Brad Keselowski has moved into the points lead after taking his Penske Dodge to victory in the first Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Chicagoland Speedway.
Keselowski stole the lead from pole-sitter and five-time champion Jimmie Johnson in the final round of green flag pitstops – exiting the pitlane and pulling directly in front of the Hendrick Chevrolet.
With NASCAR declaring the decisive manoeuvre legal, Keselowski pulled away over the final stint to score his fourth victory of the season.
Johnson hung on for second and now sits three points behind Keselowski in second in the standings, while the race’s top five was rounded out by Kasey Kahne, Kyle Busch and Ryan Newman.
Tony Stewart secured just his second top 10 finish in the last six races with sixth place, while other Chase contenders to have strong runs were Dale Earnhardt Jr (eighth), Martin Truex Jr (ninth) and Clint Bowyer (10th).
Matt Kenseth saw his Chase chances take a hit with a late shock absorber problem leading to an 18th placed result.
The biggest drama of the day, however, was to befall Jeff Gordon, who crashed out after suffering a stuck throttle. Classified 35th, the second Chase Wildcard holder is now a full 47 behind Keselowski in the standings.
It was a tough night too for Australian Marcos Ambrose, who finished two laps down in 27th after suffering engine problems.
“I’m not sure what was going wrong with the car, but we tried all of the things we could to get back up to pace,” he saw afterward. “It’s rare to have an issue with these cars.”
See below for the full race result
|
FIN |
ST |
DRIVER |
MAKE |
SPONSOR |
PTS/BNS |
LAPS |
STATUS |
| 1 | 13 | Brad Keselowski | Dodge | Miller Lite | 47/4 | 267 | Running |
| 2 | 1 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | Lowe’s / Kobalt Tools | 44/2 | 267 | Running |
| 3 | 6 | Kasey Kahne | Chevrolet | Farmers Insurance | 41/0 | 267 | Running |
| 4 | 21 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | Wrigley | 40/0 | 267 | Running |
| 5 | 20 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | Gene Haas Foundation Workshops For Warriors | 39/0 | 267 | Running |
| 6 | 29 | Tony Stewart | Chevrolet | Office Depot / Mobil 1 | 39/1 | 267 | Running |
| 7 | 10 | Joey Logano | Toyota | Dollar General | 37/0 | 267 | Running |
| 8 | 4 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Chevrolet | AMP Energy / 7-Eleven / National Guard | 36/0 | 267 | Running |
| 9 | 18 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | NAPA Auto Parts | 35/0 | 267 | Running |
| 10 | 9 | Clint Bowyer | Toyota | 5-hour Energy | 35/1 | 267 | Running |
| 11 | 16 | Sam Hornish Jr. | Dodge | Shell / Pennzoil | 0 | 267 | Running |
| 12 | 35 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | Budweiser Designate a Driver | 32/0 | 267 | Running |
| 13 | 22 | Greg Biffle | Ford | Scotch Blue | 31/0 | 267 | Running |
| 14 | 15 | Mark Martin | Toyota | LG Partner of the Year / Aaron’s | 30/0 | 267 | Running |
| 15 | 11 | Paul Menard | Chevrolet | Menards / Libman | 29/0 | 267 | Running |
| 16 | 8 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | FedEx Ground | 29/1 | 267 | Running |
| 17 | 2 | Aric Almirola | Ford | Farmland | 28/1 | 267 | Running |
| 18 | 3 | Matt Kenseth | Ford | Best Buy | 27/1 | 267 | Running |
| 19 | 5 | Carl Edwards | Ford | Fastenal | 25/0 | 267 | Running |
| 20 | 14 | Trevor Bayne | Ford | Good Sam Club / Camping World | 0 | 267 | Running |
| 21 | 12 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | McDonald’s | 24/1 | 267 | Running |
| 22 | 37 | David Ragan | Ford | Distraction.gov | 23/1 | 267 | Running |
| 23 | 28 | Juan Montoya | Chevrolet | Target | 21/0 | 265 | Running |
| 24 | 32 | Jeff Burton | Chevrolet | Caterpillar | 20/0 | 265 | Running |
| 25 | 41 | Danica Patrick | Chevrolet | GoDaddy.com | 0 | 265 | Running |
| 26 | 23 | Bobby Labonte | Toyota | Bubba Burgers | 18/0 | 264 | Running |
