Keselowski scores Penske’s 100th NASCAR win

Brad Keselowski has broken through for his first Daytona victory by winning the Coke Zero 400, and in the process giving Team Penske its 100th NASCAR victory.

Keselowski led a race high 115 of the 160 official laps, racing at either at or near enough the front for the entire event.

His crucial pass for the lead came with 14 laps to run, when two late race cautions allowed him to choose his restart position on the front row.

Even an overtime ‘green-white-chequered’ finish didn’t change things at the front, as the Penske Ford driver manoeuvred between the top and bottom lanes as other pressed.

Keselowski previously had four restrictor-plate victories, but all came at Talladega Superspeedway.

“I don’t care if it’s not the 500. It’s Daytona. This is huge. I love this place and here we are in Victory Lane with the Detroit Ford,” said Keselowski.

“It’s been a kick in the you-know-what. I got down on myself here. We came down here for the 500 and quite honestly we ran like dog crap, but my team worked on it. I didn’t give up on them.

“I believe in my team and my team believes in me and we went to work and we put together a better car, and it really showed today with a great effort from the whole team. I’m really proud of everybody.”

Kyle Busch finished second, with Trevor Bayne, Joey Logano and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. rounding out the top five.

The “Big One” came on Lap 89 and collected 21 cars in a wreck that was sparked by Jamie McMurray turning sideways in the middle of the pack. Included in the wreck were all four Hendrick cars, plus the likes of Kevin Harvick and Matt Kenseth.

The wreck was triggered when Jamie McMurray and Kyle Larson rubbed while battling in the lead pack. McMurray then made contact with Jimmie Johnson and the field quickly ploughed into each other.

With 12 laps to go, Tony Stewart spun into traffic, collecting Casey Mears and Carl Edwards in the wreck. Stewart, who won last week in Sonoma, had been running in fifth at the time.

After the race, he sat 30th in the points standings, enough to put him in the provisional Chase Grid.

VIDEO: Race recap

RESULTS: Coke Zero 400 – Daytona International 400

POS.	CAR #	DRIVER	MAKE	START	LAPS	LAPS LED	FINAL STATUS	POINTS	BONUS POINTS
1	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	5	161	115	Running	45	5
2	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	3	161	16	Running	40	1
3	6	Trevor Bayne	Ford	13	161	0	Running	38	0
4	22	Joey Logano	Ford	11	161	6	Running	38	1
5	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	Ford	4	161	0	Running	36	0
6	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	17	161	0	Running	35	0
7	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	6	161	0	Running	34	0
8	16	Greg Biffle	Ford	1	161	1	Running	34	1
9	15	Clint Bowyer	Chevrolet	31	161	1	Running	33	1
10	95	Michael McDowell	Chevrolet	37	161	0	Running	31	0
11	98	Cole Whitt	Toyota	35	161	0	Running	30	0
12	13	Casey Mears	Chevrolet	20	161	2	Running	30	1
13	47	AJ Allmendinger	Chevrolet	26	161	0	Running	28	0
14	21	Ryan Blaney	Ford	12	161	0	Running	27	0
15	43	Aric Almirola	Ford	14	161	0	Running	26	0
16	23	David Ragan	Toyota	38	161	1	Running	26	1
17	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	9	161	7	Running	25	1
18	31	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	23	161	0	Running	23	0
19	35	David Gilliland	Ford	28	161	0	Running	22	0
20	46	Michael Annett	Chevrolet	33	161	0	Running	21	0
21	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr	Chevrolet	16	161	0	Running	20	0
22	55	Reed Sorenson	Toyota	39	161	0	Running	19	0
23	41	Kurt Busch	Chevrolet	10	161	0	Running	18	0
24	32	Bobby Labonte	Ford	32	160	0	Running	17	0
25	19	Carl Edwards	Toyota	2	155	8	Accident	17	1
26	14	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet	19	148	1	Accident	16	1
27	10	Danica Patrick	Chevrolet	22	130	0	Running	14	0
28	20	Matt Kenseth	Toyota	7	127	0	Running	13	0
29	78	Martin Truex Jr	Toyota	15	127	1	Running	13	1
30	5	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	18	122	0	Running	11	0
31	38	Landon Cassill	Ford	34	119	0	Running	10	0
32	24	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	24	113	0	Running	9	0
33	83	Matt DiBenedetto	Toyota	36	108	0	Running	8	0
34	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	29	91	0	Accident	7	0
35	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	8	89	0	Accident	6	0
36	27	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	27	89	0	Accident	5	0
37	44	Brian Scott	Ford	30	89	0	Accident	4	0
38	7	Regan Smith	Chevrolet	40	89	1	Accident	4	1
39	4	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	21	89	1	Accident	3	1
40	34	Chris Buescher	Ford	25	89	0	Accident	1	0

