Keselowski Wins the Coca-Cola 600 in Overtime

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CONCORD, NC - RIS -Brad Keselowski won the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday night after battles with Chase Elliott and Martin Truex, Jr. With Elliott leading, a spin by William Byron brought out the caution and sent the race into a two-lap overtime.  While Chase Elliott pitted for tires, Keselowski stayed out on the track and assumed the lead.  The shootout that followed proved Keselowski’s crew chief as Keselowski was never headed to score the 31st win of his career and his first of 2020 for the 2015 champion.

"I feel like I've thrown this race away a handful of times, and I thought we were going to lose it today," Keselowski told Fox Sports after his 31st career Cup Series win.

"I know we've lost it the way that Chase lost it and that really stinks, and today we finally won it that way."

Following Keselowski, Elliott and Johnson were Ryan Blaney in fourth and Kyle Busch in fifth.

For Elliott, it is a second straight tough ending to a Cup Series race. In the second race at Darlington last week, Kyle Busch sent Elliott while he was running second with 28 laps to go. Elliott had an angry response to Busch on the track, but the two later put the incident to bed. This week though, it was something that the No. 9 team was in control of at the end of the race.

'Just trying to make the best decisions you can," Elliott told Fox Sports. "That's just part of it and you make decisions and live with them."

It was an eventful race for Keselowski. He qualified ninth and was sent to the rear at the race’s start due to an unapproved part.

The race started out under cloudy skies, but the rains came for a brief period.  After drying the track, racing resumed in what became a six-hour marathon to the checkered flag.  The drivers and teams also filed down pit road and shut off their engines at the 300-mile mark to honor those who had made the supreme sacrifice for their country.

Keselowski’s win also kept seven-time Cup champ from winning a race.  Johnson is in his retirement season and hasn’t won a race in going on three seasons.  His 102 race non-winning streak must be eating  him.  At the end, Johnson was 0.294 seconds behind Keselowski.

The next three days finds Charlotte Motor Speedway terribly busy.  An Xfinity race is scheduled for tomorrow night and a Gander Outdoors truck race is scheduled for Tuesday night.  Finally, another 500 km Cup race is scheduled for Wednesday night. 

