Keselowski shakes stomach bug to win in Atlanta
HAMPTON, GA. >> Brad Keselowski was so sick at Atlanta Motor Speedway his team had a standby driver on call.
The help wasn’t needed. The winningest driver in Team Penske history raced to an unlikely victory Sunday by recovering from a stomach virus to win at Atlanta Motor Speedway. It was the first victory for Ford’s new Mustang and a rebound for the manufacturer after Toyota swept the season-opening Daytona 500.
NASCAR debuted its new competition package Sunday that is designed to improve the on-track product and help the smaller teams contend. But the first look at the new rules was tempered because the abrasive asphalt is unlike any other surface NASCAR will race on this season.
But NASCAR successfully designed a package that slowed the cars and bunched them closer together, which made for intense racing when the field was packed on restarts. The nature of Atlanta’s challenging 1.5-mile speedway led drivers to eventually fan out into single file, which NASCAR is trying to avoid, but the racing is expected to improve moving forward.
“I saw a fairly entertaining race,” said Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR’s chief racing officer. “We didn’t know what to expect, either, and we thought this package would showcase itself more once we got to the West Coast. All in all, we are satisfied with the outcome and we’ve got a lot of work to do to go back and review it.”
Keselowski, meanwhile, raced to his 60th win for Roger Penske to pass Indianapolis great Mark Donohue’s mark as the team leader. He has won 27 of his 28 Cup victories for Penske.
“Oh, yeah, I forgot about that!” Keselowski said. “I think any win means a lot, but that’s a big number. Now I get to wear that yellow Mark Donohue helmet. This day is, wow, I don’t even know how to put it in words.
“I’m just excited for this team, first race with the new rules or whatever they’re called now, and to be able to win it, that’s really special.”