 

STANDINGS

POS	DRIVER	POINTS	BEHIND	STARTS	WINS	TOP 5	TOP 10	DNF
1	Kevin Harvick	565	Leader	17	1	7	13	1
2	Brad Keselowski	551	-14	17	3	7	11	0
3	Kurt Busch	545	-20	17	1	5	14	0
4	Joey Logano	531	-34	17	1	7	11	2
5	Carl Edwards	527	-38	17	2	6	11	3
6	Kyle Busch	492	-73	17	3	10	11	4
7	Martin Truex Jr	482	-83	17	1	3	7	0
8	Chase Elliott	482	-83	17	0	6	11	1
9	Jimmie Johnson	475	-90	17	2	6	7	2
10	Denny Hamlin	446	-119	17	1	5	7	3
11	Matt Kenseth	443	-122	17	1	2	6	2
12	Austin Dillon	434	-131	17	0	3	8	1
13	Dale Earnhardt Jr	433	-132	17	0	5	6	4
14	Ryan Newman	425	-140	17	0	0	5	1
15	Ryan Blaney	409	-156	17	0	1	6	1
16	Jamie McMurray	405	-160	17	0	1	3	1
17	Trevor Bayne	399	-166	17	0	2	4	0
18	Kasey Kahne	396	-169	17	0	2	6	1
19	AJ Allmendinger	393	-172	17	0	1	3	1
20	Kyle Larson	390	-175	17	0	3	5	2
21	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	388	-177	17	0	2	3	1
22	Greg Biffle	324	-241	17	0	0	1	3
23	Paul Menard	320	-245	17	0	0	1	4
24	Clint Bowyer	304	-261	17	0	0	3	2
25	Aric Almirola	304	-261	17	0	0	0	3
26	Danica Patrick	302	-263	17	0	0	0	3
27	Casey Mears	268	-297	17	0	0	0	0
28	Landon Cassill	259	-306	17	0	0	0	0
29	David Ragan	243	-322	17	0	0	0	2
30	Tony Stewart	212	-353	9	1	1	3	2
31	Brian Scott	209	-356	17	0	0	0	2
32	Regan Smith	203	-362	17	0	0	1	3
33	Michael McDowell	194	-371	14	0	0	1	1
34	Chris Buescher	194	-371	17	0	0	0	3
35	Matt DiBenedetto	176	-389	17	0	0	1	5
36	Cole Whitt	170	-395	15	0	0	0	4
37	Michael Annett	150	-415	17	0	0	0	3
38	Brian Vickers	86	-479	5	0	0	1	1
39	Josh Wise	75	-490	14	0	0	0	4
40	Reed Sorenson	65	-500	10	0	0	0	3
41	Bobby Labonte	51	-514	3	0	0	0	0
42	Jeffrey Earnhardt	48	-517	9	0	0	0	1
43	David Gilliland	46	-519	2	0	0	0	0
44	Michael Waltrip	42	-523	2	0	0	0	0
45	Patrick Carpentier	4	-561	1	0	0	0	0
46	Robert Richardson	3	-562	1	0	0	0	1
47	Ty Dillon	0	-565	7	0	0	0	0
48	Jeb Burton	0	-565	1	0	0	0	0
49	Joey Gase	0	-565	3	0	0	0	0
50	Dylan Lupton	0	-565	1	0	0	0	0
51	Ryan Ellis	0	-565	1	0	0	0	0
52	Cody Ware	0	-565	0	0	0	0	0