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

 

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