Keselowski keeps title hopes alive at Talladega

Brad Keselowski pulled away in overtime Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway to earn an automatic berth into the third round of NASCAR’s championship race.

TALLADEGA, ALA. » Brad Keselowski pulled away in overtime Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway to earn an automatic berth into the third round ofNASCAR’s championship race.

Needing to win to stay alive in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship, the 2012 Sprint Cup champion came through his series-best sixth victory of the year.

But the Hendrick Motorsports trio of Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kasey Kahne allwere eliminated from contention.

Kyle Busch could not recover from an early wreck and also was eliminated from the Chase.

Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, Ryan Newman, Carl Edwards, Jeff Gordon, Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth also advanced.

Keselowski had a triumphant ending to a tumultuous week that saw himfined $50,000 by NASCAR for his role in a fracas last week at Charlotte.

Keselowski was in a deep hole in the second segment of the Chase because of a blown tire at Kansas and then a poor race last week at Charlotte. He faded over the final two laps and forced himself into a mustwin situation Sunday.

“I know there’s probably some people out there that aren’t really happy I won,” Keselowski said. “I can understand that. But I’m a man like anyone else and not real proud of last week. But I’m real proud of today.”

Keselowski’s win meant one driver ahead of him on points was out of the Chase. Kahne was the last one out as part of a crushing day for Hendrick.

Jeff Gordon is the lone Hendrick driver left in the Chase. Johnson failed to defend his championship, missing a chance to match Richard Petty with a seventh career title. Earnhardt won the Daytona 500 and two other races this season, putting up his best year in almost a decade and stamping himself an early championship favorite. Not anymore. “We’ll just go and try and win some races before the year’s out,” Earnhardt said. “That all we’ve got left.”

Busch was second in the points race entering Sunday and appeared in solid shape to advance until he was caught up in a what proved to be a contentionkilling wreck.

Nerves were frayed at Joe Gibbs Racing following an accident with 86 laps remaining that collected Busch. The accident caused considerable damage to his Toyota and forced him to the garage for repairs.

“We are destroyed. We are absolutely killed,” said Busch, who appeared to be hit by Austin Dillon. “I got wrecked from behind. We are done.”

As the JGR crew worked furiously to get himback on track, he dropped to eighth in the standings and was helpless as he waited to see if he’d fall into elimination danger.

The No. 18 returned to the track after nearly 50 minutes in the garage but it wasn’t enough to salvage a Chase spot.

The drivers in danger of elimination paced the early parts of the race. Keselowski had to drop to the back of the field at the start for an unapproved change to his Ford, but he picked his way through traffic and made it to the front of the field to lead.

Johnson and Earnhardt also charged to the front, and the three drivers who needed to win tried to set the early pace of the race.

Only Keselowski was where he needed to be at the end.

Johnson has to look ahead at chasing No. 7 in 2015.