Keselowski had no plans of dipping below the yellow

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- While pushing Carl Edwards to the lead on the final lap of Sunday's Aaron's 499, Brad Keselowski's mind was not only on racing to the line, but also racing back to the last time the Cup Series visited Talladega Superspeedway.

Wild win No. 1

Brad Keselowski took the part-time No. 9 Chevrolet owned by James Finch and surprised many with his last-lap win at Talladega.

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In October, Regan Smith ducked below Tony Stewart coming through the tri-oval for the victory in the Amp Energy 500, only to have the win taken away when NASCAR officials ruled Smith used the area below the yellow line to advance his position.

Instead of possibly wrecking Stewart and himself, Smith made a clean pass -- but all he had to show for it at the end of the day was an 18th-place finish.

Not only did Keselowski take note, but he knew he'd do things differently if he got in the same position.

"Regan last year did the right thing," Keselowski said. "He did the smart thing. He did the cool thing. And he did something that I would be proud of if I was him. You know, he took the bullet.

"To be honest, I didn't. I wasn't going to take the bullet. I'm not in a situation in my career where I can afford to take the bullet and I had nothing to lose."

Keselowski deked Edwards to the high side, and when the leader slid up the track to block, Keselowski went down low and got the fender of his No. 09 Chevrolet up to the left-rear quarterpanel of Edwards' No. 99 Ford. And by the time Edwards realized his error and tried to correct it, the two touched, sending Edwards on a scary ride, first off Ryan Newman's hood and then into the catch fence.

And Keselowski's first lap led in Cup Series competition resulted in his first Cup victory. Not bad for a kid with a total of five Cup races under his belt. (Continued)