Keselowski leads sweep at Daytona

DAYTONA BEACH, FLA.» Brad Keselowski opened Speedweeks, before he turned a single lap, as the 7-1 favorite to win the Daytona 500.

Now that he has the first victory of the season, Keselowski is shaping up to be a safe bet.

Keselowski led a 1-2 Team Penske sweep Sunday in the exhibition called The Clash at Daytona International Speedway. The race marks the opening of Speedweeks and is the first chance for teams to show their offseason work.

“I have never won anything here during Speedweeks, and I feel like I have choked them away to be quite honest,” Keselowski said in Victory Lane. “You need one to break through. Hopefully, this is our breakthrough.”

Indeed, Keselowski is one of the best restrictor-plate racers in NASCAR. Although he is a five-time winner at Talladega in Alabama, his lone victory at Daytona International Speedway was in the 2016 summer race.

For Martin Truex Jr., avoiding a final lap accident in the nonpoints Clash race was costly for the Furniture Row Racing driver.

Truex finished 14th after being put on the grass, but ran as high as second.

While running in 11th place, Truex joined in when drivers started to drop out of line to make a move to the front, resulting in a multicar accident that took place in front of Truex.

“I slowed down way early after seeing them wreck,” Truex said. “They started to come down the track and I had to go into the grass. And when I did that, the splitter dug in and just turned me around. So I spun out lazy and bounced up on the racetrack. It didn’t hurt the car that bad; just a weird situation.”

Outside of the last lap incident, Truex said his No. 78 Toyota had good moments, but did have trouble maintaining a position at the front.

“Once we get to the front, we can’t figure out how to keep the position,” Truex said. “We got to the front multiple times but couldn’t stay there. We need to work on this issue.”

• Alex Bowman put a familiar car atop the Daytona 500 leaderboard.

Bowman won the pole for “The Great American Race” in his debut as the driver of the No. 88 Chevrolet, piloted until last season by longtime NASCAR star Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Six of Earnhardt’s 17 career victories at Daytona International Speedway came in that car — including one of his Daytona 500 victories.

Defending NASCAR champion Truex was 26th.

“Speed-wise, we’ve been off a bit here,” Truex said.