Keselowski Blows From Traffic School to Las Vegas Victory Lane

Brad Keselowski on the Charlotte Motor Speedway Media Tour

(Las Vegas – Mar 6, 2016 – RIS) Brad Keselowski drove back from a pit road speeding penalty to pass Kyle Busch for victory in the Kobalt 400. Fellow Penske driver Joey Logano followed 'Bad Brad' home in second place and Jimmie Johnson squeaked by Kyle Busch under the flag to grab third place by only 0.016 second. "This is really, really great," Keselowski exulted. "It seemed like there were plenty of challenges, whether it was pit road or the weather or cautions. They threw everything they had at us today but this Miller Lite Ford team was too strong and we were able to fight them off and get to victory lane.

"He had a really good short run car but it fell off on the long run. That is part of this new package, some are good on short run and some are good on long run and we had a really good long run car today."

In a race marked by sandstorm, early rain and strong wins, Kyle Busch reported that his final pit stop for right-side tires resulted in a severe vibration and eventually a bad push that slowed him to his fourth place finish. Austin Dillon followed in fifth, with rookie Ryan Blaney in the Wood Brothers car took sixth. Kevin Harvick, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Kurt Busch and Kasey Kahne filled out the top ten.

Rain delayed the start of the race about a half hour, then a severe dust storm extended a caution period. Jimmie Johnson led for 76 laps, with Logano second in that statistic as well as his second-place finish, leading 75 rounds of the 1.5-mile track.

(Ron Fleshman will be here later with a full race report)

Unofficial Race Results, 19th Annual Kobalt 400 - Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Fin, St, Driver, Car, Lap, Pts, BPts, Status, TLd, LLd

1) 4, Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Miller Lite Ford, 267, 44, 4, Running, 3, 24
2) 2, Joey Logano, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, 267, 40, 1, Running, 7, 70
3) 11, Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Kobalt Chevrolet, 267, 40, 2, Running, 4, 76
4) 23, Kyle Busch, No. 18 M&M's 75 Toyota, 267, 38, 1, Running, 1, 38
5) 5, Austin Dillon, No. 3 Dow Energy & Water/Intellifresh Chevrolet, 267, 37, 1, Running, 1, 2
6) 14, * Ryan Blaney #, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford, 267, 35, , Running, ,
7) 6, Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Jimmy John's Chevrolet, 267, 35, 1, Running, 1, 1
8) 20, Dale Earnhardt Jr, No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet, 267, 33, , Running, ,
9) 1, Kurt Busch, No. 41 Monster Energy/Haas Automation Chevrolet, 267, 33, 1, Running, 1, 31
10) 8, Kasey Kahne, No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet, 267, 31, , Running, ,
11) 10, Martin Truex Jr, No. 78 Furniture Row Toyota, 267, 30, , Running, ,
12) 16, Ricky Stenhouse Jr, No. 17 Fastenal Ford, 267, 29, , Running, ,
13) 21, Ryan Newman, No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet, 267, 28, , Running, ,
14) 12, AJ Allmendinger, No. 47 Smith's/Kingsford Chevrolet, 267, 27, , Running, ,
15) 15, Paul Menard, No. 27 Dutch Boy/Menards Chevrolet, 267, 26, , Running, ,
16) 29, Jamie McMurray, No. 1 Cessna Chevrolet, 267, 25, , Running, ,
17) 28, Trevor Bayne, No. 6 AdvoCare Ford, 267, 24, , Running, ,
18) 24, Carl Edwards, No. 19 ARRIS Toyota, 267, 23, , Running, ,
19) 9, Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota, 267, 23, 1, Running, 1, 10
20) 26, Greg Biffle, No. 16 Cheez-It Ford, 267, 21, , Running, ,
21) 18, Danica Patrick, No. 10 Nature's Bakery Chevrolet, 267, 20, , Running, ,
22) 35, Clint Bowyer, No. 15 5-Hour Energy Chevrolet, 267, 19, , Running, ,
23) 22, Casey Mears, No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet, 267, 18, , Running, ,
24) 7, Aric Almirola, No. 43 Smithfield Ford, 266, 17, , Running, ,
25) 33, Regan Smith, No. 7 Road Rippers Street Beatz Chevrolet, 266, 17, 1, Running, 1, 1
26) 25, Chris Buescher #, No. 34 Love's Travel Stops Ford, 266, 15, , Running, ,
27) 32, Brian Scott #, No. 44 Albertsons Co/White Tail Ford, 266, 14, , Running, ,
28) 27, Landon Cassill, No. 38 MDS Transport Ford, 266, 13, , Running, ,
29) 30, Michael McDowell, No. 95 WRL General Contractors Chevrolet, 266, 12, , Running, ,
30) 37, Michael Annett, No. 46 Pilot Flying J Chevrolet, 265, 11, , Running, ,
31) 34, Matt DiBenedetto, No. 83 Cosmo Motors Toyota, 263, 10, , Running, ,
32) 31, David Ragan, No. 23 Dr Pepper Toyota, 262, 9, , Running, ,
33) 38, Jeffrey Earnhardt #, No. 32 Can-Am Ford, 262, 8, , Running, ,
34) 17, Kyle Larson, No. 42 Target Chevrolet, 262, 7, , Running, ,
35) 39, * Josh Wise, No. 30 Curtis Key Plumbing Chevrolet, 259, 6, , Running, ,
36) 19, Brian Vickers, No. 14 Mobil 1 Chevrolet, 257, 5, , Running, ,
37) 3, Matt Kenseth, No. 20 DeWalt Toyota, 224, 5, 1, Accident, 1, 9
38) 13, Chase Elliott #, No. 24 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, 224, 3, , Accident, ,
39) 36, * Cole Whitt, No. 98 Speed Stick Chevrolet, 115, 2, , Vibration, ,

