Brad Keselowski has staked his claim for a berth in NASCAR’s Chase for the Sprint Cup by taking his third race win of the season at Bristol.
The Penske Racing Dodge driver took the lead of the race at the final round of pitstops before holding a battling Martin Truex and Jeff Gordon at bay over a 79 lap green-flag run to the finish.
Truex had gained track position by opting for two tyres at the final stop, while Gordon’s tyres, and chances of a win, had deteriorated in a scintillating battle for third with Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth.
Johnson, Jamie McMurray, Kenseth, Ryan Newman, Denny Hamlin, Carl Edwards and Marcos Ambrose rounded out the top 10.
Keselowski has enjoyed a remarkable run of form since breaking his ankle in a major testing accident last month.
Two wins, a second and a third in the last four races has seen the youngster move up to 11th in the points standings with two races remaining before the Chase cut-off.
Johnson, Kenseth, Edwards and Kevin Harvick all locked themselves into Chase positions with their Bristol performances, joining Kyle Busch as the confirmed contenders.
The Bristol result sees Ambrose moves up one position to sit 22nd in the championship standings, four points away from 20th. The Australian will need to move inside the top 20 and win one of the next two races in order to score one of the two available Chase Wildcards.
See below for the full IRWIN Night Race result
|
FIN |
DRIVER |
MAKE |
SPONSOR |
PTS/BNS |
LAPS |
STATUS |
| 1 | Brad Keselowski | Dodge | Miller Lite | 47/1 | 500 | Running |
| 2 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | NAPA Auto Parts | 43/1 | 500 | Running |
| 3 | Jeff Gordon | Chevrolet | Drive to End Hunger | 43/2 | 500 | Running |
| 4 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | Lowe’s / Kobalt Tools | 41/1 | 500 | Running |
| 5 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | Bass Pro Shops/Realtree Outfitters | 40/1 | 500 | Running |
| 6 | Matt Kenseth | Ford | Crown Royal | 39/1 | 500 | Running |
| 7 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | FedEx Express | 37/0 | 500 | Running |
| 8 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | Bass Pro Shops/Realtree Outfitters | 37/1 | 500 | Running |
| 9 | Carl Edwards | Ford | Aflac Dental | 35/0 | 500 | Running |
| 10 | Marcos Ambrose | Ford | Stanley | 34/0 | 500 | Running |
| 11 | Kasey Kahne | Toyota | Red Bull | 33/0 | 500 | Running |
| 12 | A.J. Allmendinger | Ford | Best Buy | 32/0 | 500 | Running |
| 13 | Joey Logano | Toyota | The Home Depot | 32/1 | 500 | Running |
| 14 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | Wrigley’s Doublemint | 31/1 | 500 | Running |
| 15 | Jeff Burton | Chevrolet | Caterpillar | 29/0 | 500 | Running |
| 16 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Chevrolet | Amp Energy | 28/0 | 500 | Running |
| 17 | Kurt Busch | Dodge | Shell / Pennzoil | 27/0 | 500 | Running |
| 18 | Regan Smith | Chevrolet | Furniture Row | 26/0 | 500 | Running |
| 19 | Juan Montoya | Chevrolet | Target | 25/0 | 500 | Running |
| 20 | David Ragan | Ford | UPS “We Love Logistics” | 24/0 | 500 | Running |
| 21 | Brian Vickers | Toyota | Red Bull | 23/0 | 500 | Running |
| 22 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | Realtree / Bad Boy | 22/0 | 500 | Running |
| 23 | Casey Mears | Toyota | GEICO | 21/0 | 500 | Running |
| 24 | David Gilliland | Ford | Thanks Bristol Fans | 20/0 | 498 | Running |
| 25 | Andy Lally * | Ford | Interstate Moving Services | 19/0 | 498 | Running |
