Moments that changed the course of the 10th race of the season
PATRICK, KESELOWSKI MAKE CONTACT FOR THE LEAD
A three-wide battle for the lead early in Sunday’s Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway resulted in Brad Keselowski wrecking onto the apron after a nudge from the No. 10 of Danica Patrick.
Keselowski found a line in the middle and had just pulled ahead of Patrick past the start/finish line. He attempted to maneuver his No. 2 Ford into the low line heading into Turn 1 when the two cars made contact, sending Keselowski spinning wildly onto the oversized apron.
The Team Penske driver saved his car from further damage by regaining control just as his Ford slid back up onto the track, bringing out the caution on Lap 14.
Patrick, who became the first woman to lead a Cup race at Talladega, was told over the radio that the incident was not her fault. “I was looking in my mirror,” said Patrick, who was leading a Cup race for just the third time in her career. “I was trying to slide in between the 2 and the 24 (of Jeff Gordon).”
Keselowski’s crew chief Paul Wolfe agreed.
“We weren’t clear enough to make that,” Wolfe said over the radio. “I’ll just call it at that. We weren’t clear enough to make that move.”
Keselowski took his car into pit road for an extensive stop. He returned to the track seven laps down.
KESELOWSKI CAUSES ‘THE BIG ONE’
After an accident-free mid-race stretch — calm racing by Talladega Superspeedway standards — a massive 14-car crash was triggered by the lapped car of Brad Keselowski with 50 laps remaining in Sunday’s Aaron’s 499.
Frontrunners Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth, Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart and pole-winner Brian Scott were among the drivers collected in the mess — many with cosmetic damage but Gordon, Kenseth and Stewart were forced to the garage for repairs.
Kenseth and Gordon, in particular, were less than impressed with Keselowski’s aggressive driving style considering he was six laps down to the field.
“Well, I will say one thing, if it was the other way around and it was anybody else except for him (Keselowski) we’d all be getting lectured,” Kenseth said. “I didn’t know he was that many laps down honestly.”
HAMLIN MAKES WINNING MOVE FOR VICTORY UNDER CAUTION
Denny Hamlin won for the first time this season, holding off Greg Biffle to claim Sunday’s Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway under caution.
Since placing second in the season-opening Daytona 500, Hamlin had just one other top-12 finish (sixth at Bristol) in the first nine Sprint Cup Series races of the year.
Biffle finished second, while Clint Bowyer, Brian Vickers and AJ Allmendinger rounded out the top five.