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NASCAR at Kansas 2020 Results: Brad Keselowski Earns 2nd Win in Last 3 Races
May 31, 2020
Brad Keselowski started where he finished as the pole-sitter won the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee, on Sunday.
That did not look likely with two laps remaining as Joey Logano and Chase Elliott fought for the lead. However, the two ended up hitting the wall as Elliott tried to pass:
Logano was not pleased, as Kelly Crandall of RACER noted:
Jeff Gluck of The Athletic provided his take:
Logano and Elliott spoke with each other in a heated discussion after the race:
And Logano was blunt in his assessment of the incident in an interview:
Elliott took the blame when Fox Sports spoke with him:
Logano and Elliott finished 21st and 22nd, respectively. Their wreck allowed Clint Bowyer to come out of nowhere and finish second.
Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch and Erik Jones rounded out the top five, per NASCAR.com. Austin Dillon, Kurt Busch, William Byron, Christopher Bell and Bubba Wallace ended sixth through 10th.
As for the winner, Keselowski reigned victorious for his second race in three tries after winning the Coca-Cola 600 last Sunday in Charlotte, North Carolina.
A race that finished with 17 cautions contained plenty of action, and here's a look at how all three stages went down at the first short-track race of the NASCAR Cup Series season.
Stage 1
Chase Elliott won the first stage despite the Penske Racing team largely dominating for the first 125 laps.
Keselowski took pole position and largely stayed in first for much of the stage, but teammate Ryan Blaney passed him late:
Elliott chased down Blaney with 20 laps left, though, and took the stage win home.
The rest of the top 10 went as follows, per Jeff Gluck of The Athletic:
Jeff Gluck @jeff_gluckChase Elliott picks up his fourth stage win of the season and he now has nine playoff points. That's tied for third (Logano has 12.) Others getting stage points in Stage 1: 2. Blaney 3. Keselowski 4. Almirola 5. Logano 6. Harvick 7. DiBenedetto 8. Hamlin 9. Stenhouse 10. Johnson
The first stage largely ran smooth, with the only non-competition caution occurring when Ryan Newman spun out. He sustained no major damage and was able to rejoin the lead lap.
It was surprising to see such a clean race, with Brian Eberly of Motorsports Tribune noting the following:
All 40 cars that began the race were still in it by the time the first stage was completed.
Stage 2
Calm turned to chaos in the second stage, with numerous crashes halting action and forcing drivers out of the race.
Blaney ran into some trouble on the top lane and spun out. Unfortunately, Ty Dillon had nowhere to go and slammed into the corner of Blaney's bumper, knocking him out of the race, as well.
Blaney spoke with Fox Sports about the wreck soon afterward:
Blaney and Dillon weren't the only victims on the short track Sunday, with Jimmie Johnson running into the back of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and causing a crash that involved eight drivers:
The first red flag of the race then flew. In addition to Stenhouse and Johnson, Alex Bowman, Ryan Preece, Cole Custer, Matt DiBenedetto, Tyler Reddick and Kurt Busch were involved.
Gluck provided some context for the crash cause:
Reddick, Custer, Bowman and Stenhouse's days were done after the crash, per Bob Pockrass of Fox Sports.
After the dust settled, Elliott finished as the stage winner once again:
The rest of the top 10 went as follows:
Stage 3
Order was largely restored in the third stage, save for a couple of hairy moments that included Ryan Newman spinning out but somehow avoiding the wall:
Joe Gibbs Racing led the pack for much of the stage, with Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch each taking first on two separate occasions.
JGR is no stranger to short-track success, per NASCAR researcher Matt Willis:
Per Pockrass, Hamlin stayed out when others went to pit road following the second stage, enabling him to overtake Elliott.
Elliott appeared to be ready to take over the lead from Hamlin, but timing was not his friend as a caution came out for Gray Gaulding, keeping Hamlin in front, according to Performance Racing Network:
The order turned into more chaos, though, when a six-car crash occurred involving Newman, Aric Almirola, Martin Truex Jr., Erik Jones, Bubba Wallace and Michael McDowell.
That occurred with 29 laps left, setting up an exciting finish.
Hamlin held on for dear life but could not finish in front after a wreck with 11 laps turned him around:
It appeared that one of Logano or Elliott would be the victor at that point, but it was not meant to be as Keselowski swooped in for the win.