Keselowski Wins Second Straight Cup Race While Ford Wins Fourth in a Row

LOUDON, NH – RIS – For the second day in a row, Brad Keselowski dominated a race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and won going away.  Yesterday, it was the NASCAR Nationwide Series race, and today it was the NASCAR Sprint Cup race, the Camping World 301.  He was more dominant in the Nationwide race, leading 152 of 200 laps, but leading 138 of 305 wasn’t shabby.  It also was the fourth straight win for Ford and the second straight for Keselowski.  Ford has not won four races in a row since the 2001 season. The win is also the eighth of the season for Ford, the most for the manufacturer since winning 11 times in 2008.

Keselowski easily held off Kyle Busch in a two-lap overtime to earn the race. Rookie Kyle Larson finished third, Matt Kenseth was fourth and Ryan Newman was fifth.

“The team was just really on it today,” Keselowski said.  “It really feels like we hit our stride, and I'm kind of quiet and somber because I want to soak it all in.  I don't want this moment to go away so quick.  Seems like you get in victory lane and you're rushed around left and right you don't really get a chance to soak it in.

 This was just such a phenomenal weekend, and these don't happen that often, and that's what makes it special, and you try to appreciate them and enjoy them and hope that there's more but not count on it, because these are big deals, winning races at the Sprint Cup level, sweeping a weekend, and it's all possible because of the hard work and effort from everyone at Team Penske.”

Kyle Busch, who started from the pole, took early command of the race and led the first 62 laps.  Deny Hamlin then took over and led the next 11 laps before Keselowski took over at Lap 78.  There were nine leaders in the race, but it was obvious that Keselowski had a dominant car.

“We still know we got a little bit of work to do trying to get better and be able to catch up with some of our other competitors,” Busch said.  “All in all, a decent day to be coming home second for our Interstate Batteries Camry.”

Jimmie Johnson, who was fast all weekend, suffered two flat left-rear tires in a 13-lap span and the second one sent his No. 48 Chevrolet into the wall on Lap 14.

“I knew I had a flat and then got down the back and came in,” Johnson said.  “The other one just blew on the straight as soon as I hit the brakes.  I’m not sure what caused it.  I’m sure there will be a lot of speculation and I’m sure finger pointing back to the teams or our team.  But we saw some issues here especially with that particular tire the last couple of days.  We will try to dig in and learn more.”

On Lap 91, Keselowski ran down Denny Hamlin a second time to once again take the lead. Debris in Turn 3 brought out the second caution of the race on Lap 113. Larson elected not to pit and took over the lead on the restart on Lap 119, followed by Kyle Busch and Hamlin.

Kenseth got around Larson to take the lead for the first time on Lap 127.

Keselowski moved into second behind Kenseth and completed the pass of Kenseth for the lead on Lap 139.

Debris on the backstretch brought out a caution on Lap 153.  All lead-lap cars pitted for fuel and tires and Joey Logano took over the race lead on the restart on Lap 158. He was followed by Jamie McMurray and Bowyer. Logano and McMurray made contact battling for the lead which allowed Bowyer to move into the top spot shortly after the restart. Over the next 19 laps, Keselowski worked his way to the front and passed Bowyer for the lead on Lap 177.

Debris in Turn 1 brought out the fourth caution of the race on Lap 178. Keselowski elected not to pit and remained in the race lead on the restart on Lap 182.

The lapped car of Morgan Shepherd slammed into Joey Logano, who was running second at the time, on Lap 213 to bring out the fifth caution of the race.

“I got taken out by the slowest car out there. You would think there would be some courtesy to the leaders. We were in second place,” Logano said.

“He gets out of the way on the straightaway and then goes into the corner and slides right up into the lane I was in. Whatever.”

Bowyer was the first car off pit road and took over the lead on the restart on Lap 219, but Keselowski made his way around Bowyer to re-take the lead on Lap 231.

Debris in Turn 3 brought out a caution on Lap 249. Several cars elected not to pit and Jeff Gordon took over the lead on the restart on Lap 254 followed by Hamlin and Kyle Busch.  After restarting ninth, Keselowski ran down Gordon to take over the lead on Lap 270.

With Keselowski running out to a two second lead, Justin Allgaier wrecked on Lap 298 which brought out the sixth caution of the race. Keselowski continued to lead on the restart on Lap 304.  He was never threatened and crossed the finish line ahead of Busch.

The Sprint Cup drivers take a week off before returning to action.