| 26 | Clint Bowyer | Chevrolet | Hamburger Helper | 18/0 | 498 | Running |
| 27 | David Starr | Ford | AdvoCare | 0 | 497 | Running |
| 28 | Tony Stewart | Chevrolet | Bass Pro Shops / Office Depot | 16/0 | 497 | Running |
| 29 | Mike Bliss | Chevrolet | Phoenix Construction | 0 | 497 | Running |
| 30 | Paul Menard | Chevrolet | Sylvania / Menards | 14/0 | 496 | Running |
| 31 | Greg Biffle | Ford | 3M | 13/0 | 496 | Running |
| 32 | David Stremme | Chevrolet | EchoStor Technologies | 12/0 | 494 | Running |
| 33 | Terry Labonte | Ford | C&J Energy | 11/0 | 494 | Running |
| 34 | Bobby Labonte | Toyota | Bush’s Baked Beans | 10/0 | 471 | In Pit |
| 35 | Dave Blaney | Chevrolet | Golden Corral | 9/0 | 457 | Out of Race |
| 36 | David Reutimann | Toyota | Aaron’s Freedom Ride | 8/0 | 430 | Running |
| 37 | Travis Kvapil | Ford | Long John Silver’s | 0 | 371 | Running |
| 38 | Mark Martin | Chevrolet | Farmers Insurance | 6/0 | 363 | In Pit |
| 39 | Michael McDowell | Toyota | HP Racing LLC | 5/0 | 49 | Out of Race |
| 40 | Joe Nemechek | Toyota | AMFMEnergy.com | 0 | 42 | In Pit |
| 41 | Mike Skinner | Toyota | Big Red | 0 | 28 | In Pit |
| 42 | Scott Speed | Ford | RetakeOurGov.com | 0 | 28 | In Pit |
| 43 | Robby Gordon | Dodge | Speed Energy | 1/0 | 10 | In Pi |
See below for the updated championship standings
|
RANK |
DRIVER |
POINTS |
| 1 | Kyle Busch | 830 |
| 2 | Jimmie Johnson | 830 |
| 3 | Matt Kenseth | 798 |
| 4 | Carl Edwards | 795 |
| 5 | Kevin Harvick | 782 |
| 6 | Jeff Gordon | 782 |
| 7 | Ryan Newman | 762 |
| 8 | Kurt Busch | 749 |
| 9 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | 728 |
| 10 | Tony Stewart | 710 |
| 11 | Brad Keselowski | 689 |
| 12 | Clint Bowyer | 688 |
| 13 | Denny Hamlin | 672 |
| 14 | A.J. Allmendinger | 664 |
| 15 | Kasey Kahne | 656 |
| 16 | Greg Biffle | 649 |
| 17 | Martin Truex Jr. | 645 |
| 18 | Joey Logano | 642 |
| 19 | Mark Martin | 633 |
| 20 | Paul Menard | 631 |
| 21 | David Ragan | 628 |
| 22 | Marcos Ambrose | 627 |
| 23 | Juan Montoya | 621 |
| 24 | Jeff Burton | 572 |
| 25 | Regan Smith | 552 |
| 26 | Jamie McMurray | 551 |
| 27 | Brian Vickers | 527 |
| 28 | David Reutimann | 525 |
| 29 | Bobby Labonte | 509 |
| 30 | David Gilliland | 422 |
| 31 | Casey Mears | 344 |
| 32 | Dave Blaney | 323 |
| 33 | Andy Lally* | 306 |
| 34 | Robby Gordon | 224 |
| 35 | Tony Raines | 129 |
| 36 | Bill Elliott | 100 |
| 37 | Terry Labonte | 92 |
| 38 | Ken Schrader | 87 |
| 39 | Michael McDowell | 83 |
| 40 | J.J. Yeley | 81 |
| 41 | David Stremme | 49 |
| 42 | Boris Said | 38 |
| 43 | Michael Waltrip | 20 |
| 44 | Andy Pilgrim | 18 |
| 45 | Chris Cook | 17 |
| 46 | T.J. Bell* | 14 |
| 47 | Brian Simo | 11 |
| 48 | Geoffrey Bodine | 6 |
| 49 | Brian Keselowski* | 3 |
| 50 | Erik Darnell | 2 |
| 51 | Steve Park | 2 |
| 52 | Trevor Bayne | 0 |
| 53 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 0 |
| 54 | Landon Cassill | 0 |
| 55 | Steve Wallace | 0 |
| 56 | Mike Skinner | 0 |
| 57 | Travis Kvapil | 0 |
| 58 | Mike Bliss | 0 |
| 59 | Scott Wimmer | 0 |
| 60 | David Starr | 0 |
| 61 | Hermie Sadler | 0 |
| 62 | Ron Fellows | 0 |
| 63 | Patrick Carpentier | 0 |
| 64 | Joe Nemechek | 0 |
| 65 | Jason White | 0 |
| 66 | Andrew Ranger | 0 |
| 67 | Sam Hornish Jr. | 0 |
| 68 | Johnny Sauter | 0 |
| 69 | Todd Bodine | 0 |
| 70 | Dennis Setzer | 0 |
| 71 | Robert Richardson Jr. | 0 |
| 72 | Scott Speed | 0 |
| 73 | Scott Riggs | 0 |
| 74 | Jeff Green | 0 |
| 75 | Kevin Conway | 0 |
| 76 | P.J. Jones | 0 |
| 77 | Derrike Cope | 0 |
| 78 | Tony Ave | 0 |
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