Penske’s Keselowski wins Brickyard
INDIANAPOLIS – In a thrilling laterace shootout, Brad Keselowski nudged his way past Denny Hamlin coming to the white flag at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and clinched Roger Penske’s first Brickyard 400 win and a historic one for Team Penske on a postponed Monday race in Indianapolis.
The win meant Team Penske swept the major races at the legendary track this year.
Keselowski’s win came after Will Power won the Indianapolis 500 and the IndyCar Grand Prix on the IMS road course in May. The victory was No. 499 overall for Team Penske, 17 of which came in the Indy 500.
Keselowski won an Xfinity Series race at IMS in 2012 for Penske, but the Brickyard 400 was one the organization has been chasing.
“It is special and means a lot to kiss the bricks today and get that first win for Team Penske and Roger,” said Keselowski’s crew chief Paul Wolfe. “Indy is always a special place for (Roger Penske) and the team as much success as they’ve had on the open-wheel side.
“There’s things on the bucket list you’re trying to check off, and this was definitely one of them. Only thing better would be if the boss was here to celebrate with us.”
Last weekend at Darlington Raceway, Keselowski won the Southern 500, another crown jewel NASCAR race that Team Penske hadn’t won since 1975. Monday’s win helped Keselowski clinch the No. 4 spot in the playoffs, which will be led by regular-season champion Kyle Busch next weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
“(It) was obviously a big day, and for a number of reasons,” Keselowski said. “It’s such a historic track that means so much to all of motor sports, so for us to have our name on that win list sure does mean a lot to me.”
With 20 laps to go, it looked as though Keselowski was go- ing to leave Indianapolis with another loss. Wolfe had him stay off pit road as long as he could, but on lap 141 he brought Keselowski in for fresh tires, handing the lead over to Hamlin.
Three laps later, a caution for debris changed the trajectory of the race. Most of the leaders stayed out, but enough drivers pitted for Keselowski to move into eighth position, leaving him with the freshest tires in the top 10.
Seven laps later, Landon Cassill and Jeffrey Earnhardt crashed in turn three, bringing another caution and resetting the field. Keselowski was lined up on the inside of row two and, with three laps to go, jumped into second and began chasing down Hamlin. The two banged doors as they motored around the backstretch on the penultimate lap before Keselowski was able to shoot past the Joe Gibbs Racing driver in turn four.
“Gosh, that was one of the best things I’ve ever heard in my life — ‘Clear off turn four at the Brickyard coming to the white flag.’ What a day.”
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Erik Jones followed Keselowski in second, with Hamlin third, Kevin Harvick fourth and Clint Bowyer rounding out the top-5. Kurt Busch was sixth, followed by Jamie McMurray, Kyle Busch, Paul Menard and Ryan Newman.