# = Rookie, (i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, * = non franchise team
Fin = Finish, St = Start, Pts = Total Points, BPs = Lap Leader Bonus Points, TLd = Times Led, LLd = Laps Led.
Average Speed: 138.170 MPH
Time of Race: 02 Hrs, 53 Mins, 55 Secs.
Margin of Victory: 0.675 Seconds
Lead Changes: 20 among 10 drivers
Cautions: 6 for 36 laps

Lap Leaders:
20 lead changes among 10 leaders
#          Car      From  To       Tot.     #          Car      From  To       Tot.    
Pole     41       1          31       31       11       48       133     148     16      
1          22       32       32       1          12       22       149     150     2         
2          7          33       33       1          13       2          151     154     4         
3          11       34       43       10       14       48       155     176     22      
4          22       44       82       39       15       22       177     200     24      
5          4          83       83       1          16       20       201     209     9         
6          3          84       85       2          17       48       210     216     7         
7          2          86       99       14       18       22       217     223     7         
8          22       100     100     1          19       18       224     261     38      
9          48       101     131     31       20       2          262     267     6
10       22       132     132     1

Lap Leaders
#          Car      Driver            Times            Laps
1          48       J. Johnson       4          76
2          22       J. Logano         7          75
3          18       Kyle Busch     1          38
4          41       Kurt Busch     1          31
5          2          B. Keselowski 3          24
6          11       D. Hamlin       1          10
7          20       M. Kenseth     1          9
8          3          A. Dillon          1          2
9          4          K. Harvick       1          1
10       7          R. Smith          1          1

Cautions (6 for 36 Laps)
#          From  To       Tot.     Benef  Remarks
1          32       35       4          46       Competition caution
2          100     104     5          6          Debris on the frontstretch
3          179     185     7          6          Debris in Turn 1
4          199     203     5          -           #42 and 47 Accident in Turn 2
5          216     223     8          16       #7 and 42 Accident in Turn 4
6          226     232     7          13       #19, 21, 24 and 41 Accident in Turn 2

Unofficial points after the 19th annual Kobalt 400

BPts -  Bonus Points, -Ldr/-Nxt = Points behind Leader/Next higher, PPos = Previous Position, G/L = Points standing gain/loss