| 27 | 17 | Marcos Ambrose | Ford | Stanley | 17/0 | 263 | Running |
| 28 | 40 | David Gilliland | Ford | 1-800LoanMart | 16/0 | 263 | Running |
| 29 | 26 | Landon Cassill | Toyota | Burger King | 15/0 | 262 | Running |
| 30 | 39 | T.J. Bell | Ford | U.S. Chrome | 0 | 261 | Running |
| 31 | 38 | Travis Kvapil | Toyota | Burger King / Dr Pepper | 13/0 | 259 | Running |
| 32 | 30 | Kurt Busch | Chevrolet | Phoenix Construction | 12/0 | 245 | Running |
| 33 | 42 | Dave Blaney | Chevrolet | Tommy Baldwin Racing | 11/0 | 199 | Engine |
| 34 | 7 | Regan Smith | Chevrolet | Furniture Row / Farm American | 10/0 | 197 | Engine |
| 35 | 19 | Jeff Gordon | Chevrolet | DuPont | 9/0 | 190 | Accident |
| 36 | 27 | Casey Mears | Ford | GEICO | 8/0 | 146 | Accident |
| 37 | 36 | Cole Whitt | Chevrolet | Little Joes Autos.com | 0 | 70 | Fuel Pressure |
| 38 | 43 | Josh Wise * | Ford | MDS Transport | 6/0 | 66 | Vibration |
| 39 | 31 | David Stremme | Toyota | Inception Motorsports | 5/0 | 60 | Transmission |
| 40 | 33 | Joe Nemechek | Toyota | AM / FM Energy | 0 | 52 | Vibration |
| 41 | 25 | Scott Speed | Ford | Jordan Truck Sales | 3/0 | 49 | Susp. |
| 42 | 34 | Mike Bliss | Toyota | Plinker Tactical | 0 | 41 | Brakes |
| 43 | 24 | Michael McDowell | Ford | Phil Parsons Racing | 1/0 | 38 | Rear Gear |
See below for the updated points standings
|
RANK |
DRIVER |
BEHIND |
| 1 | Brad Keselowski | Leader |
| 2 | Jimmie Johnson | -3 |
| 3 | Tony Stewart | -8 |
| 4 | Denny Hamlin | -15 |
| 5 | Kasey Kahne | -15 |
| 6 | Clint Bowyer | -15 |
| 7 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | -17 |
| 8 | Greg Biffle | -19 |
| 9 | Martin Truex Jr. | -21 |
| 10 | Kevin Harvick | -24 |
| 11 | Matt Kenseth | -26 |
| 12 | Jeff Gordon | -47 |
| 13 | Kyle Busch | -1242 |
| 14 | Ryan Newman | -1283 |
| 15 | Carl Edwards | -1284 |
| 16 | Paul Menard | -1296 |
| 17 | Marcos Ambrose | -1304 |
| 18 | Joey Logano | -1341 |
| 19 | Jeff Burton | -1389 |
| 20 | Jamie McMurray | -1392 |
| 21 | Juan Montoya | -1427 |
| 22 | Aric Almirola | -1441 |
| 23 | Regan Smith | -1480 |
| 24 | Bobby Labonte | -1481 |
| 25 | Mark Martin | -1534 |
| 26 | Kurt Busch | -1545 |
| 27 | Casey Mears | -1586 |
| 28 | David Gilliland | -1589 |
| 29 | David Ragan | -1596 |
| 30 | Travis Kvapil | -1609 |
| 31 | Landon Cassill | -1620 |
| 32 | AJ Allmendinger | -1656 |
| 33 | Dave Blaney | -1707 |
| 34 | David Reutimann | -1740 |
| 35 | David Stremme | -1867 |
| 36 | Brian Vickers | -1879 |
| 37 | J.J. Yeley | -1918 |
| 38 | Michael McDowell | -1929 |
| 39 | Josh Wise* | -1941 |
| 40 | Ken Schrader | -1945 |
| 41 | Stephen Leicht* | -1959 |
| 42 | Scott Speed | -1977 |
| 43 | Michael Waltrip | -1981 |
| 44 | Tony Raines | -1989 |
| 45 | Terry Labonte | -1990 |
| 46 | Brendan Gaughan | -2006 |
| 47 | Scott Riggs | -2006 |
| 48 | Boris Said | -2022 |
| 49 | Bill Elliott | -2042 |
| 50 | Hermie Sadler | -2043 |
| 51 | Robby Gordon | -2045 |
| 52 | Mike Skinner | -2046 |
| 53 | Tomy Drissi | -2050 |
| 54 | Stacy Compton | -2051 |
| 55 | David Mayhew | -2052 |
| 56 | Patrick Long | -2054 |
| 57 | Kelly Bires | -2054 |
| 58 | Sam Hornish Jr. | -2056 |
| 59 | Trevor Bayne | -2056 |
| 60 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | -2056 |
| 61 | Austin Dillon | -2056 |
| 62 | Mike Bliss | -2056 |
| 63 | Danica Patrick | -2056 |
| 64 | Robert Richardson Jr. | -2056 |
| 65 | Elliott Sadler | -2056 |
| 66 | Joe Nemechek | -2056 |
| 67 | Reed Sorenson | -2056 |
| 68 | T.J. Bell | -2056 |
| 69 | Jason Leffler | -2056 |
| 70 | Jason White | -2056 |
| 71 | Cole Whitt | -2056 |
| 72 | Chris Cook | -2056 |
| 73 | Timmy Hill | -2056 |
| 74 | Brian Simo | -2056 |
| 75 | Tim Andrews | -2056 |
| 76 | Jeff Green | -2056 |
| 77 | Mark Green | -2056 |
| 78 | Mike Wallace | -2056 |
| 79 | Kenny Wallace | -2056 |
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