Moments that changed the course of the 26th race of the 2014 season
KESELOWSKI DOMINATES, EARNS CHASE TOP SEED
The car and driver to beat in the 2014 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup identified themselves emphatically on Saturday night at Richmond International Raceway.
Brad Keselowski led all but 17 of 400 laps in winning the Federated Auto Parts 400, the final race of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series regular season. In the process, he won his fourth race of the season and secured top seeding for the 10-race Chase, which starts Sunday, Sept. 14 at Chicagoland Speedway (2 p.m. ET on ESPN).
"What a night!" Keselowski said. "Part of me, I pulled into victory lane and I pinched myself once to make sure I wasn't dreaming. These are nights you don't forget as a driver -- and you live for. The Miller Lite Ford Fusion was just flying, and this is -- I couldn't ask for a better way to enter the Chase than to win and take the first seed.
"We're ready. We want to run for another Cup. We really feel like this team has it. Team Penske is really clicking ... 400th win for Team Penske, and this feels so lucky, man, to have such an incredible team and a car like we did tonight and be able to execute it and not have any bad luck. We've had plenty of bad luck over the last few weeks, but, wow, what a night!"
Keselowski, the Coors Light pole winner, took the lead for the final time on Lap 127 when he beat race runner-up Jeff Gordon and Kevin Harvick, the race’s only other leader, off pit road. From that point on, Keselowski’s No. 2 Ford was untouchable.
JOHNSON EARNS TOP 10 BUT COLLAPSES AFTER RACE
Six-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson took five liters of intravenous fluid after a hot Saturday night of racing at Richmond International Raceway, spending more than an hour in the infield care center with a case of severe dehydration.
Johnson exited the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet under his own power after his eighth-place finish in the Federated Auto Parts 400, but slumped against the car before resting on his back on pit road. He stood again, complaining of cramping and dizziness, but leaned against the car until crew members assisted him to a medical cart.
Johnson arrived at the care center at 10:45 p.m. ET and was treated and released shortly after midnight. After his stay, he said the bout with illness came on as a surprise.
"Yeah, there is something that went wrong today," Johnson said in his brief remarks. "It could have been my own nutrition plan. I felt like I came in plenty hydrated. We will have to make sure that all the fans and stuff were working in the car. I was warm at the midway point and didn't feel like my helmet fan was working. That could definitely cause an issue."
BOWYER FINISHES THIRD BUT FAILS TO MAKE THE CHASE
Clint Bowyer ran third but failed to make the Chase.
Though Bowyer finished just seven points behind Biffle in the battle for the final Chase position, realistically, the driver of the No. 15 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota had to win the race to make the postseason.
And Bowyer left nothing on the table.
"That was our best effort," he said. "That's all I had. That's all we had as a race team. We put it all out there, and still, we were just third best."
The NASCAR Wire Service contributed to this story.