Win 100 For Penske From Keselowski

Keselowski pit stop

(DAYTONA BEACH, FL – JULY 2, 2016 – RIS) Roger Penske's organization scored its hundredth NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win with Brad Keselowski's dominant performance in the Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola. "Those guys were doing a heck of a job. Kyle and Kurt worked together really well, and my teammate Joey Logano was a huge part of this today," said the winner in Victory Lane. "We had two great cars here with Team Penske and worked together really well. Joey has won here and he's really a pro, especially on that restart. He gave me that push I need to get to the front and here we are at Daytona in Victory Lane. I don't care if it's not the 500. It's Daytona. This is huge." Fords filled five of the top ten finishing positions, with Trevor Bayne third, behind Kyle Busch.

"I owe the guys behind me that were pushing me. I had a lot of help," said Bayne. "The race was really crazy today. Just watching some of the guys working the middle you knew there would be trouble at some point. My spotter has a better perspective than I do, told me to go to the back and ride and we did and got through some wrecks. It was a tough night."

Lap 90 saw the "Big One" as Jamie McMurray moved low into Kyle Larson side, spun up the track and into the path of the back half of the pack, with all four Hendrick cars involved, plus about fifteen more cars. Harvick's car had the No. 44 of Brian Scott on top of it, with Matt DiBenedetto almost driving his No. 83 under Harvick's. In total, 19 cars - nearly half the field - was involved in the crash in some fashion. Prior to the incident, a lap 20 "competition" caution that allowed a wrecker to push Landon Cassill's stalled car to the pits was the only slowdown of the evening. A dozen cars had led before that point in the race.

Joey Logano led the field off of pit road, followed by AJ Allmendinger, Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski and David Ragan as the field took the green flag again. "I think somebody might have gotten into my left rear. I don't know if that cut the tire down or what but after I felt that happen, I just didn't have any control any more," said McMurray. "It seemed like a tire maybe went down and it actually felt like I hit oil. So, once you get to that point you just don't...I think the contact with the No. 42 (Kyle Larson) might have cut the tire because I just didn't have any control of the car there. It is unfortunate but it is just part of plate racing. I rode back in the ambulance with all those guys and we just talked about it is part of plate racing."

Matt Kenseth was asked what he saw that caused the crash: "Just a bunch of cars crashing – pretty much that was it. I was just trying to make my way back toward the front a little bit there. We had a bad pit stop exchange and came out way, way behind everybody. Carl (Edwards) was up towards the front and we were running with him before the pit stop. I probably should have just hung in the back, hindsight, but who knows when they're going to wreck, you never know if they're going to wreck. Just trying to get back towards the front and there was a wreck somewhere a few rows up in front of me and just nowhere really to go.

"The cars were a little bit unstable tonight, which typically makes for a little bit better plate racing," Kenseth added. "There were times when it looked like it was getting pretty hairy up there and we would back up a little bit, but it was actually starting to look like it was going to stable out. It was mainly two-wide and some three-wide, but you can't predict when they're [crashes] going to happen."

Chris Buescher reported "I tried to get on the brakes and just slid right in to it. There was nowhere to go. I tried to go up the middle. There seemed to be fewer cars there at the time but by the time we got there the hole filled up and we ended up in it."

A debris caution flew with 31 laps left in the event, with Kyle Busch leading the pack to the restart. With 26 laps to go, he took the green, flanked by Keselowski as the fourth row went three-wide.

Last week's winner, Tony Stewart, "got loose and over-corrected" in a slip that sent him into the outside wall after contact with Casey Mears and Carl Edwards, along with Trevor Bayne and Ryan Blaney with less damage. Less than one lap into the restart, Carl Edwards reacted to a slip by AJ Allmendinger and spun into the outside wall to cause another caution, this one with five laps left in the race.

The restart went green with one extra lap left to run under the green-white-checker rule. Keselowski led the main pack three-wide behind them. Kurt Busch got spun out of second place when Logano "drove through" him approaching the checkered flag, but Kurt Busch gave Penske Racing the team's 100th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win in their 50th year of competition. The victory is also Keselowski's first win at Daytona.

