Keselowski Dominates Richmond and Moves On to the Next Round

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RICHMOND, VA – RIS – Brad Keselowski dominated the Federal Auto Parts 400 NASCAR Cup race at Richmond Raceway, leaving no doubt he will be a factor in the championship run.  By winning, he locks his team into the next round with one more race next week at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Keselowski entered NASCAR's playoffs certain he has as good a chance at the Cup championship as favorites Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin. He even predicted he’d win at Richmond Raceway. His confidence was correct as Keselowski indeed won Saturday night at Richmond, the second playoff race, and advanced into the second next round.

Harvick, the title favorite, won last week’s opener to earn the automatic berth into the second round. Hamlin, derailed at his home track of Richmond by a speeding penalty, finished 12th but still advanced into the next round based on points.

Keselowski was the only driver able to run with Harvick and Hamlin when racing resumed in May following a pause for the pandemic. He won three races, earned a contract extension at Team Penske and steadfastly maintained he should not be discounted in the title race.

Keselowski and most of the field utilized a two-stop pit strategy during the final stage, went green the entire way. He ended up taking the checkered flag nearly 2.6 second ahead of Martin Truex Jr.

The win is Keselowski’s fourth of the 2020 season and 34th of his career. His No. 2 Penske team ran the same chassis as his victory at New Hampshire last month.

“It was a great race for us and the No. 2 team.  This is, I think my car from Loudon, and I wanted to do a really cool burnout with it, but I want this car for Phoenix. It’s 2-for-2 and I’m real pumped," Keselowski said. "I don’t want to look too far ahead. We’ve got to get there.

The driver of the No. 2 Ford Mustang did not  do a celebratory burnout after making good on his Richmond prediction because that specific No. 2 Ford has now won twice this year and Keselowski wants it intact for the championship-deciding finale at Phoenix.

“I don’t want to look too far ahead, the next round is going to be really difficult, but still I am really pumped about this performance,” Keselowski said. “We’ve got to get (to the finale). The last few years I haven’t made it all the way. But if we can get to Phoenix, we’re going to be really good."

The car was the same car used at New Hampshire.

Keselowski led a race-high 192 of the 400 laps and gave Team Penske a sweep of the day – Will Power won for the IndyCar arm of the organization earlier Saturday.

Martin Truex Jr. finished second at Richmond, followed by Keselowski teammate Joey Logano and Austin Dillon, who has opened the playoffs with back-to-back top-five finishes for the first time in his career. Harvick finished seventh.

Caution periods were at a minimum in Saturday night’s race. The race was run with just three interruptions and restarts, one for a competition yellow due to track surface changes and two for stage breaks, so teams were instead able to run a full race to a set strategy. This was of great benefit to Team Penske, whose Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski were strong throughout the day, but, surprisingly, it was also beneficial to Richard Childress Racing, whose Austin Dillon briefly led the race on multiple occasions on a run so strong that he was able to lock up a top five finish despite losing significant time due to a speeding penalty and missing his stall on his first attempt to make his final stop.

Next up is Bristol, a place many drivers have trouble running well at the half mile track called “The Last Great Coliseum.” Those drivers who finish well or win can move on to the next round made up of 12 drivers.

