced to conserve greatly in order to see the chequered flag.
Carl Edwards and Martin Truex filled fifth and sixth respectively ahead of Denny Hamlin, who led the race before pitting for fuel with nine laps to go.
Ninth for Clint Bowyer ensured eight Chase drivers would come home in the top 10.
It was a tough afternoon for Roush Fenway’s Chase contenders however, as Greg Biffle finished three laps down in 16th after an unscheduled pitstop for a loose tyre, and Matt Kenseth endured a mechanical failure for the second time in three races, ensuring a 35th place classification.
Australian Marcos Ambrose finished 18th after early handling issues were compounded by a series of ill-timed cautions.
“It was hard work today, we were behind the eight-ball to start with, and even though we improved throughout the race, it was difficult to make up the lost ground,” he said afterward.
“The timing of the cautions worked against us for the most part, and there was a fifty-fifty call near the end that didn’t go our way.”
The race results see Keselowski lead the standings by five points from Johnson with seven races remaining. Ambrose continues to sit 17th.
See below for the full race result
|
FIN |
ST |
DRIVER |
MAKE |
SPONSOR |
PTS/BNS |
LAPS |
STATUS |
| 1 | 10 | Brad Keselowski | Dodge | Miller Lite | 47/1 | 400 | Running |
| 2 | 7 | Jeff Gordon | Chevrolet | Drive to End Hunger | 43/1 | 400 | Running |
| 3 | 26 | Mark Martin | Toyota | Aaron’s 2000th Store / Bronx, NY | 41/0 | 400 | Running |
| 4 | 11 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | Lowe’s / Kobalt Tools | 41/1 | 400 | Running |
| 5 | 15 | Carl Edwards | Ford | Fastenal | 39/0 | 400 | Running |
| 6 | 3 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | NAPA Auto Parts | 38/0 | 400 | Running |
| 7 | 5 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | Interstate Batteries | 39/2 | 400 | Running |
| 8 | 1 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | FedEx Office | 37/1 | 400 | Running |
| 9 | 2 | Clint Bowyer | Toyota | 5-hour Energy | 36/1 | 400 | Running |
| 10 | 14 | Joey Logano | Toyota | The Home Depot | 34/0 | 400 | Running |
| 11 | 25 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Chevrolet | National Guard / Mountain Dew | 33/0 | 398 | Running |
| 12 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Ford | Cargill | 0 | 397 | Running |
| 13 | 13 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | Budweiser | 31/0 | 397 | Running |
| 14 | 16 | Bobby Labonte | Toyota | Kingsford | 30/0 | 397 | Running |
| 15 | 9 | Kasey Kahne | Chevrolet | Farmers Insurance | 29/0 | 397 | Running |
| 16 | 6 | Greg Biffle | Ford | Scotch-Brite | 28/0 | 397 | Running |
| 17 | 18 | Regan Smith | Chevrolet | Furniture Row / Farm American | 27/0 | 397 | Running |
| 18 | 27 | Marcos Ambrose | Ford | Dewalt | 26/0 | 397 | Running |
| 19 | 21 | Aric Almirola | Ford | Super 8 | 25/0 | 397 | Running |
| 20 | 24 | Tony Stewart | Chevrolet | Office Depot / Mobil 1 | 24/0 | 397 | Running |
| 21 | 8 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | U.S. Army | 23/0 | 397 | Running |
| 22 | 19 | Paul Menard | Chevrolet | Menards / CertainTeed | 22/0 | 396 | Running |
| 23 | 28 | Kurt Busch | Chevrolet | Phoenix Construction | 21/0 | 395 | Running |
| 24 | 20 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | McDonald’s | 20/0 | 394 | Running |
| 25 | 4 | Sam Hornish Jr. | Dodge | Shell / Pennzoil | 0 | 393 | Running |
| 26 | 35 | Juan Montoya | Chevrolet | Target | 18/0 | 393 | Running |
| 27 | 39 | Jeff Burton | Chevrolet | Caterpillar | 17/0 | 393 | Running |
