CP MOTORSPORTS - KESELOWSKI SURVIVES AND WINS TALLADEGA WRECKFEST
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Nothing could deny former Sprint Cup champion Brad Keselowski from taking another win at Talladega Superspeedway. Not 10 cautions, not 17 different race leaders. Keselowski proved to be the race's most dominant car by taking the checkered flag in Sunday's Geico 500 from NASCAR's biggest track.
Keselowski takes his second win of the 2016 Sprint Cup season and his fourth career win at Talladega, which played host to his first ever Sprint Cup series win back in 2009.
"What can you say? Talladega has been good to me," Keselowski said. "It's great to be back on this podium as a race winner. Very, very proud and thrilled today. You never know what you're going to get here. Talladega has always been that way. It's always been very good to me. I'm, like I said, thankful for that.
"Crazy day. Somehow we managed to stay ahead of or out of all the chaos. A couple asked me about it. I didn't see it thankfully because I was in front of it. But that's how Talladega goes."
Defending Sprint Cup champion Kyle Busch piloted his No. 18 Skittles Toyota to a runner-up finish; his eighth top-ten of the 2016 season.
Despite the second place finish, Busch had strong opinion about the style of racing which NASCAR's superspeedways provide.
"I hate it," Busch told reporters following the race. "I'd much rather be at home. I've got a win. I don't need to be here."
Busch sustained injuries in an Xfinity race last season at Daytona which caused him to miss the Sprint Cup season's first 11 races.
Austin Dillon was another of the many crash survivors to salvage a decent finish. Dillon, driving the No. 3 Chevrolet, made a late race surge to finish in third place. Like Kyle Busch, Dillon was involved in a scary accident at a superspeedway last July at Daytona.
Dillon believes NASCAR is going to keep both him and his competitors safe moving forward.
"I don't know how to fix it personally," Dillon said. "I know NASCAR will put their efforts towards fixing it. I know they will. They've made the car safer. That's the reason why we're walking away from these crashes. I think as a group, all of us want it to be where we're not leaving the ground.
"We'll get some smart people on it. I have total faith in NASCAR that they'll do their job and work on that."
Former Talladega winner Jamie McMurray finished the race in fourth place followed by pole winner Chase Elliott in fifth place. Ty Dillon, relief driving in Tony Stewart's No. 14 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet, was able to come from the rear of the field and take a sixth place finish.
Clint Bowyer finished in seventh place with Kurt Busch, Ryan Blaney and Trevor Bayne rounding out the race's top ten finishers.
Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who has won at Talladega six times appeared to be in the worst of positions all race. The driver of the No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet was involved in two seperate incidents forcing him to a season-worst 40th place finish.
Race winner, Keselowski, knows the wreckfest style of racing just goes with the territory and it is nothing new.
"I hated to hear about cars flipping and doing all those things," Keselowski said. "Nobody wants that. But I think some accidents here and there, we might not like to cheer about it, but it is part of our sport and always has been part of automobile racing."
Race Results
Talladega Superspeedway
47th Annual GEICO 500
UNOFFICIAL Provided by NASCAR Statistics Sunday, 5/1/2016 @ 2:26 PM Pacific UNOFFICIAL
Fin Str Car Driver Team Lap Pts BPts Status TLd LLd
1 7 2 Brad Keselowski Miller Lite Ford 188 45 5 Running 5 46
2 17 18 Kyle Busch Skittles Marvel Toyota 188 40 1 Running 1 12
3 2 3 Austin Dillon Dow - Energy & Water/Intellifresh Chevrolet 188 38 Running
4 30 1 Jamie McMurray McDonald's Chevrolet 188 37 Running
5 1 24 Chase Elliott # NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet 188 37 1 Running 3 27
6 14 14 Tony Stewart Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet 188 35 Running
7 34 15 Clint Bowyer AccuDoc Solutions Chevrolet 188 34 Running
8 18 41 Kurt Busch Monster Energy Chevrolet 188 33 Running
9 19 21 * Ryan Blaney # Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford 188 32 Running
10 13 6 Trevor Bayne AdvoCare Ford 188 32 1 Running 6 22
11 32 38 Landon Cassill FR8Auctions Ford 188 30 Running
12 33 55 * Michael Waltrip Peak & BlueDEF Toyota 188 30 1 Running 2 2
13 12 78 Martin Truex Jr Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Boats Toyota 188 28 Running
14 28 47 AJ Allmendinger Kroger/Hungry Jack/Crisco Chevrolet 188 28 1 Running 1 1
15 29 4 Kevin Harvick Busch Fishing Chevrolet 188 27 1 Running 4 9
16 6 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr Fifth Third Bank Ford 188 25 Running
17 39 35 * David Gilliland Shaw's Southern Belle Seafood Ford 188 24 Running
18 36 98 * Cole Whitt RticCoolers.com Toyota 188 24 1 Running 1 1
19 26 32 Bobby Labonte Rimrock Devlin Ford 188 23 1 Running 2 2
20 16 16 Greg Biffle Ford EcoBoost Ford 188 21 Running
21 31 95 Michael McDowell Thrivent Financial Chevrolet 188 20 Running
22 5 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe's Chevrolet 182 19 Running
23 4 20 Matt Kenseth Dollar General Toyota 180 19 1 Accident 4 39
24 37 10 Danica Patrick Aspen Dental Chevrolet 180 18 1 Accident 1 3
25 22 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 180 17 1 Accident 1 6
26 10 27 Paul Menard Moen/Menards Chevrolet 180 15 Accident
27 23 43 Aric Almirola Fresh From Florida Ford 180 15 1 Accident 1 1
28 15 31 Ryan Newman Caterpillar Chevrolet 178 14 1 Running 1 1
29 24 42 Kyle Larson Target Chevrolet 173 13 1 Running 2 9
30 21 44 Brian Scott # Twisted Tea Ford 172 11 Running
31 8 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Express Toyota 170 11 1 Running 2 5
32 25 7 Regan Smith Golden Corral Chevrolet 168 9 Running
33 20 13 Casey Mears GEICO Chevrolet 166 8 Running
34 40 23 David Ragan Schluter Systems Toyota 151 8 1 Engine 1 2
35 9 19 Carl Edwards ARRIS Toyota 109 6 Accident
36 35 83 Matt DiBenedetto Dustless Blasting Toyota 98 5 Engine
37 27 34 Chris Buescher # Love?s Travel Stops/CSX-Play it Safe Ford 95 4 Accident
38 38 46 Michael Annett Pilot Flying J Chevrolet 94 3 Accident
39 11 5 Kasey Kahne Farmers Insurance Chevrolet 82 2 Accident
40 3 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr Nationwide Chevrolet 63 1 Accident
# = Rookie, Fin = Finish, Str = Start, Pts = Total Points, BPs = Lap Leader Bns Pts, TLd = Times Led, LLd = Laps Led. (i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
Average Speed: 140.046 MPH Time of Race: 03 Hrs, 34 Mins, 15 Secs. Margin of Victory: Caution
Lead Changes: 37 among 17 drivers Cautions: 10 for 41 laps