Brad Keselowski has led just one mile in winning the Auto Club 400 at California Speedway to take his first victory of 2015.
During a succession of late race caution periods, the race looked to be a fight between Stewart-Haas team-mates Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch.
However, on the second and final ‘green-white-chequered’ finish, Keselowski split the pair and took the lead heading onto the back straight, which he held to the finish.
The result came down to a four-tyre pit stop under caution prior to the first attempt to finish the race.
While most of the leaders took two tyres, Keselowski put four fresh Goodyear’s on his Ford and stormed through from 17th to sixth and put himself in a position to fight for victory.
He got that chance when Kyle Larson hit the wall and spread debris on the back stretch which brought out another yellow flag.
Then with the extra grip Keselowski, who re-started the final time from the third row, took full advantage and charged by the leaders.
“Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch, they both did a hell of a job and both had great cars the whole weekend and probably had the field covered on speed, but my guys never gave up, put us in position and we were able to close it out at the end,” Keselowski said.
“We caught some breaks and made the most of the breaks we caught, and that was kind of the story of our race.
“It looked like we were probably gonna finish sixth or seventh there and then that yellow came out.
“We came in and pitted and drove up a little bit. Some guys stayed out. Some guys took two tyres and all kinds of different strategies and on the restart we were able to find our way through the lanes and get to the front there and somehow end up in victory lane leading the last lap.
“That’s kind of a race car driver’s dream and this is one we’re gonna sit back and go ‘wow’ for a while on.”
The result was the 17th victory for Keselowski and he joins his Team Penske team-mate Joey Logano in making the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
Harvick took second to stretch his streak of a first or second place finish to eight-straight races; dating back to his championship winning run last year.
VIDEO: Race Highlights
RESULTS: Auto Club 400 – Auto Club Speedway
POS.
CAR #
DRIVER
MANUFACTURER
STARTING POS.
LAPS
LAPS LED
FINAL STATUS
POINTS
BONUS POINTS
1
2
Brad Keselowski
Ford
8
209
1
Running
47
4
2
4
Kevin Harvick
Chevrolet
2
209
34
Running
43
1
3
41
Kurt Busch
Chevrolet
1
209
65
Running
43
2
4
27
Paul Menard
Chevrolet
11
209
0
Running
40
0
5
31
Ryan Newman
Chevrolet
9
209
0
Running
39
0
6
88
Dale Earnhardt Jr
Chevrolet
17
209
0
Running
38
0
7
22
Joey Logano
Ford
13
209
0
Running
37
0
8
78
Martin Truex Jr
Chevrolet
12
209
5
Running
37
1
9
48
Jimmie Johnson
Chevrolet
14
209
0
Running
35
0
10
24
Jeff Gordon
Chevrolet
7
209
3
Running
35
1
11
43
Aric Almirola
Ford
23
209
0
Running
33
0
12
51
Justin Allgaier
Chevrolet
31
209
0
Running
32
0
13
19
Carl Edwards
Toyota
15
209
1
Running
32
1
14
14
Tony Stewart
Chevrolet
20
209
0
Running
30
0
15
17
Ricky Stenhouse Jr
Ford
27
209
0
Running
29
0
16
3
Austin Dillon
Chevrolet
21
209
0
Running
28
0
17
5
Kasey Kahne
Chevrolet
19
209
0
Running
27
0
18
18
David Ragan
Toyota
4
209
0
Running
26
0
19
10
Danica Patrick
Chevrolet
22
209
0
Running
25
0
20
34
