Keselowski Returns Blue Oval to Victory Lane at Darlington

Brad Keselowski celebrates with the American flag

(DARLINGTON, SC – MAY 12, 2024 – RIS) Brad Keselowski found Victory Lane at Darlington for his second win at the old track and 36th career win. Keselowski led five times for only 37 laps, while Tyler Reddick dominated the race, running in front of the pack on four occasions for a total of 174 laps. Ty Gibbs led once for 34 laps and Chris Buescher was in front of the field for 21 laps, only to be taken out late in the race by an error by Reddick. The win is Keselowski’s first in 110 races, the first for a team co-owner since Tony Stewart won in 2016 and the first Ford victory in the 2024 season.

Tyler Reddick used his pole position to jump out to a one-second edge on second-place qualifier Brad Keselowski in the first ten laps of the Goodyear 400. The entire field strung out in single file, chasing traction in the upper lane on the tricky old South Carolina speedway. After the first 20 laps, Keselowski started closing on Reddick, getting within a half second in the next ten laps. 

In those first 30 laps, Kyle Larson gained the most positions among the front runners, getting to third place from his sixth-place start, then became one of the first cars to pit. Reddick and Keselowski pitted together, with Reddick leading off of pit road. Meanwhile, Bubba Wallace took the lead, thanks to staying on the track but fresher tires on the early pit stop cars let them simply motor around the No. 23 Toyota as Wallace’s times were about two seconds a lap slower.

Ty Gibbs, Larson, Byron, Keselowski and Reddick sorted into the lead after pit stops completed their cycle, with Keselowski and Byron racing side-by-side for third place lap after lap.

Larson got around Gibbs for the lead and Byron dropped to sixth just before the 90-lap mark in the first stage while the longer wait to pit gave Ryan Blaney and Bubba Wallace fresher tires, letting them make gains on the leaders.

Larson went on to win the first stage, his seventh stage win of 2024 with GIbbs, Keselowski, Reddick, Truex, Gilliland, Buescher, Blaney, Byron and Wallace the rest of the top ten.

John Hunter Nemechek spun on the front straight, bringing out a caution on lap 120, eventually needing a tow back to the pits for new tires, as the car’s frame was dragging and kept the car from being able to continue into the pits without assistance.

Reddick again won the pit road race, with a slow stop for Larson dropping the No. 5 back a few spots as the field cycled through the pits. 

Blaney hit the wall after getting squeezed by Truex, causing a caution on the first green flag lap and almost involving half the field as the incident happened in the leaders. Blaney’s crew was unable to make repairs to the No. 12 Ford under the Damaged Vehicle Policy and the car was sent to the garage as the first car out of the race. Reddick and Gibbs moved out to the lead on the restart, with Larson taking fourth from teammate Byron after a few laps of green flag racing.

Zane Smith spun off the fourth turn, bringing out a caution on lap 162 with 24 laps left to race in the second stage. 

Reddick, Gibbs and Keselowski were the first three off of pit road, with Logano and Byron next in the lineup for the restart.

Reddick headed Keselowski, Gibbs, Logano, Larson and Byron at the end of the second stage after leading half the laps run so far in the race. As he has after practiacally every pit stop, Reddick led the fild off of pit road, choosing the outside lane for the restart with Keselowski to his inside with Larson and Byron on the second row, followed by Hamlin and Logano. 

Keselowski used a pick from Daniel Hemric to take the lead from Reddick on lap 226 and quickly opened up a lead of over a half second. 

Mid-stage pit stops cycled through with Keselowski regaining the lead when Carson Hocevar stopped. Reddick was running about four tenths of a second back, with Ty Gibb almost a second and a half behind Reddick. 

Kyle Larsonhad a spin due to a flat left-rear tire, sliding into the wall and bringing out a caution and setting up a short run strategy for the remaining leaders. Reddick beat Keselowski out of the pits by a fender to take the lead for this restart. Keselowski and Reddick raced side-by-side or the lead with Chris Buescher giving Keselowski a push but Keselowski coupd not complete the pass. A few laps later, Buescher dove to the bottom of the track and swept into the lead of the race with Reddick moving to second ahead of Keselowski.

Reddick made a low pass attempt on Buescher, with both cars slapping the wall and then forced to pit with damage, letting Keselowski return to the lead with a gap of about a second ahead of Ty Gibbs in second with Josh Berry another half second back in third. Gibbs closed to within about three-fourths of a second but then the gap held steady with Keselowski taking the white flag almost a full second ahead of Gibbs. 

“It’s as tough as it gets. We caught a break,” said Keselowski.

“We got used up” was Buescher’s comment about the contact with Reddick that ended his chance at a first win.

“I made a really aggressive move,” admitted Reddick. “I tried to slide up in front him. He did nothing wrong. I’ll have to work on that and try to make some better decisions…”

