Brad Keselowski during the NASCAR Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway. (Photo: Dylan Nadwodny | The Podium Finish)
LINCOLN, Ala. — Brad Keselowski nearly broke his 107-race winless streak at Talladega Superspeedway but ultimately finished second to Tyler Reddick after nearly getting caught in a last-lap crash.
It’s the second race in a row that the RFK Racing co-owner finished runner-up, but unlike at Texas Motor Speedway, he felt more deserving of a win in Sunday’s GEICO 500.
“We just ran a really solid race, really good execution, strategy, put ourselves in position and ran up front at the end when it mattered,” Keselowski said after the race. “I just wish we could have got the win. It was kind of a wild finish.
“Good finishes are important, but we want wins. I could really taste it today, but it just didn’t happen.”
Keselowski led just two of 188 laps around the 2.66-mile superspeedway but had a shot to win it at the end. As the laps ticked down in a 27-lap sprint to the finish, Keselowski sat behind Michael McDowell at second on the bottom. McDowell controlled the final portion of the race, battling Tyler Reddick to his outside.
But on the final lap, Reddick lost momentum down the backstretch and it essentially came down to just Keselowski and McDowell. Keselowski went high entering the tri-oval and McDowell successfully blocked. He then darted low and McDowell came with him but McDowell didn’t get clear, spinning in front of the field and claiming several cars.
While Keselowski didn’t crash, he had to slow up for the wreck. Reddick surged past him on the outside and took the lead just before NASCAR threw the race-ending yellow.
Brad Keselowski runs in the draft during the NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway. (Photo: Stephen Conley | The Podium Finish)
“The Fords were really working well together. We cleared the Toyotas on the bottom lane and it was pretty clear it was gonna come down to the three of us,” Keselowski said, also referring to Noah Gragson in third. “Noah gave me a great push and I went to make a move on Michael and he covered it, and I went back the other way and got another push from Noah and there was nowhere to go when Michael came back down. I hate that for him. He’s a good guy. I hope he’s alright. That’s just kind of the way this stuff goes.
“Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get the win, but still a really solid day and something to be proud of.”
Still, Keselowski put together another solid points day. After starting 22nd, he got up to eighth at the end of Stage 1 to earn three extra points but finished outside the top 10 in Stage 2, largely because of pit strategy. He pitted on Lap 102 with a group of mostly Fords and couldn’t cycle back into points range.
The Rochester Hills, Michigan, native scored his fourth top-five of the season — all of which have come in the last seven races. Over the last two events, Keselowski has earned 78 combined points and jumped from 18th to 14th in the driver’s standings.
The NASCAR Cup Series returns Sunday, April 28 at Dover Motor Speedway for the Würth 400. The race is set for 2 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