Race Results, 2020 Coca-Cola 600: Charlotte Motor Speedway

Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1)      9, Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Miller Lite Ford, 405, , , 3, 21, 5, 40, Running
2)      2, Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Ally Patriotic Chevrolet, 405, 8, 10, 2, 6, , 39, Running
3)      3, Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, 405, 3, 5, 1, 38, , 48, Running
4)      26, Ryan Blaney, No. 12 DEX Imaging Ford, 405, , 9, , , , 35, Running
5)      11, Kyle Busch, No. 18 M&M's Red White Blue Toyota, 405, 6, 3, , , , 45, Running
6)      22, Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Busch Light Ford, 405, , , , , , 31, Running
7)      8, Martin Truex Jr., No. 19 Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER/USO Toyota, 405, 2, 2, 4, 87, , 48, Running
8)      1, Kurt Busch, No. 1 GEARWRENCH Chevrolet, 405, 10, , 1, 54, , 30, Running
9)      5, Tyler Reddick #, No. 8 Alsco Uniforms Chevrolet, 405, 4, , , , , 35, Running
10)    15, Christopher Bell #, No. 95 Rheem Toyota, 405, , , , , , 27, Running
11)    19, Chris Buescher, No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford, 405, , , , , , 26, Running
12)    14, Erik Jones, No. 20 DEWALT Atomic Thank You Toyota, 405, , 6, , , , 30, Running
13)    28, Cole Custer #, No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford, 405, , , , , , 24, Running
14)    7, Joey Logano, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, 405, 5, 7, 2, 26, 1, 33, Running
15)    6, Austin Dillon, No. 3 Coca-Cola Chevrolet, 405, 7, 8, , , , 29, Running
16)    40, Aric Almirola, No. 10 Smithfield Ford, 405, , , , , , 21, Running
17)    25, John Hunter Nemechek #, No. 38 YANMAR Ford, 405, , , 1, 1, , 20, Running
18)    33, Matt DiBenedetto, No. 21 Menards/FVP Ford, 405, , , 2, 6, , 19, Running
19)    27, Michael McDowell, No. 34 Love's Travel Stops Ford, 405, , , , , , 18, Running
20)    12, Alex Bowman, No. 88 ChevyGood.com/NOCO Patriotic Chevrolet, 405, 1, 1, 3, 164, 2, 37, Running
21)    10, William Byron, No. 24 Liberty University Patriotic Chevrolet, 404, 9, 4, , , , 25, Running
22)    21, Ross Chastain(i), No. 77 AdventHealth Chevrolet, 403, , , , , , 0, Running
23)    29, Ryan Preece, No. 37 Scott Products Chevrolet, 403, , , 1, 1, , 14, Running
24)    24, Corey LaJoie, No. 32 ARK.io Ford, 403, , , , , , 13, Running
25)    17, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Kroger Chevrolet, 402, , , 1, 1, , 12, Running
26)    16, Ty Dillon, No. 13 GEICO Military Chevrolet, 401, , , , , , 11, Running
27)    4, Matt Kenseth, No. 42 McDelivery Chevrolet, 401, , , , , , 10, Running
28)    18, Ryan Newman, No. 6 Roman Ford, 400, , , , , , 9, Running
29)    37, * Daniel Suarez, No. 96 Today.Tomorrow.Toyota Toyota, 399, , , , , , 8, Running
30)    13, Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx #SupportSmall Toyota, 398, , , , , , 7, Running
31)    35, Brennan Poole #, No. 15 In Memory of SFC Nathan Chapman Chevrolet, 398, , , , , , 6, Running
32)    31, Gray Gaulding, No. 27 Panini America Ford, 397, , , , , , 5, Running
33)    36, * BJ McLeod(i), No. 78 Circle Track Warehouse Ford, 393, , , , , , 0, Running
34)    38, Garrett Smithley(i), No. 53 Victory Lane Quick Oil Change Chevrolet, 391, , , , , , 0, Running
35)    32, * Timmy Hill(i), No. 66 RoofClaim.com Toyota, 390, , , , , , 0, Running
36)    30, Quin Houff #, No. 00 Good Greek Movers Chevrolet, 390, , , , , , 1, Running
37)    39, Joey Gase(i), No. 51 Agri Supply Ford, 385, , , , , , 0, Running
38)    34, * JJ Yeley(i), No. 7  Chevrolet, 251, , , , , , 0, DVP
39)    23, Bubba Wallace, No. 43 U.S. Air Force Chevrolet, 164, , , , , , 1, Vibration
40)    20, Clint Bowyer, No. 14 Rush/Mobil Delvac 1 Ford, 96, , , , , , 1, Accident
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie

Race Time: 4 Hrs, 29 Mins, 55 Secs.
Length: 405 Laps, 607.5 Mile
Average Speed: 135.042 MPH
Margin of Victory: .293 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 88, 19, 9, 8, 22, 18, 3, 48, 24, 1
Stage 2 Top 10: 88, 19, 18, 24, 9, 20, 22, 3, 12, 48
Stage 3 Top 10: 22, 88, 12, 48, 19, 18, 20, 2, 3, 24

Race Comments: Brad Keselowski won the 61st annual Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, his 31st victory in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Prior to the start, the following vehicle(s) dropped to the rear of the field under penalty for the reasons indicated: Nos. 21 (Back Up Car), 2, 7, 10, 66 (Unapproved Adjustments), 11 (Pitting Before Green Flag).

Caution Flags: 8 for 52 laps;
Laps: 22-27 (Competition Caution [78]);
49-57 (Weather - Rain [Red: 01:08:35] [53]);
98-106 (No. 14 Incident Turn 1 / Stage 1 Conclusion [96]);
202-208 (Stage 2 Conclusion [17]);
277-281 (No. 42 Incident Turn 2 [21]);
302-307 (Stage 3 Conclusion [41]);
349-353 (No. 51 Spin Turn 4 [1]);
399-403 (No. 24 Spin Turn 2 [34]).

Lead Changes: 20 among 11 drivers;
K. Busch 1-54;
A. Bowman 55-159;
J. Johnson 160-162;
J. Nemechek # 163;
R. Preece 164;
R. Stenhouse Jr. 165;
A. Bowman 166-223;
M. Truex Jr. 224-255;
B. Keselowski 256-262;
M. Truex Jr. 263-277;
J. Logano 278-302;
A. Bowman 303;
M. DiBenedetto 304-306;
J. Logano 307;
M. Truex Jr. 308;
M. DiBenedetto 309-311;
M. Truex Jr. 312-350;
J. Johnson 351-353;
B. Keselowski 354-362;
C. Elliott 363-400;
B. Keselowski 401-405.

Busch Pole Award: Kurt Busch, No. 1 181.269 mph
Sunoco Rookie of the Race: Tyler Reddick, No. 8