Chris Buescher
Ford
33
209
0
Running
24
0
21
1
Jamie McMurray
Chevrolet
26
209
0
Running
23
0
22
55
Brett Moffitt
Toyota
30
209
0
Running
22
0
23
13
Casey Mears
Chevrolet
37
209
0
Running
21
0
24
35
Cole Whitt
Ford
32
209
0
Running
20
0
25
40
Landon Cassill
Chevrolet
40
209
0
Running
0
0
26
42
Kyle Larson
Chevrolet
5
209
0
Running
18
0
27
33
Brian Scott
Chevrolet
25
209
0
Running
0
0
28
11
Denny Hamlin
Toyota
6
209
56
Running
17
1
29
6
Trevor Bayne
Ford
36
209
0
Running
15
0
30
15
Clint Bowyer
Toyota
10
209
0
Running
14
0
31
20
Matt Kenseth
Toyota
3
209
43
Running
14
1
32
16
Greg Biffle
Ford
29
209
0
Running
12
0
33
7
Alex Bowman
Chevrolet
28
208
1
Running
12
1
34
47
AJ Allmendinger
Chevrolet
18
208
0
Running
10
0
35
38
David Gilliland
Ford
43
208
0
Running
9
0
36
98
Josh Wise
Ford
35
207
0
Running
8
0
37
23
J.J. Yeley
Toyota
41
206
0
Running
0
0
38
46
Michael Annett
Chevrolet
24
206
0
Running
6
0
39
26
Jeb Burton
Toyota
34
205
0
Running
5
0
40
32
Mike Bliss
Ford
39
205
0
Running
0
0
41
62
Brendan Gaughan
Chevrolet
38
205
0
Running
0
0
42
83
Matt DiBenedetto
Toyota
42
203
0
Running
2
0
43
9
Sam Hornish Jr
Ford
16
155
0
Running
1
0
STANDINGS
POS
DRIVER
POINTS
BEHIND
STARTS
WINS
TOP 5
TOP 10
DNF
1
Kevin Harvick
225
Leader
5
2
5
5
0
2
Joey Logano
197
-28
5
1
2
5
0
3
Martin Truex Jr
192
-33
5
0
1
5
0
4
Dale Earnhardt Jr
164
-61
5
0
3
4
1
5
Brad Keselowski
163
-62
5
1
1
4
1
6
Ryan Newman
162
-63
5
0
3
4
0
7
Jimmie Johnson
159
-66
5
1
2
3
0
8
Kasey Kahne
159
-66
5
0
1
2
0
9
Paul Menard
152
-73
5
0
1
1
0
10
Aric Almirola
138
-87
5
0
0
0
0
11
AJ Allmendinger
137
-88
5
0
0
2
0
12
Casey Mears
132
-93
5
0
0
1
0
13
Matt Kenseth
127
-98
5
0
1
2
0
14
Denny Hamlin
125
-100
5
0
2
2
0
15
David Ragan
124
-101
5
0
0
0
0
16
Jamie McMurray
120
-105
5
0
1
1
1
17
Carl Edwards
120
-105
5
0
0
0
0
18
Kyle Larson
116
-109
5
0
0
2
1
19
Austin Dillon
116
-109
5
0
0
0
0
20
Clint Bowyer
115
-110
5
0
0
1
0
21
Greg Biffle
113
-112
5
0
0
1
0
22
Jeff Gordon
112
-113
5
0
0
2
1
23
Danica Patrick
111
-114
5
0
0
0
0
24
Justin Allgaier
102
-123
5
0
0
0
1
25
David Gilliland
101
-124
5
0
0
0
0
26
Ricky Stenhouse Jr
99
-126
5
0
0
0
1
27
Trevor Bayne
86
-139
5
0
0
0
0
28
Kurt Busch
82
-143
2
0
2
2
0
29
Sam Hornish Jr
80
-145
5
0
0
0
0
30
Cole Whitt
80
-145
5
0
0
0
1
31
Brett Moffitt
78
-147
4
0
0
1
0
32
Tony Stewart
62
-163
5
0
0
0
2
33
Michael Annett
60
-165
5
0
0
0
0
34
Alex Bowman
49
-176
4
0
0
0
1
35
Michael McDowell
44
-181
3
0
0
0
0
36
Josh Wise
38
-187
4
0
0
0
0
37
Brian Vickers
32
-193
2
0
0
0
0
38
Jeb Burton
28
-197
4
0
0
0
0
39
Chris Buescher
24
-201
1
0
0
0
0
40
Bobby Labonte
20
-205
1
0
0
0
0
41
Michael Waltrip
18
-207
1
0
0
0
0
42
Reed Sorenson
12
-213
1
0
0
0
0
43
Matt DiBenedetto
11
-214
2
0
0
0
0
44
Mike Wallace
8
-217
1
0
0
0
0
45
Alex Kennedy
6
-219
1
0
0
0
0
46
Ron Hornaday Jr
2
-223
1
0
0
0
1
47
Brian Scott
0
-225
2
0
0
0
0
48
Regan Smith
0
-225
3
0
0
0
0
49
Matt Crafton
0
-225
1
0
0
0
0
50
Ryan Blaney
0
-225
2
0
0
0
1
51
Johnny Sauter
0
-225
1
0
0
0
0
52
Landon Cassill
0
-225
5
0
0
0
2
53
Brendan Gaughan
0
-225
4
0
0
0
0
54
Ty Dillon
0
-225
1
0
0
0
0
55
Mike Bliss
0
-225
3
0
0
0
0
56
J.J. Yeley
0
-225
5
0
0
0
0
57
Joe Nemechek
0
-225
1
0
0
0
0
58
Travis Kvapil
0
-225
0
0
0
0
0
59
Tanner Berryhill
0
-225
0
0
0
0
0
60
Justin Marks
0
-225
0
0
0
0
0
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