Brad Keselowski snookers 'em at the end, but this Talladega 500 was strangely without high drama

Brad Keselowski at the overtime finish line, well ahead of Kyle Busch (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)

   By Mike Mulhern
   mikemulhern.net


   TALLADEGA, Ala.
   Brad Keselowski just keeps amazing.
   Even the boss Roger Penske, who has seen a few good racers in his time.
   "I wouldn't trade him for anybody right now," a jubilant Penske said after Keselowski's stunning overtime win in Sunday's Talladega 500/Aarons 499, a first for
Dodge here since 1976.
   "He drove just about a perfect race.
   "He's the full package. My hope is to sit up on the stage as champions, and I think Brad is the guy to get us there."
   Penske has won a lot over his career, but never a NASCAR Cup championship, as surprising as that may seem for one of this sport's titans.
   Sunday's 500 wasn't a slugfest, but it was a crashfest, with nearly half the field wrecked out. Yet the race was strangely uneventful….well, for a race at Talladega Superspeedway.
   At least up till the final moments, when a series of crashes shook up things and left Keselowski the almost gleeful winner.
   On the final restart, green-white-checkered, Matt Kenseth and teammate Greg Biffle hooked up and sprinted away, just as they did at Daytona two months ago. This time, however, Kenseth and Biffle were simply too fast for their own good, getting too big a lead, and opening a gap for Keselowski and Kyle Busch to launch a run.
   Keselowski and Busch blew past Kenseth and Biffle with a stunning burst of speed, Keselowski led the two to the white flag, and then when the two got to turn three Keselowski pulled a trick move that caught Busch by surprise. That move kept Busch from launching a pass through the trioval, and Keselowski slipped away to win by five lengths.

  Paul Wolfe and crew celebrate Brad Keselowski's victory (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)

   "Hell, it's my job to be good. I'm not paid to suck at this," Keselowski said with a laugh.
   Keselowski's snooker move?
  "I had this plan if I ever got in that situation where I was leading. I thought about it, and thought about it, dreamed about what to do…and sure enough, going into turn three it was just me and Kyle," Busch said.   "And I knew the move I wanted to pull.  
    "I didn't think Kyle would make his move until we got to the trioval, though now maybe next time he'll try something different.
    "The guy running second (Busch Sunday) should have the advantage; but I had this move all worked up in my mind.
    "I went into turn three high and pulled down off of Kyle and broke the tandem up.  That allowed me to drive untouched to the checkered flag.  
    "It wasn't easy to convince myself to do that, but it was the right move.  I'm glad it worked.
    "You've got to have a plan and be ready to execute.
   "You've got to have a team and a car, and then you've got to close the deal."

 Unexpected morning rain delayed the start of the Talladega 500 for 45 minutes (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)

   Busch after the race still seemed to be trying to figure out just what Keselowski did.
   "They got away from us (on the restart), but then Brad and I got hooked up and ran them down," Busch said. "Unfortunately we got disconnected from Brad getting into turn three, and that was it. I don't know if Brad did anything; if he did, that was smart. I think we just got disconnected."
    But Kenseth seemed the most upset, and with himself: "We had the winning car, just didn't have the winning driver."
   Kenseth had the dominant car, led 73 of the 194 laps, and he had Biffle right behind him on the final restart with two laps to go….looking for a finish to repeat their 1-2 run in the Daytona 500.
   "If we could have stayed locked together," Kenseth said, referring to Biffle, "it would have come down to me and him.
  "I just didn't do a good enough job there. Greg didn't have anybody behind him to push him, so I should have dragged the brakes to keep us hooked up. I wasn't paying enough attention. Cost us a shot at the win and cost Greg a shot at the win."

  Brad Keselowski in victory (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)

    Just minutes before his winning moves, Keselowski was close to being one of the day's goats, for his run-in with former teammate Kurt Busch.
   "At Talladega patience is a bit of an oxymoron…" Keselowski said.
    That may have been too obvious in Keselowski's late-race battle with Kurt Busch when the two tangled on lap 182 of the scheduled 188-lapper, just after a restart.
   Kurt Busch: "Keselowski just got into us a little too hard. I was going to change lanes, and I’m sure he didn’t realize it. It’s pretty disappointing to come to one of the places we have circled on the schedule, run well all day and have it end like this but that’s part of it."  

    "I'm sorry, Kurt," Keselowski said to the man who was his teammate last season. "You've been a great friend and great teammate when I worked with you, and that was the last thing I wanted to see happen. Just a miscommunication on our part.
   "We had a group behind running us down, pushing each other, and I knew if we didn't go right then, we were going to get swallowed by the pack with four to go and we would never get our track position back.  
    "So I got a run on Kurt and decided to use it to push him.  
     "I don't think he wanted to go. But I don't think he knew what was going on behind him, and he tried to stay low and stay in line.  
      "I was just pushing too hard.  I should have let him go, instead of getting so aggressive.
     "I hope he's not too mad at me."

   Teammate AJ Allmendinger was also making amends after the race, for his blocking move on Denny Hamlin moments later, which triggered a nine-car crash. "I had a chance to win the race until it all went down the drain," an irate Allmendinger said. "On the restart everybody was getting after it.  I tried to block; if Denny was already there, my apology."
   That incident took Hamlin, Tony Stewart, Kevin Harvick, Paul Menard, Michael Waltrip and Joey Logano out of contention, and it set up the overtime finish.

 
  After the clouds lifted and the sun came out, it was a perfect day at the track (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)