| 28 | 38 | Danica Patrick | Chevrolet | GoDaddy.com | 0 | 393 | Running |
| 29 | 33 | Travis Kvapil | Toyota | Burger King / Dr Pepper | 15/0 | 392 | Running |
| 30 | 31 | David Ragan | Ford | Long John Silver’s | 14/0 | 392 | Running |
| 31 | 30 | Casey Mears | Ford | GEICO | 13/0 | 391 | Running |
| 32 | 42 | David Gilliland | Ford | Taco Bell | 12/0 | 391 | Running |
| 33 | 41 | T.J. Bell | Ford | Greensmoke | 0 | 390 | Running |
| 34 | 40 | J.J. Yeley | Chevrolet | Drive Sober, Drive Alive DE | 10/0 | 388 | Running |
| 35 | 12 | Matt Kenseth | Ford | Ford EcoBoost | 9/0 | 371 | Running |
| 36 | 22 | Landon Cassill | Toyota | Burger King / Dr Pepper | 8/0 | 354 | Running |
| 37 | 23 | Josh Wise * | Ford | MDS Transport | 7/0 | 92 | In Pit |
| 38 | 32 | Michael McDowell | Ford | Phil Parsons Racing | 6/0 | 51 | In Pit |
| 39 | 37 | Joe Nemechek | Toyota | AM / FM Energy | 0 | 48 | Out of Race |
| 40 | 34 | Scott Speed | Ford | Jordan Truck Sales | 4/0 | 32 | In Pit |
| 41 | 43 | Dave Blaney | Chevrolet | MaxQworkforce.com | 3/0 | 29 | In Pit |
| 42 | 36 | Scott Riggs | Chevrolet | North Texas Pipe | 2/0 | 26 | In Pit |
| 43 | 29 | Reed Sorenson | Chevrolet | Plinker Tactical | 0 | 18 | In Pit |
See below for the updated points standings
|
RANK |
DRIVER |
POINTS |
| 1 | Brad Keselowski | 2142 |
| 2 | Jimmie Johnson | 2137 |
| 3 | Denny Hamlin | 2126 |
| 4 | Clint Bowyer | 2117 |
| 5 | Tony Stewart | 2110 |
| 6 | Kasey Kahne | 2110 |
| 7 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | 2103 |
| 8 | Martin Truex Jr. | 2100 |
| 9 | Kevin Harvick | 2096 |
| 10 | Jeff Gordon | 2094 |
| 11 | Greg Biffle | 2091 |
| 12 | Matt Kenseth | 2070 |
| 13 | Kyle Busch | 870 |
| 14 | Carl Edwards | 836 |
| 15 | Ryan Newman | 830 |
| 16 | Paul Menard | 814 |
| 17 | Marcos Ambrose | 798 |
| 18 | Joey Logano | 785 |
| 19 | Jeff Burton | 713 |
| 20 | Jamie McMurray | 702 |
| 21 | Juan Montoya | 669 |
| 22 | Aric Almirola | 661 |
| 23 | Regan Smith | 631 |
| 24 | Bobby Labonte | 629 |
| 25 | Mark Martin | 563 |
| 26 | Kurt Busch | 551 |
| 27 | Casey Mears | 492 |
| 28 | David Gilliland | 491 |
| 29 | David Ragan | 489 |
| 30 | Travis Kvapil | 475 |
| 31 | Landon Cassill | 461 |
| 32 | AJ Allmendinger | 400 |
| 33 | Dave Blaney | 352 |
| 34 | David Reutimann | 330 |
| 35 | Brian Vickers | 213 |
| 36 | David Stremme | 198 |
| 37 | J.J. Yeley | 151 |
| 38 | Michael McDowell | 140 |
| 39 | Josh Wise* | 122 |
| 40 | Ken Schrader | 111 |
| 41 | Stephen Leicht* | 107 |
| 42 | Scott Speed | 89 |
| 43 | Michael Waltrip | 75 |
| 44 | Tony Raines | 71 |
| 45 | Terry Labonte | 66 |
| 46 | Scott Riggs | 52 |
| 47 | Brendan Gaughan | 50 |
| 48 | Boris Said | 34 |
| 49 | Bill Elliott | 14 |
| 50 | Hermie Sadler | 13 |
| 51 | Mike Olsen | 11 |
| 52 | Robby Gordon | 11 |
| 53 | Mike Skinner | 10 |
| 54 | Tomy Drissi | 6 |
| 55 | Stacy Compton | 5 |
| 56 | David Mayhew | 4 |
| 57 | Kelly Bires | 3 |
| 58 | Patrick Long | 2 |
| 59 | Sam Hornish Jr. | 0 |
| 60 | Trevor Bayne | 0 |
| 61 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 0 |
| 62 | Austin Dillon | 0 |
| 63 | Mike Bliss | 0 |
| 64 | Danica Patrick | 0 |
| 65 | Elliott Sadler | 0 |
| 66 | Robert Richardson Jr. | 0 |
| 67 | Reed Sorenson | 0 |
| 68 | Joe Nemechek | 0 |
| 69 | T.J. Bell | 0 |
| 70 | Jason White | 0 |
| 71 | Jason Leffler | 0 |
| 72 | Cole Whitt | 0 |
| 73 | Chris Cook | 0 |
| 74 | Timmy Hill | 0 |
| 75 | Tim Andrews | 0 |
| 76 | Brian Simo | 0 |
| 77 | Mark Green | 0 |
| 78 | Jeff Green | 0 |
| 79 | Mike Wallace | 0 |
| 80 | Kenny Wallace | 0 |
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