Brad Keselowski didn’t throw a block coming to the finish in Sunday’s Cup Series YellaWood 500 Talladega Superspeedway, and among those surprised was winner Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Keselowski chose to remain on the bot tom and hoped his drafting help – Kyle Larson – was enough to potentially drag race Stenhouse to the finish line. But Stenhouse had a better run on the outside lane, with help from William Byron, to make the pass and have enough to get to the finish line first.
The margin of victory was just 0.006s.
“They were going to split me, which is what I would do if I were them,” Keselowski said of his decision. “I didn’t feel like I had a shot to move up in front of the No. 47. We didn’t have enough smoke with the No. 24 pushing him; he would have just driven right around us and we’d have been swallowed.
“I did what I felt like I needed to do and got a good push from the No. 5, but it wasn’t enough.”
The field was largely in the same two-by-two formation coming to the finish as it was when the overtime attempt began. Keselowski chose the bottom while Stenhouse was on the outside. Larson lined up behind Keselowski while Byron was behind Stenhouse. Christopher Bell and Kyle Busch were in the third row, and Busch was shuffled out on the final lap when no one went with him to the third lane.