Unofficial Results, Federated Auto Parts 400: Richmond Raceway

Fin, St, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Tms, Laps, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 9, Brad Keselowski (P), 2, Western Star/Alliance Parts Ford, 400, 4, 1, 4, 192, 6, 57, Running
2) 14, Martin Truex Jr. (P), 19, Bass Pro Shops Toyota, 400, 7, 3, , , , 47, Running
3) 2, Joey Logano (P), 22, Shell Pennzoil Ford, 400, 3, 4, 2, 45, , 49, Running
4) 3, Austin Dillon (P), 3, DOW NORKOOL Chevrolet, 400, 2, 2, 5, 55, , 51, Running
5) 12, Chase Elliott (P), 9, NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, 400, 8, 5, 1, 2, , 41, Running
6) 6, Kyle Busch (P), 18, M&M's Toyota, 400, , 6, 1, 4, , 36, Running
7) 1, Kevin Harvick (P), 4, Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford, 400, 5, 10, 3, 41, , 37, Running
8) 10, Aric Almirola (P), 10, Smithfield Hometown Original Ford, 400, , 8, , , , 32, Running
9) 4, Alex Bowman (P), 88, ChevyGoods.com/Truck Hero Chevrolet, 400, 6, , , , , 33, Running
10) 11, Clint Bowyer (P), 14, Ford Performance Racing School Ford, 400, 10, , , , , 28, Running
11) 22, Tyler Reddick #, 8, CAT Rental Store Chevrolet, 400, , , , , , 26, Running
12) 7, Denny Hamlin (P), 11, FedEx Cares Toyota, 399, 1, , 1, 45, 1, 35, Running
13) 8, Kurt Busch (P), 1, Monster Energy Chevrolet, 399, , 7, 2, 15, , 28, Running
14) 13, Cole Custer # (P), 41, HaasTooling.com Ford, 399, , , , , , 23, Running
15) 26, Christopher Bell #, 95, Rheem Toyota, 399, , , , , , 22, Running
16) 19, Matt Kenseth, 42, McDonald's Chevrolet, 399, , 9, , , , 23, Running
17) 16, Matt DiBenedetto (P), 21, Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford, 399, , , , , , 20, Running
18) 23, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 47, Kroger Chevrolet, 398, 9, , , , , 21, Running
19) 15, Ryan Blaney (P), 12, Menards/Libman Ford, 398, , , , , , 18, Running
20) 24, Ryan Preece, 37, Kleenex Chevrolet, 398, , , , , , 17, Running
21) 5, William Byron (P), 24, Liberty University Chevrolet, 398, , , , , , 16, Running
22) 17, Erik Jones, 20, Irwin SPEEDBOR Toyota, 398, , , , , , 15, Running
23) 21, Ryan Newman, 6, Guaranteed Rate Ford, 397, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 25, Chris Buescher, 17, Fastenal Ford, 397, , , , , , 13, Running
25) 20, Michael McDowell, 34, Love's Travel Plaza Ford, 397, , , , , , 12, Running
26) 30, Bubba Wallace, 43, Door Dash Chevrolet, 397, , , , , , 11, Running
27) 34, Corey LaJoie, 32, Keen Parts Ford, 396, , , , , , 10, Running
28) 27, Ty Dillon, 13, GEICO Chevrolet, 396, , , , , , 9, Running
29) 28, * Daniel Suarez, 96, TOYOTA T-TEN Toyota, 396, , , , , , 8, Running
30) 31, John Hunter Nemechek #, 38, MDS Trucking Ford, 396, , , , , , 7, Running
31) 18, Jimmie Johnson, 48, Ally Chevrolet, 395, , , , , , 6, Running
32) 33, Quin Houff #, 00, Trucker Appreciation Chevrolet, 390, , , , , , 5, Running
33) 29, Brennan Poole #, 15, Chevrolet, 390, , , 1, 1, , 4, Running
34) 32, JJ Yeley(i), 27, Jacob Companies Ford, 388, , , , , , 0, Running
35) 36, Joey Gase(i), 51, donatelifevirginia.org Ford, 387, , , , , , 0, Running
36) 35, Reed Sorenson, 77, Betterforyourhealth.com Chevrolet, 387, , , , , , 1, Running
37) 38, James Davison, 53, Cruz and Associates Chevrolet, 385, , , , , , 1, Running
38) 37, * Timmy Hill(i), 66, CrashClaimsR.US Toyota, 100, , , , , , 0, Rear Hub
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie, (P) Playoffs qualified

Race Length: 400 laps, 300 miles
Time of Race: 2 hr, 56 min, 42 sec
Average Speed: 101.868 mph
Margin of Victory: 1.568 sec

Stage 1 Top 10: 11, 3, 22, 2, 4, 88, 19, 9, 47, 14
Stage 2 Top 10: 2, 3, 19, 22, 9, 18, 1, 10, 42, 4

Race Comments: Brad Keselowski won the Federated Auto Parts 400 at the Richmond Raceway, his 34th victory in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Prior to the start, the following vehicle(s) dropped to the rear of the field under penalty: No. 95 (unapproved adjustments), No. 18 (inspection failures).

Caution Flags: 3 for 21 laps
Laps: 32-37 (Competition Caution [66]);
82-89 (Stage 1 Conclusion [96]);
237-243 (Stage 2 Conclusion [41]).

Lead Changes: 19 among 9 drivers;
K. Harvick (P) 1-20;
A. Dillon (P) 21-33;
B. Poole No. 34;
A. Dillon (P) 35-38;
D. Hamlin (P) 39-83;
A. Dillon (P) 84;
J. Logano (P) 85-120;
B. Keselowski (P) 121-162;
K. Harvick (P) 163-181;
A. Dillon (P) 182-217;
B. Keselowski (P) 218-293;
C. Elliott (P) 294-295;
K. Busch (P) 296-307;
J. Logano (P) 308-316;
B. Keselowski (P) 317-342;
K. Busch (P) 343-346;
K. Harvick (P) 347-348;
K. Busch (P) 349-351;
A. Dillon (P) 352;
B. Keselowski (P) 353-400.

American Ethanol Green Flag Restart Award: Austin Dillon, No. 3

Busch Pole Award: Kevin Harvick, No. 4

Sunoco Rookie of the Race: Tyler Reddick, No. 8

Ron Fleshman with John Davison

RIS NASCAR Editor.  Has been with RIS since the middle 90's. Writes on each of the three main series of NASCAR.

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Volume 2020, Issue 9, Posted 12:02 AM, 09.13.2020