Brad Keselowski used his Penske Dodge’s excellent fuel economy fuel strategy to take the win in the NASCAR AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway in Dover, Delaware Sunday afternoon. It was Keselowski’s fifth win of the season, second Chase win, and gave him a five-point lead in the Chase for the championship.
“I may not have had the best car, but hung around in that top five, just creeping around, and when you do that, you put yourself in position for good things to happen,” Keselowski said on ESPN
“That’s what this No. 2 team has done the last few months. Man, if we keep doing this the next seven weeks, it will be an awesome seven weeks. I’m just really, really proud of the effort.”
Keselowski ran in the top five for most of the race, but couldn’t match the pace of Kyle Busch, who led 302 of 400 laps, or Jimmie Johnson who led 43.
Keselowski knew that his Penske Dodge got better mileage than his competitors, and that if he saved a little at the start of the last stint he would have enough to push a little at the end of the race. The Penske driver started conserving while Busch and Johnson raced hard for the lead.
Johnson slowed down on lap 354 to conserve fuel; Busch and teammate Denny Hamlin passed Johnson. Keselowski, already saving fuel, had enough to challenge for third. Johnson tried to hold off Keselowski but couldn’t use too much fuel. Eventually the Hendricks Motorsports Chevrolet driver had to let his rival past.
Busch and Hamlin had to pit for fuel with eleven laps to go, giving the lead to Keselowski. Behind the leader, Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon, who had pitted for fuel eight laps later, came charging hard to the line. Keselowski crossed just over a second ahead of Martin with Gordon half-a-second behind.
Jimmy Johnson finished fourth and fell to second in the points standings. Kyle Busch finished seventh.
NASCAR will be at Talladega Superspeedway next Sunday for the Good Sam Roadside Assistance 500.