Unofficial Results: Goodyear 400, May 12, 2024, Darlington Raceway
Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Tms, Laps, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 2, Brad Keselowski, No. 6 Castrol Ford, 293, 3, 2, 5, 37, 5, 57, Running
2) 4, Ty Gibbs, No. 54 He Gets Us Toyota, 293, 2, 3, 1, 34, , 52, Running
3) 33, Josh Berry #, No. 4 Harrison's Ford, 293, , , , , , 34, Running
4) 7, Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Yahoo! Toyota, 293, , 8, 1, 1, , 36, Running
5) 13, Chase Briscoe, No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford, 293, , , , , , 32, Running
6) 5, William Byron, No. 24 Axalta Throwback Chevrolet, 293, 9, 6, 1, 2, , 38, Running
7) 8, Bubba Wallace, No. 23 McDonald's Toyota, 293, 10, 9, 1, 6, , 33, Running
8) 18, Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Throwback Chevrolet, 293, , , , , , 29, Running
9) 28, Justin Haley, No. 51 NC Fraternal Order of Police Ford, 293, , , , , , 28, Running
10) 16, Michael McDowell, No. 34 Long John Silver's Ford, 293, , , , , , 27, Running
11) 9, Ross Chastain, No. 1 Busch Light Throwback Chevrolet, 293, , 10, , , , 27, Running
12) 31, Chase Elliott, No. 9 UniFirst Throwback Chevrolet, 293, , , , , , 25, Running
13) 12, Christopher Bell, No. 20 DEWALT 100 Years Toyota, 293, , , , , , 24, Running
14) 36, Noah Gragson, No. 10 Overstock.com Ford, 293, , , , , , 23, Running
15) 15, Todd Gilliland, No. 38 gener8tor Ford, 293, 6, , , , , 27, Running
16) 24, Corey LaJoie, No. 7 Razzle Dazzle Chevrolet, 293, , , , , , 21, Running
17) 26, Ryan Preece, No. 41 United Rentals Ford, 293, , , , , , 20, Running
18) 34, Kaz Grala #, No. 15 N29 Capital Partners Ford, 293, , , , , , 19, Running
19) 30, Erik Jones, No. 43 AdventHealth Toyota, 293, , , , , , 18, Running
20) 25, Austin Cindric, No. 2 Freightliner Ford, 293, , , , , , 17, Running
21) 14, Joey Logano, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, 293, , 4, , , , 23, Running
22) 35, Harrison Burton, No. 21 DEX Imaging Ford, 293, , , , , , 15, Running
23) 20, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Oscar Mayer/Artesano Bread Chevrolet, 293, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 19, Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Quaker State Chevrolet, 293, , , , , , 13, Running
25) 10, Martin Truex Jr., No. 19 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota, 293, 5, , , , , 18, Running
26) 21, Carson Hocevar #, No. 77 Premier Security/NLEOMF.org Chevrolet, 293, , , 1, 2, , 11, Running
27) 11, Kyle Busch, No. 8 zone Chevrolet, 293, , , , , , 10, Running
28) 23, Austin Dillon, No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet, 293, , , , , , 9, Running
29) 32, Derek Kraus, No. 16 projectwyoming.com Chevrolet, 292, , , , , , 8, Running
30) 3, Chris Buescher, No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford, 291, 7, 7, 1, 21, , 15, Running
31) 22, John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Family Dollar Toyota, 291, , , , , , 6, Running
32) 1, Tyler Reddick, No. 45 MoneyLion Toyota, 291, 4, 1, 4, 174, 1, 22, Running
33) 29, Daniel Hemric, No. 31 Black's Tire Chevrolet, 290, , , , , , 4, Running
34) 6, Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Throwback Chevrolet, 252, 1, 5, 1, 15, 1, 19, Accident
35) 27, Zane Smith #, No. 71 Focused Health Chevrolet, 161, , , , , , 2, Accident
36) 17, Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Menards/Maytag Ford, 129, 8, , 1, 1, , 4, DVP
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie

Race Length: 293 Laps, 400.238 Miles
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 12 Mins, 30 Secs.
Average Speed: 124.75 MPH
Margin of Victory: 1.214 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 5, 54, 6, 45, 19, 38, 17, 12, 24, 23
Stage 2 Top 10: 45, 6, 54, 22, 5, 24, 17, 11, 23, 1

Comments: Brad Keselowski has won the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway, his 36th career victory in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Cautions: 6 for 38 laps;
Laps: 92-98 (Stage 1 Conclusion [77]);
122-128 (No. 42 Spin Turn 4 [3]);
130-134 (No. 12, 17, 19 Incident Turn 2 [41]);
164-169 (No. 71 Incident Frontstretch [21]);
187-193 (Stage 2 Conclusion [42]);
255-260 (No. 5 Incident Turn 3 [47]).

Leaders (10)
Driver, Car, Times Led, Laps Led
Tyler Reddick, No. 45 MoneyLion Toyota, 4, 174
Brad Keselowski, No. 6 Castrol Ford, 5, 37
Ty Gibbs, No. 54 He Gets Us Toyota, 1, 34
Chris Buescher, No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford, 1, 21
Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Throwback Chevrolet, 1, 15
Bubba Wallace, No. 23 McDonald's Toyota, 1, 6
William Byron, No. 24 Axalta Throwback Chevrolet, 1, 2
Carson Hocevar #, No. 77 Premier Security/NLEOMF.org Chevrolet, 1, 2
Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Yahoo! Toyota, 1, 1
Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Menards/Maytag Ford, 1, 1

Lead Changes: 16 among 10 drivers;
T. Reddick 1-37;
B. Wallace 38-43;
R. Blaney 44;
T. Gibbs 45-78;
K. Larson 79-93;
B. Keselowski 94;
T. Reddick 95-225;
B. Keselowski 226-237;
W. Byron 238-239;
D. Hamlin 240;
C. Hocevar # 241-242;
B. Keselowski 243-256;
T. Reddick 257-261;
B. Keselowski 262;
T. Reddick 263;
C. Buescher 264-284;
B. Keselowski 285-293.

John Davison

Long-time RIS staffer, beginning in the mid-80s. Charlotte, NC area local contact.

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