Unofficial Race Results: 58th Annual Coke Zero 400 Powered By Coca-Cola, Daytona International Speedway

Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Lap, Pts, BPts, TLd, LLd, Status
1) 5, Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Detroit Genuine Parts Ford, 161, 45, 5, 9, 115, Running
2) 3, Kyle Busch, No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota, 161, 40, 1, 4, 16, Running
3) 13, Trevor Bayne, No. 6 AdvoCare Ford, 161, 38, , , , Running
4) 11, Joey Logano, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, 161, 38, 1, 2, 6, Running
5) 4, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford, 161, 36, , , , Running
6) 17, Kyle Larson, No. 42 Target Chevrolet, 161, 35, , , , Running
7) 6, Austin Dillon, No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/NRA Museum Chevrolet, 161, 34, , , , Running
8) 1, Greg Biffle, No. 16 Ford EcoBoost Ford, 161, 34, 1, 1, 1, Running
9) 31, Clint Bowyer, No. 15 AccuDoc Solutions Chevrolet, 161, 33, 1, 1, 1, Running
10) 37, Michael McDowell, No. 95 KLOVE Radio Chevrolet, 161, 31, , , , Running
11) 35, * Cole Whitt, No. 98 RTIC Coolers Toyota, 161, 30, , , , Running
12) 20, Casey Mears, No. 13 GEICO Military Chevrolet, 161, 30, 1, 1, 2, Running
13) 26, AJ Allmendinger, No. 47 Kroger/Drumstick/Outshine Chevrolet, 161, 28, , , , Running
14) 12, * Ryan Blaney #, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford, 161, 27, , , , Running
15) 14, Aric Almirola, No. 43 Smithfield Ford, 161, 26, , , , Running
16) 38, David Ragan, No. 23 Shriners Hospital Toyota, 161, 26, 1, 1, 1, Running
17) 9, Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Toyota, 161, 25, 1, 2, 7, Running
18) 23, Ryan Newman, No. 31 Florida Lottery Chevrolet, 161, 23, , , , Running
19) 28, * David Gilliland, No. 35 Shaw's Southern Belle Frozen Food Ford, 161, 22, , , , Running
20) 33, Michael Annett, No. 46 Pilot Flying J Chevrolet, 161, 21, , , , Running
21) 16, Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet, 161, 20, , , , Running
22) 39, * Reed Sorenson, No. 55 RoyalTeakCollection.com Toyota, 161, 19, , , , Running
23) 10, Kurt Busch, No. 41 Monster Energy/Haas Automation Chevrolet, 161, 18, , , , Running
24) 32, Bobby Labonte, No. 32  Ford, 160, 17, , , , Running
25) 2, Carl Edwards, No. 19 Subway Toyota, 155, 17, 1, 1, 8, Accident
26) 19, Tony Stewart, No. 14 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet, 148, 16, 1, 1, 1, Accident
27) 22, Danica Patrick, No. 10 Nature's Bakery Chevrolet, 130, 14, , , , Running
28) 7, Matt Kenseth, No. 20 DEWALT FLEXVOLT Toyota, 127, 13, , , , Running
29) 15, Martin Truex Jr., No. 78 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Toyota, 127, 13, 1, 1, 1, Running
30) 18, Kasey Kahne, No. 5 Great Clips Chevrolet, 122, 11, , , , Running
31) 34, Landon Cassill, No. 38 Taco Bell Ford, 119, 10, , , , Running
32) 24, Chase Elliott #, No. 24 SunEnergy1 Chevrolet, 113, 9, , , , Running
33) 36, Matt DiBenedetto, No. 83 Dustless Blasting Toyota, 108, 8, , , , Running
34) 29, Jamie McMurray, No. 1 Credit One Chevrolet, 91, 7, , , , Accident
35) 8, Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe's Patriotic Chevrolet, 89, 6, , , , Accident
36) 27, Paul Menard, No. 27 Duracell/Menards Chevrolet, 89, 5, , , , Accident
37) 30, Brian Scott #, No. 44 Albertsons Co./Shore Lodge Ford, 89, 4, , , , Accident
38) 40, Regan Smith, No. 7 Golden Corral Chevrolet, 89, 4, 1, 1, 1, Accident
39) 21, Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Busch Beer Chevrolet, 89, 3, 1, 1, 1, Accident
40) 25, Chris Buescher #, No. 34 Love's Travel Stops Ford, 89, 1, , , , Accident
# = Rookie, (i) Ineligible for driver points in this series

Fin = Finish, Str = Start, Pts = Total Points, BPs = Lap Leader Bns Pts, TLd = Times Led, LLd = Laps Led.
Average Speed: 150.342 MPH
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 40 Mins, 38 Secs.
Margin of Victory: 0.159 Seconds
Lead Changes: 26 among 13 drivers
Cautions: 5 for 28 laps

John Davison

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

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Volume 2016, Issue 6, Posted 11:45 PM, 07.02.2016