Unofficial Race Results New Hampshire Motor Speedway 22nd Annual Camping World RV Sales 301 Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Lap, Pts, BPts, Status, TLd, LLd

1) 7, Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Redd's Ford, 305, 48, 5, Running, 7, 138

2) 1, Kyle Busch, No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota, 305, 43, 1, Running, 1, 62

3) 13, Kyle Larson #, No. 42 Target Chevrolet, 305, 42, 1, Running, 2, 14

4) 15, Matt Kenseth, No. 20 Dollar General Toyota, 305, 41, 1, Running, 1, 12

5) 24, Ryan Newman, No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet, 305, 39, , Running, ,

6) 8, Clint Bowyer, No. 15 5-Hour Energy Toyota, 305, 39, 1, Running, 3, 36

7) 4, Tony Stewart, No. 14 Mobil 1 Chevrolet, 305, 37, , Running, ,

8) 3, Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Freight Toyota, 305, 37, 1, Running, 2, 20

9) 22, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 17 Wegmans/Cargill Ford, 305, 35, , Running, ,

10) 28, Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet, 305, 34, , Running, ,

11) 10, Kasey Kahne, No. 5 Great Clips/Shark Week Chevrolet, 305, 33, , Running, ,

12) 9, Martin Truex Jr., No. 78 Furniture Row Chevrolet, 305, 32, , Running, ,

13) 14, Carl Edwards, No. 99 Fastenal Ford, 305, 31, , Running, ,

14) 23, Austin Dillon #, No. 3 Dow Chevrolet, 305, 30, , Running, ,

15) 27, Greg Biffle, No. 16 NESN 30th Anniversary Ford, 305, 29, , Running, ,

16) 5, Jamie McMurray, No. 1 McDonald's Chevrolet, 305, 28, , Running, ,

17) 18, Kurt Busch, No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet, 305, 28, 1, Running, 1, 1

18) 20, AJ Allmendinger, No. 47 Kingsford Charcoal Chevrolet, 305, 26, , Running, ,

19) 16, Paul Menard, No. 27 Duracell/Menards Chevrolet, 305, 25, , Running, ,

20) 30, Jeff Burton, No. 66 Toyota Let's Go Places Toyota, 305, 24, , Running, ,

21) 17, Brian Vickers, No. 55 Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota, 305, 23, , Running, ,

22) 29, Danica Patrick, No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet, 305, 22, , Running, ,

23) 19, Aric Almirola, No. 43 Charter Ford, 305, 21, , Running, ,

24) 33, David Gilliland, No. 38 Long John Silver's Ford, 305, 20, , Running, ,

25) 26, David Ragan, No. 34 Taco Bell Ford, 305, 19, , Running, ,

26) 11, Jeff Gordon, No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet, 305, 19, 1, Running, 1, 19

27) 21, Marcos Ambrose, No. 9 DeWalt Ford, 304, 17, , Running, ,

28) 35, Cole Whitt #, No. 26 TapOut Muscle Recovery Toyota, 304, 16, , Running, ,

29) 32, Josh Wise, No. 98 Phil Parsons Racing Chevrolet, 304, 15, , Running, ,

30) 12, Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Budweiser Chevrolet, 304, 14, , Running, ,

31) 36, Alex Bowman #, No. 23 Dr Pepper Toyota, 303, 13, , Running, ,

32) 39, Michael Annett #, No. 7 Pilot/Flying J Chevrolet, 303, 12, , Running, ,

33) 37, Reed Sorenson, No. 36 Chevrolet, 302, 11, , Running, ,

34) 34, Landon Cassill(i), No. 40 Newtown Building Supplies Chevrolet, 301, 0, , Running, ,

35) 40, Eddie MacDonald, No. 32 tryandrozene.com Ford, 300, 9, , Running, ,

36) 38, Ryan Truex, No. 83 Burger King Toyota, 300, 8, , Running, ,

37) 25, Justin Allgaier #, No. 51 AccuDoc Solutions Chevrolet, 296, 7, , Accident, ,

38) 31, Casey Mears, No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet, 292, 6, , Running, ,

39) 43, Morgan Shepherd(i), No. 33 Thunder Coal Chevrolet, 278, 0, , Running, ,

40) 6, Joey Logano, No. 22 AutoTrader.com Ford, 211, 5, 1, Accident, 1, 3

41) 42, Timmy Hill, No. 87  Toyota, 76, 3, , Electrical, ,

42) 2, Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet, 11, 2, , Accident, ,

43) 41, Mike Bliss(i), No. 93 Dr Pepper Toyota, 6, PE, , Electrical, , # = Rookie, Fin = Finish, Str = Start, Pts = Total Points, BPs = Lap Leader Bns Pts, TLd = Times Led, LLd = Laps Led. (i) Ineligible for driver points in this series

Average Speed: 108.741 MPH    Time of Race: 02 Hrs, 58 Mins, 03 Secs.      Margin of Victory: 0.750 Seconds

Lead Changes: 18 among 9 drivers    Cautions: 7 for 35 laps

Ron Fleshman

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

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Volume 2014, Issue 7, Posted 11:01 PM, 07.13.2014