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TALLADEGA, Ala. -- This one hurt more.
This one had the ring of finality to it. An expiration date: 10/23/16.
For the second week in a row, Brad Keselowski found himself and his No. 2 Team Penske team in the garage much sooner than expected.
Sunday's Hellmann's 500 was still underway, but for Keselowski, his day was done. Worse yet, his shot at advancing to the third round of NASCAR’s Chase for the Sprint Cup had ended. Title hopes were silenced.
The outcome was a shame, but fast cars aren't always winning cars.
Few could outrun the No. 2 Ford on the track; Keselowski appeared to be the only driver able to work his way effortlessly through the field, although, to be precise, he spent very little time having to do so. For 88 of the first 141 laps, the 2012 series champion and winner of two of the last four Sprint Cup races here at Talladega Superspeedway was the driver to beat.
But a double dose of trash on the grill of his Ford proved to be fatal. Smoke began trailing the white and blue entry on Lap 144 of the 192-lap race. Engine temperatures rose as title hopes sank.
He finished 38th for the second week in a row and ended the day 12th in points. Only the top eight advance to continue to battle for the championship.
Climbing from his car and making his way into the shade of a nearby garage stall, Keselowski was quickly surrounded by reporters. The autopsy on his car was still on-going. Thus, he said, he didn't know the source of the problem.
"I'm not an engine guy, but the car was really strong and we definitely kept finding debris," he said.
"I thought I got it cooled off and only got it slightly over (heated), but I don't know."
Keselowski may not have been a Chase favorite coming into the 10-race playoff, but his team had been solid throughout the first round (three top-five finishes), and opened this latest segment with a seventh at Charlotte. But Kansas, where a crash ended his day, combined with Sunday's setback proved to be too much.
If misery does indeed love company, Keselowski had his share. Martin Truex Jr., one of the early Chase favorites, was also knocked out early due to engine issues. The No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota lasted only 41 laps before his day, and his Chase, were done.
MORE: Truex Jr.'s Chase hopes dashed
Austin Dillon? The Richard Childress Racing driver needed help to advance, and in the end he didn't get it. A furious finish by Denny Hamlin left the two tied in points for the final spot and Hamlin got the nod based on a tiebreaker.
"It just wasn't our day today," a disheartened Dillon said after finishing ninth.
But it was that kind of day at Talladega. The threat of a big, grinding multicar crash kept Chasers such as the Joe Gibbs Racing trio of Matt Kenseth, Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards running in the back of the pack all afternoon in an effort to stay out of the eye of the storm.
But the storm really never made landfall. It was good racing, close racing, and relatively clean racing, slowed for the most part by a pair of three-car incidents that seemed tame in comparison to the mayhem that usually unfolds here.
That may not be a bad thing, but that probably doesn't make Keselowski, Truex or Dillon feel any better.
Out is out and done is done. The Chase moves on without them.